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Need for Speed Carbon

The battle for the city is won in the canyon as Need for Speed Carbon immerses you in the worlds most dangerous and adrenaline-filled form of street racing. For the first time in a Need for Speed game, build a crew and race in an all-out war for your city against rival crews and opposing car classes. You'll risk everything to take over rival neighbourhoods one street at a time.

Each crew member has unique skills that you trigger during races to give you the winning edge over opponents. Call on a Blocker to create a distraction and slow down other racers or a Scout to lead you to shortcuts on the track. As the police turn up the heat and force the races to the outskirts of the city, the battle ultimately shifts to Carbon Canyon, where territories and reputations can be lost on every perilous curve.

Use your creativity to design your crews cars with the revolutionary new Autoscuplt car customization tool that gives you the power to turn every vehicle into the car you've always wanted. Represent your car class, your crew, and your streets in Need for Speed Carbon, the next revolution in racing games. Survive the Canyon Leave the streets to battle rival bosses in the canyons outside the urban center.

• All-new Canyon Duel and Drift race modes are the ultimate test of skill and nerve, where one wrong turn could cost you more than the race.

• The City Is Yours for the Taking Race for control of the city block-by-block by taking down rival crews on their turf, then defeat their crew leaders in life-or-death races in Carbon Canyon.

• Customize Your Dream Car The revolutionary new Autosculpt car customization tool gives you the power to design and morph your car in every way imaginable.

• Represent a Class Affiliate with the Tuner, American Muscle, or Exotic car classes and prove once and for all who makes the best set of wheels

• A new physics model makes each car handle and drive differently.

• Build Your Crew Strategically choose your crew members and use their skills on the road and in your garage to help you win races and customize your cars

• Designate any member of your crew as a wingman and trigger his special skill to knock out your rivals.

• Over 50 Real-World Licensed Cars confirm is accurate Every car is tuneable so you can customize their look and performance to suit your crew.

Need for Speed Carbon zooms its way onto the PlayStation 3 and continues from where Need for Speed Most Wanted left. The game starts with a Hollywood style cinematic that is in the same vein as the Fast and the Furious series which has the player engaging in one of Carbon cities illegal street races. Unfortunately for your faction, the police were notified of this race and many of your acquaintances were busted, fortunately for your character, they managed to escape, much to the hatred of your team.

Years later, your character returns to Carbon City, only to be threatened by his previous faction, join us or face the authorities which makes the choice rather easy. Joining your old faction, you once again race the streets as you try to increase your turf, upgrade your cars and have one of the most thrilling racing experiences of all time.

EA have masterfully incorporated real world actors into the gaming environment, that although they look a little strange, they are nether the less quite stylised in their appearance and it also helps having the talented and sexy Emmanuelle Vaugier in the title.

From the first moment you lay eyes on Need for Speed: Carbon, from the professional menu systems, the heavy music and the gorgeous cars, you immediately get that feeling that you are in for a treat and to make things even more interesting, there are a variety of different gameplay modes for not only off-line play but also on-line play. Quick race to online multiplayer fun, it's all here!

The main game mode of Need for Speed: Carbon is the career mode that starts the gamer from a lowly street racer who must race his way through the various territories of Carbon City, each with their own faction. By beating members of these factions and eventually challenging the boss, these territories eventually become yours.

With that said, the game is not your average street racing game as the player now has access to a wingman which can perform a variety of manoeuvres from knocking out your opponents, scouting for alternate shortcuts and even using their wingman's slipstream to increase your car's speed. This whole new concept of wingman will revolutionise the racing world as it gives a great new spin on the genre and really gives you a feeling that you are part of gaming environment.

Other new features of gameplay include the ability of using nitrous oxide and performing a "Matrix" style hand break move that basically slows time in order for you take sharp corners or assist in drifting. It also helps that it looks quite impressive!

The control system of the Need for Speed: Carbon is rather apt on the PlayStation 3 that uses the new DualShock controller perfectly with the shoulder buttons, analog stick and d-pad buttons used in conjunction in order to control your vehicle.

Graphically, Need for Speed Carbon is almost identical to the XBox 360 version, however the PS3 version unfortunately seems like a port with no new additions to the graphics system. Either way, it's still a visual masterpiece on the PS3 with bump-mapping, aliased edges reflective surfaces and some awesome major blurring to give that real sense of speed.  All the cars have also been professionally designed with beautiful reflective surfaces and match that with some great special effects from realistic lighting to the blur of the handbrake manoeuvre it's very easy to get lost in the gameplay.

The soundtrack of the title is great and really has that "dark" ambience feel of underground street racing that when matched with the professional voice acting and realistic sound effects and the audio aspect of the game is flawless.

At the end of the day, Need for Speed: Carbon is currently the most definitive car game on the PS3 that contains great old school gameplay, decent graphics and some of the best damn play PS3 owners will have for awhile. Check it out!