NASCAR 09 Review - 5.5/10
NASCAR 09
A Review - By Gaetano Prestia
The sport of NASCAR is without doubt an American tradition. While the sport has minimal, if any at all, support down under, we still sometimes get updates during sport reports, mainly as a “Play of the Day” feature to show off a spectacular crash. The truth is, that’s all that’s really exciting about NASCAR: the crashes. While I’m not being critical of the American support behind this racing franchise, it’s very difficult to sit down and watch an entire race without either falling asleep or changing the channel. You don’t really care who wins, because each car is only separated by a couple of seconds anyway, and the racing courses tend to have absolutely no originality too them.
NASCAR can have excitement, but it’s far too scarce to transform into a lengthy and enjoyable video-game. EA Sports have tried on several occasions to turn the franchise into a reputable gaming licence. While the game might sell like hotcakes in the US of A, no one really cares about it elsewhere. That’s a good thing, because there’s nothing to really like about this game. It’s not that the gameplay sucks or the presentation is dull. It’s just that you can only drive around in a circle for a certain amount of time before you start to pick your brain out.
Once you do finally get into the game, you’ve got three different races to choose from in the Nationwide, Craftsman Truck or Sprint Cup series. There’s the basic career mode where you race to earn rep points and eventually sign sponsorship deals and open new opportunities for your team. While the basic aspects of a career mode are there, their existence makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. In real-life, the point of sponsorship is to earn money. In NASCAR 09, there is no cash at all. There’s no point signing on sponsors if you don’t get anything out of it. So in natural fact, you’re paying for it instead of the other way around. You earn “performance points” by completing certain goals, but that doesn't feel like enough reward for a win.
While I’m not at all familiar with the rules associated with NASCAR racing, I was able to figure out that black and yellow flags signify cautions. While you can turn these off and race without them, you don’t have too considering how low the learning curve is. I was winning races easily after only a few tries and the AI controlled cars all seem to stick to a set path on the course, so it’s easy to avoid them. It’s probably best to turn the cautions off though as if you do manage to simply clip someone, the punishment is harsh and dull. You’re forced to sit through an animation of your car slowly moving through the pit while your opponents speed by. You can’t skip this animation even though you’re already automatically handed a one-lap punishment.
You'll get a nice giggle out of your spotter’s tips, too. It was probably on my first race where my car was banged up to hell, about to blow up, when I was told to “pit in a few laps”. Clearly I needed to pit then and there and my car wasn’t going to survive the few laps that my spotter had suggested. It made it feel as if the spotter’s advice was totally random and not at all relevant to what was actually happening, which was disappointing.
The upgrade system is related to your performance points, which are obtained by completing challenges in regards to your racing style, including pit entry and avoiding crashes. Once you complete a challenge, you’re rewarded points which can be used to upgrade your garage. Unfortunately, there’s no way to upgrade your vehicle.
There’s a decent amount of customisation in NASCAR 09, which is also reflective of your difficulty setting. “Pro” mode allows you to tweak your car performance more to your liking; whereas in “normal” you can create a setting and save it once you begin. You can also paint your car and make it look snazzy and bright to your liking, which is fun. There is also a unique online paint system, which takes about 24 hours to set up and complete. It’s so tedious and long that by the time you actually finish your design, you’re over it and lost all interest. It involves working on your PC or MAC with a downloaded template and then uploading it to the EA servers, but there’s far more action involved than that. Had developer Tiburon made it more user-friendly and accessible, it could have been an applauded feature. Instead, it comes off as a gimmick with no real use.
One thing that attracts me to NASCAR is the crashes shown during sport highlight shows and news broadcasts. These collisions seem to be what attract people to the racing franchise, but unfortunately, that same feeling isn’t replicated in NASCAR 09. When you couple lacklustre graphics, a mediocre collision engine and weak animations, you get unimpressive wrecks. What’s even more unimpressive is the fact that you’re the only one who can cause crashes. If you were to keep clear of all of the AI controlled cars for an entire race, you’ll never see a crash.
The online mode is totally lacking. I had to wait close to 45 minutes for a race to start, even though the lobby was heavily populated. Once I did eventually get into a race, it was infected with cautions and crashes as well as some heavy lag.
Overall, NASCAR 09 is a very unimpressive racing title. It lacks the charm and replayability factor of a racing title and offers no originality.
Gameplay
5.5/10
Simply put, it’s easy but repetitive. You’ll be winning races only a few minutes in, even if you’re unexperienced. Online is a major drag.
Graphics
5.5/10
It look good at times from a distance, but when cars crash and the crowd is on show, it looks very mediocre.
Sound
7.0/10
Nice voice-overs and car sounds.
Value
5.5/10
All you do is drive round and round in a circle. If you can find excitement in that, career mode should do you fine for a few weekends.
Overall
5.5/10
NASCAR 09 is a lacking racing title that doesn’t focus enough on gameplay to be enjoyable. I don’t know any NASCAR fans to say if a die-hard would like this or not, but if you’re just a random gamer, you probably won’t find much excitement in this title.
Submitted by Gaetano
1 days ago
56
10
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