Need for Speed Carbon

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Mean, nasty street-car racing, not at its best.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this game features illegal street racing and most of the trappings found in "pimp my ride" culture: Everything is neon, everyone sports an attitude, and lawlessness is "cool." A lot of emphasis is put on spending money to "trick" cars out with cool accoutrements. The game glorifies illegal acts, to put it lightly, and EA is aware of this. They've included a video warning at startup, reminding kids and parents not to try this on their local streets.

  • Lawlessness is very cool here. The game glorifies illegal acts beyond street racing and a video warning at startup reminds kids and parents not to try this on their local streets. No consequences for bad behavior are ever shown.
  • Cars crash a lot but never really get damaged. Often slamming into a rival is the only way to win!
  • Some flirting, mild innuendo.

What's it about?

In NEED FOR SPEED CARBON, players assume the role of a racer with a checkered past. The story challenges you to take over the fictional town of Palmont City one borough at a time (or defend what you've taken) by tweaking your car, picking the right wingman to mess with rival cars, and winning races against rival gangs. The focus is on arcade-style racing -- cars never get damaged and stay glued to the road -- but there's a strategic layer that makes the game feel deeper than your average racer. A new concept, "wingmen," allow you to have a computer-controlled car help you win races by messing with rival cars (by blocking, bumping, or harassing them).


Is it any good?

 

The graphics are beautiful, offering a wide variety of city streets and twisting, turning canyons to race in. All races take place at night, which gets boring after a while, but the neon and headlight effects are often stunning -- particularly when you watch a replay of a race.

While the addition of wingmen is cool, their practical effect is that they make the game too easy: As a consequence, initially, moderately experienced racers will win most races. However, that winning streak will come to a screeching halt when faced with Boss races, intense competition where you can actually win territory, because those races are incredibly hard and frustrating. Need for Speed Carbon would have been a better game if the developers had found a happy medium between these two levels of racing difficulty.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about why safe driving is important and why people should never participate in street racing in real life. Parents might want to remind kids that this game has an unrealistic lack of consequences. Families might also want to discuss the racing car culture -- why does it have such a strong pull? Why do people have such loyalties to different types of cars?


This review was written by Andrew Bub
Kid, 13 years old
February 11, 2009
 
need for carbon report
this report was written by the R,S,L game club (*rslgameclub.webs*) It is a very good game but the only thing bad with it is that there is no good tracks. There is a very good voice sounding like the real police. the graphics are okay. But it has free roam which allows you to go out of the races and run a muck but be careful of the town police witch are always watching you 24 7.This is not the only Need for speed game. there is a lot more out there. there a lots of different Need for speed carbon games on Nintendo DS. On free roam there is lots of short cuts through out the city. There is also lots of “rival crew challenges” in the free roam mode. There is lots of unlockables through out the game. There is some things that you can go through to crash down. The record for the most police after somebody on Need for speed carbon is 55 that we heard of. The races are very easy at the start of the career but it gets harder when you get into it. some tracks a good but some are bad. You can unlock lots of crew members so you can choose witch crew member to drive the car you have brought. You can unlock special kits when you complete a race in first place or near the car in first place. The game it self is a very good game. The cars you race against can be a bit pushy some times in races but the police are very pushy. There is lots and lots of cars to buy from the car shop. The cars include Mazda, Alfa romeo, Chevrolet and many more. The game is based on the races, police and The canyons. The tracks get bigger as you complete the career. There is the four types of races, they are drift, drag, grip and challenge series On the screen it includes a mini map, speed, gear, tachometer and nitrous gauge. On free roam when you are getting chased by police it also includes number of police after you and cars that you have disabled. You can represent a class, you can choose from tuner, muscle or exotic. In challenge series you can race on the canyons and win meddles but be careful of crashing off the canyon and loosing. There s also quick race witch is just a quick race around town. There is lot of reward cards to earn. Rating:9.5 By: Luke

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Be careful...
It's a fun game, but with a bad message. I think it's for mature teens who know that it's a bad idea to break driving laws.

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Kid, 11 years old
September 24, 2011
 
Its not as bad as it seems
I think that it is pretty useful in someways because u can release your need to drive illeagally (if u do) without actual damge to the law. Just make sure your child knows to keeps this stuff in the game make sure thry listen and do not skip the warning at the beginning of the game for the first few times.

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Adult
July 3, 2011
 
Vilonce is an issue
Carbon is a very fun game. But parents need to watch out for some stuff. Before every race there will be a girl to indicate when to start. Most of the time they will be wearing some suggestive clothing such as halter tops. Violence is an issue to. Players will crash into police cars and total them, spike strips will be used as well as road blocks. When you are arrested it will show a short clip of police tackling the player. Sometimes the criminal will punch but the cop will always win. Which can be violent for kids even though the cops are doing the tackling. if your kid knows the rights and wrong about illegal street racing it is OK

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Kid, 12 years old
October 22, 2010
 
tums
the cars are prity gud and no nudes like that guy seid.

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Teen, 16 years old
July 3, 2010
 

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Teen, 15 years old
March 10, 2010
 
i would put any age besides for the fact that its hard to play
great game but the goal on a high speed chase is to beat the cops but on the game they say not to try this at home and to obey the laws of the road their are some girls in belly shirts but thats really all besides its really hard to play on the end

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Teen, 14 years old
June 29, 2009
 
IT SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it sucks really nfs most wanted is way better so do your self a favor and don't get this game get most wanted and most wanted is cheaper than carbon

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Parent of 4 year old
May 24, 2009
 
it is a mistake
they should rate this t

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Kid, 10 years old
December 13, 2010
 
On for 8+
13+? There is some violence but not that much else. They might need to review it again.

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This review was written by Andrew Bub
Platforms:Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Windows, PSP, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance
Available online?Available online
Genre:Racing
Developer:Electronic Arts
Release date:December 5, 2006
Price:$59.99
ESRB rating:E10+ for Violence

This review was written by Andrew Bub

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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