Gentlemen Start Your Engines Nascar 09

[leftwich86]

Gentleman, start your engines! NASCAR 09 Review

I’m going to start this review off by stating the fact that I am a NASCAR fan of only 2 years and this is only my second NASCAR game from EA Sports. After playing NASCAR 09 for a week I can honestly say that I am amazed at how well this game plays.

I’ll start off by taking a look at the graphics of this game. It all starts when you first start the game and see Jeff Gordon looking you straight in the face. When I first saw Jeff Gordon giving me help and telling me how to do everything, I found it a bit cheesy. I mean it’s great to include one of the greatest drivers to ever race but come on; this gimmick is kind of lame. Other than having number 24 guiding you throughout the game you have a pretty easy menu navigation that is almost impossible to get lost in. As far as the graphics go during races it’s pretty amazing. I’ve been to a couple races since I’ve become a fan of NASCAR and I must say, the developers of NASCAR 09 did their homework. Every little piece of Daytona is there. Every crack in the pavement at Richmond is visible. The Monster Mile in Dover has never looked better. The car of all the authentic drivers in NASCAR 09 look amazing and goes to show that the development team put a lot of work into it. A small gripe I have is that Kasey Kahne does not have Budweiser as his primary sponsor but it is understandable because EA is not trying to promote beer just like in all the past NASCAR games. During the actual races it’s pretty amazing that the game runs smoothly and there is no slowdown whatsoever. The crowd on the other hand is pretty lackluster and could use a lot of work. In my honest opinion the crowd looks like a bunch of cardboard cutouts pasted to the bleachers. Unfortunately one of the more exciting things during a race is the accidents which look very lame in this game. I like the small visual damage you receive when you rub against another driver but when there is a full scale wreck its looks pretty bad. If another driver gets loose and causes a high speed collision it looks in no way as exciting as it does in real life. Hopefully by next year they can work on that.

In order to help things feel a lot better in this game the developers did a pretty good job on the sounds of this game. Although the soundtrack to this game is only ok, the sounds on the track and advice from your pit crew is spot on. The roar of the engines to the squealing of the tires sounds great. Although I would like to see more talk coming from your crew chief, the constant chatter your crew is a nice addition when you’re about to get passed or you’re running low on gas. Something I really liked in this game that was a great addition is some of the crowd noises. When you’re on a huge track such as Pocono where there is a long stretch of open road without the crowd next to you all you can hear is the sound of your engine. As you are getting closer to the fans in the stands the roar of them gets louder which is a really cool addition. The soundtrack to the game is decent but only because I don’t like a lot of southern rock. If you do like southern rock then this soundtrack is right up your alley.

Finally I’m getting down to the actual gameplay of NASCAR 09. In my honest opinion, they really did a fantastic job of making this game a lot deeper than previous iterations. As only their second attempt on a Next Gen NASCAR game, they really did a superb job of making a great game. You have many choices to choose from when you start NASCAR 09. You can either start the Chase for the Cup, Career Mode, Sprint Driver Challenges or Practice. Chase for the Cup is a great addition to NASCAR 09. Basically you start as rookie hoping to crack into the Sprint Cup series and become a legend. You can either start as a driver in the Craftsman Truck Series or Nationwide Series. It really doesn’t matter which series you start in because depending on how well you drive you’ll eventually unlock the Sprint Cup. When you first start out in your respective series you have to sign a sponsor, which most are mildly funny named, and then sign with a team. Both the sponsors and teams have different criteria you need to meet to gain performance points. Performance points are key to how you progress during your career. Some teams will make you a better driver at short tracks, superspeedways, speedways and road courses. Something I learned while playing was to focus on a specific track instead of trying to be a great all around driver. It takes a very long time to finally get in the Sprint cup but it is worth it in the end. Chase for the Cup is pretty much NASCAR 09’s cash cow. Career mode, which I did not spend too much time, is basically taking control over an already established driver. When deciding on who you would like to race as you can look at who is better at what kind of track. This is a key component in trying to gauge where you have the best chance to win during the career. This mode is fun but it doesn’t have the same appeal as the Chase for the Cup. You still race an authentic schedule just like the Chase for the Cup but it’s not your driver so you really don’t feel as if you have the same attachment as you would with your own personal driver. Lastly the Sprint Driver Challenges is a pretty cool mode in itself. You have 77 challenges you have to beat including drafting, avoiding a collision and much more. After every 4 challenges you complete you are challenged by a driver. You must beat the driver you are challenged by to receive performance points, which I stated are key to the development of your driver. Although in both this mode, Career Mode and Chase for the Cup, the drivers do not race as they really do in real life. In any given race on Sunday you will see Juan Pablo Montoya race all over the track or Kyle Busch dominate. Unfortunately they don’t have their true to life personas which I would love to see next year. All in all it is a fun mode that should keep you occupied for a while.

