N-Philes

Need for Speed: Nitro thoughts

Posted February 6th 2010 by Jacob Barnes.

At last year's E3, I had a chance to test out Need for Speed: Shift.  It was probably the most realistic racing-sim I've ever played, apart from driving a real car.  But with Need for Speed: Shift, like many of EA's Wii games, EA Montreal had to custom-build a version based on the specifications (see: limitations) of the system.  The result isn't comparable to a next-gen racer, but it still has merit as a fun, worthwhile arcade racer.

Nitro is designed as a pick-up-and-play arcade racer for all audiences with a simple control scheme.  You have the basic controls of acceleration, steering and drifting which all feel pretty natural.  Drifting around corners could use some minor tweaking though, as it feels a little clunky coming out of drifts which really slows the pace down.  The single low camera view behind the car can cause a little trouble in certain parts of a race too.  I wouldn't think it would be too difficult to add another camera mode slightly above the car.  The fun part comes when using nitro boosts, which are continuously replenished based on racing performance, by shaking the Wii remote.

And that's what makes games like these enjoyable: sense of speed.  Two particular games that I can liken this to are 1080: Avalanche and F-Zero GX on the gamecube.  Using the nitro boosts gives a feeling of being sucked back into the crazy blur of speed, all while running at sixty frames a second.  The vibrant locales and sunny city streets only add more to this.  While it does look great as a whole, there's not much variation in the five global cities you can choose from.

The real meat of this game comes in career mode.  This puts you in the role of a rookie street racer working your way around the world and collecting cash to buy more powerful supercars.  Everything is done through a star system.  You get stars by completing circuit races, time attacks and other fun events, which then unlocks new cities and various upgrades in your shop.  There's some challenge to these events, but not so much that you have to be a perfect racer to complete everything.  Unlocking challenges and new cars is a very rewarding aspect of this.

The unlockable car selection is vast and somewhat true to their real-life counterparts.  You'll start out with only enough money for a cheap Volkswagon with eventually enough to buy a Lambourghini and many cars in-between.  Car enthusiasts should love all of the choices, as well as paint and body modification options.  But the cars do have a slight cartoony disproportionate look to match the feel of the game.

Contrary to some nuances in the car's design, the engines sound incredible.  Each one has a distinct roar as it shifts up which adds some realism to an otherwise static tone.  The soundtrack is par for street racing including a lot of hip hop, Spanish and rock from smaller bands.

Need for Speed: Nitro is a step in the right direction for racing games.  It's a fun arcade racer, but still lacks some depth with things like generic tracks and no online.  If you're looking for an entertaining racer on the Wii, this one should definitely be considered.

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