Xbox 360

NASCAR 08

But while NASCAR is leaking oil online, at least everything looks good, as the next-generation boost under the gaming engine hood is evident the moment the rubber hits the asphalt. For the NASCAR fans looking for the chance to pursue The Chase on their Xbox 360, stock car racing doesn’t get any better than NASCAR 08.

I'd like to see the crashes be a bit more spectacular, and the fact that this game still lacks some kind of interactive pit stop still bewilders me. Pit stops are a huge part of the sport and being unable to affect their success or failure is just plain stupid.

NASCAR 08 von EA Sports wurde für Fans erschaffen und kann wohl auch nur Fans der Serie begeistern. Freunde von Rennspielen haben auf der Xbox 360 die größte Auswahl an Rennspielen und von nun an dürfen sich Xbox 3600 Besitzer in der NASCAR Serie versuchen. Wer einfach nur ein gutes Rennspiel sucht, der ist bei etlichen anderen Titeln sicher besser bedient, aber NASCAR Fans greifen einzig und allein zu diesem Titel. Eine fordernde und abwechslungsreiche Singleplayer Karriere und ein 12 Spieler Xbox-Live Modus heizen ordentlich ein.

Tweaks are needed in the AI to better replicate competitors' actions and racing lines, and I'd like to see some long-overdue additions (like user-controlled pit stops), but this game has got the feel of a stock car down pretty good - especially with about a billion ways to setup your car. It's a mix of the new and familiar that shakes out to be a pretty fast restart.

Schade EA, dass ein Lizenzpaket dieser Art so leichtfertig vergeben wurde und den Weg in ein unterdurchschnittliches NextGen-Spiel fand. Denn so präsentiert sich NASCAR 08 in vielerlei Hinsicht. Angefangen vom mageren Umfang und den sich oft wiederholenden Herausforderungen, bis hin zur schwach aufpolierten CurrentGen-Grafik, der unausgereiften Steuerung, welche besonders Neulingen schwer fällt, und den schlechten Soundeffekten. Es fehlt an allen Ecken und Enden an Balance und Feintuning, auch wenn der Titel durchaus seine positiven Seiten hat. Ein realistisches Rennen über mehrere Stunden, über 40 andere Fahrzeuge auf dem Kurs sowie zahlreiche Originalstrecken und ein forderndes Gameplay bieten nur wenige Rennsimulationen. Unterm Strich ist dies jedoch zu wenig und so bleibt NASCAR 08 nur das Mittelmaß.

While NASCAR 08 may be a fine game for the most part, it’s the repetitive workload required to get into the meat of The Chase mode that’ll drive people away quickly, if not the loose steering controls that require adjustment to get a good grip on the in-race gameplay. It makes it confusing to really guess who the game’s geared towards, as it potentially puts off both the hardcore and casual NASCAR fans that just want to jump into the career mode and have fun. Everything else seems to be fun enough, but it just doesn’t have the legs that the game really should have if the core mechanics weren’t so frustrating. Definitely rent the game first and see if you can stomach the licenses and contract races, otherwise you’ll most likely want to stay away and hope NASCAR 09 takes a different approach to make the fun parts of the game easily accessible next year.

Provavelmente por ser o único título da categoria automobilística disponível no mercado, "NASCAR 08" certamente receberá adesão dos amantes da mesma. Até aí, tudo bem: é um jogo que tem seu valor e potencial de diversão. Entretanto, é um título que ficou bem abaixo do esperado, empobrecido nos modos de jogo, gráficos e multiplayer. NASCAR merece coisa muito melhor e uma concorrência com a licença exclusiva da EA não faria nada mal para aumentar a qualidade.

In the end, the game feels more like a sixty dollar roster update than another addition in the franchise. Ironically, the cars sound great and racing is interesting once you get the hang of it. However, with so many omissions, it's difficult to recommend this game to anyone who is not a die-hard fan of NASCAR. Even then, they might be better off sticking with an old copy or purchasing '07 from the bargain bin. The Chase is the only feature that really stands out, but even that needs work. Perhaps with a bit more time in the shop, this will be a game worthy of its NASCAR history. As the game stands now, it's a few cylinders short of a working engine.

Listen! If you’re a fan of the sport and you own a set of NASCAR Underoos for each day of the week, then you already own the game and you just came here to write me hate mail. But for those of us looking for a better more improved NASCAR driving experience on a console, it’s best to pull out 07 on previous systems or wait for EA to take this design back to the garage for ’09.