There is something that I need to get out in the open. The learning curve for this game is very steep. If you think you are too good to race on the rookie difficulty be prepared to learn how to tune your car. I played the first 3 races on rookie and started to dominate so I decided to bump up the difficulty. The drivers are more aggressive, the cars handle a lot worse and you burn up your tires a lot faster. I recommend a lot of time in practice before taking yourself out on the track.

A welcome new addition to NASCAR 09 is the paint booth mode. Basically you design your own car design via Photoshop, Gimp, MSPaint or any other graphics program. You can then upload your design to EAsportsworld and upload it to your car during the game. The addition of this alone is awesome. Unfortunately for myself I was not able to get it working properly and was not able to see my Absolut Vodka or Sportsgamer.com car in the game.

The online play for this game is surprising. Smaller races tend to perform better but as soon as a lot of people join up the ghosts of EA’s past come to haunt them. Bigger races tend to cause a lot of lag. Sometimes I would be racing down the straightaway neck and neck and the next thing I know I’m into the wall. As long as you have a small group of people in a race it can be loads of fun but as soon as you get ten people in a race lag becomes a big problem.

All in all this is a great game if you’re a fan of NASCAR. To some people the game may become repetitive or boring but you truly must be a fan of NASCAR to truly enjoy this game. Although it is a fun game there is little in the form of replay ability. After you achieve all there is to achieve in the Chase for the Cup there is little else you can do to truly have a unique experience in this game. So as a closing statement if you’re a fan of NASCAR I recommend this game. If you are not then I just say, rent the game and give it a try.

[SG_Fred]

how did you like the paint feature with the cars? i saw shanker and the other use it on the show. looked pretty cool.

[leftwich86]

Originally Posted by SG_Fred

how did you like the paint feature with the cars? i saw shanker and the other use it on the show. looked pretty cool.

When i first tried it out I made a DC Shoes car and that was the only one I could get working properly. It looks really cool but when using photoshop you need to use the gridlines to know where the other pieces will line up, like the front bumper coming into the hood and so forth and so on. It actually takes quite a bit a work to get your car looking perfect.

[Fort]

Still not as good as NR2003, but EA did a good job this year. One of the things I love doing for NR2003 is painting cars, so I absolutely love the fact that EA worked that into this game, and very nicely implemented at that. I still think it is too hard to race these games with a controller, but I don't have a 360 wheel (my PC Momo doesn't work ). I only rented the game, but I played it a ton. Beat all the challenges in one evening. Only was able to finish one truck season and a half of a Nationwide season because the damn thing kept freezing and I gave up.

Good job on the review.

[StEaLtHsHoT]

How does the paint feature compare with Froza 2? And one complaint I had with the demo I could not get good crashes I hope they fix that I want pile ups.

[Fort]

Originally Posted by StEaLtHsHoT

How does the paint feature compare with Froza 2?

Absolutely blows it out of the water. You can paint your own car on your PC with Photoshop or whatever program you use and then upload it for use on your 360/PS3.

[SG_Fred]

can those custom cars only be used offline?

[Fort]

I didn't race online, but I've heard two conflicting stories. Regardless, you CAN use them online.

1. You can use them online, but only people on your friend list can see them.

or

2. You can use them online and everyone can see them regardless of who they are.

Leftwich, can you confirm which one is true?

[leftwich86]

Originally Posted by Fort

I didn't race online, but I've heard two conflicting stories. Regardless, you CAN use them online.

1. You can use them online, but only people on your friend list can see them.

or

2. You can use them online and everyone can see them regardless of who they are.

Leftwich, can you confirm which one is true?

As far as I heard other people will see gray, I didn't play with anyone i knew so I can only assume they can't see them.

[Hockey405]

As long as I can get my car and run into jeff gordon woo and Paint my car Black