NASCAR 2009 – PS3 – Review

I’m the complete opposite. I don’t follow the
sport; my favorite game in the series was the first NASCAR Thunder for
PlayStation 2. What I want now, and what I got from that previous game was a
great racing experience that’s challenging but forgiving, and felt like it
could have been made for GameWorks or Dave & Busters.

As a developer, EA has spent the last few years
wondering who to cater to. Which side is more important? Which gamers will be
more loyal to the series? This year they seemed to have stopped worrying.

Still Chasing The Cup

Traditional season modes are no longer enough
to satisfy our annual cravings. As Madden, Tiger Woods and the rest of EA move
toward deeper and lengthier avenues, their NASCAR games had to follow suit.
Hence the creation of an enhanced career mode, which lets you take on the
NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

These sponsored events are back from the
previous year and can be played in a standard season mode setting. By playing
them in the career mode you’ll gain sponsorships, be able to join a team and
earn reputation points, which are used to unlock superior teams and sponsors.
Performance Points have also been introduced and are earned by completing team
and sponsorship requirements; they may be cashed in for engine, chassis,
aerodynamics, and durability upgrades across the four track types (short
track, speedways, super speedways and road courses).

Jeff Gordon, cover athlete and four-time Sprint
Cup Series champion, is presented in digitized form, guiding the player with
words of encouragement at various points in the game. As he informs you of the
game’s contents, you’ll notice that the plain 2D menus are enhanced with a
fully-rendered 3D garage. With each selection before the race, the camera
pans, jumps and cuts to different places.

NASCAR fans will love these features. They’ll
jump at the chance to gain reputation and bragging rights. There’s an Own the
Track feature that lets you examine your previous success stories. That too is
a feature just for the fans. Vehicles may be painted, numbered and sponsored
from scratch – yet another aspect that’ll have NASCAR enthusiasts reaching for
the controller. You can use your custom car to race in any mode or event in
the game (gaining reputation), or turn to the pros just for fun.

What does a gamer like myself, who doesn’t
follow the sport, think of these features? They sounded nice in a press
release but were not what attracted me to NASCAR 09. Having enjoyed the
Thunder series, I’ve been waiting for EA to return to that kind of a gaming
experience. This time around, that experience is within your reach.

By default the game is very difficult. Designed
with aspiring pros in mind, NASCAR 09 is preset with rules that’ll crush the
skills of gamers used to arcade driving. The dreaded "black flag" is the
culprit – a penalty that requires you to pit or face disqualification. With
this feature turned on (as it is at the game’s start), you won’t be able to
bump into other vehicles, tap the wall or pass illegally without fearing that
the game is going to make you pay.

There is, however, a way to change this: before
any race, tap the square button to bring up the list of optional rules and
turn off the ones you don’t want. Now you can pass and crash at will, just
like in NASCAR Thunder. There’s still the risk of blowing out your engine, but
with the rules taken out, the game is instantly closer to the arcade thrills
I’ve been seeking.

With next-gen graphics mostly in full force,
the game is attractive, smooth and quick. The speeds aren’t breathtaking – you
won’t get anywhere near the Wipeout level of thrills. The course layout is the
same as last year (and the years before that) and doesn’t throw any curve
balls, a fact you probably expected given the license that’s attached. That’s
not something that’ll turn off a sports fan but could make other gamers search
for something else.

In addition to the main single-player modes,
NASCAR 09 introduces a lengthy list of challenges (over 70) to complete on the
side. A few examples are: beat Tony Stewart in one lap; pit once and beat
Elliot Sadler; and pit in under 20 seconds without going over the 45mph speed
limit. They’re mostly simple and earn reputation points, a bonus that’ll come
in handy for the main quest.

The Cup Isn’t Half-Empty, But…

NASCAR 09 is an attractive game. The lighting
is fantastic, containing realistic nuances that show distinct differences
between sunny and cloudy days and everything in between. The shadows, however,
are really messed up. When staying on the screen, they look fairly realistic,
fading in and out as they should. But they rarely stay put; environmental
shadows (those from trees, fences, etc.) frequently pop in and out in one
large chunk. Your vehicle’s shadows often twitch and flicker, like something
you’d find in a pre-release demo – not the finished product.

The graphics also take a literal hit in the
form of body damage. If you’re like me, you probably remember the thrill of
crashing in NASCAR Thunder. Those days are long gone. Body damage is weak, and
most head-on collisions lack the turbo-charged effect that used to be a NASCAR
tradition.

NASCAR 09 is crammed with modes, but it’s
important to note that all of them lead down the same path. You encounter the
same courses, use the same cars (if not your own), and battle for the same
goal: the finish line. The challenge mode is the exception, and it’s the least
fun.

EA found that team-based gameplay doesn’t work
too well, so you won’t find it in this year’s update. But since that was one
of the few unique things a developer can bring to NASCAR, a part of me wishes
they’d bring it back.

Ultimately, this could lead the developers
toward a sim-only experience. NASCAR 09 is successful in tackling both
markets, but it’s unclear how much longer the series can keep this up.
Undoubtedly, there is still a lot of fun to be had. But it’s just baby steps
above the best NASCAR games EA previously developed.