Sadly, due to the folding of Gamezine due to the inability for it to be monetised, it looks like my last review for Need for Speed: Nitro won't see the light of day despite promises and the like, so I've decided to take it upon myself to get it done myself below. Enjoy!
It's not Mario Kart Wii, so don't get your hopes up.
Still, it's much better than you may think. While the competition from in-house competitors is always tough when producing solely for a Nintendo console, it at least sets the benchmark to go up against, and the Need for Speed series seems to have cracked it - or at least laid the foundations for a great series.
Despite the graphics on the Wii usually leading to eternal discomfort over the lack of anti-aliasing and filtering on a vast array of games, there still manages to be a level of beauty about the presentation of Nitro. The menus are polished, the car models are attractive despite being out of proportion to the real thing (which is another trick of the Wii; see Madden 10) and best of all, the frame rate doesn't really suffer. In fact, 60fps looks pretty easy at the best of times.
The choice of cars continues to delight, with the likes of the Dodge Charger representing the old-school charm while newer models - notably the Lamborghini Reventon - bring the game into a more modern dimension.
What's more, the seemingly limitless car design abilities also allow for all manner of weird and wonderful designs, showing that EA is not going to strip everything out, owing to the smaller-capacity disc. Things like this give it longevity and this customisation option is one of the best ones out there.
Sadly, the gameplay can let it down in this sense. Given that all that's needed is a few different combinations of race type and track, if not the odd reverse course or circuit extension, the career mode is stupidly short.
It makes it a bit easier in that you need to unlock things for arcade mode and so it doesn't take long to achieve this, though the fact you need to do any unlocking in the first place is pretty questionably given that the Wii is predominantly a party console and should have immediate accessibility for everything. Either the unlocking must be a long process, or there shouldn't be anything to do.
That said, the actual controls and gameplay is bloody brilliant and makes up for it. Unlike a few NFS titles that have come before it, the feeling of speed is unparalleled and the responsiveness of the controller is wonderful, though the Heath Robinson-esque contraption that is the drifting mechanic is just strange.
Either way, you get used to it and you play it to your advantage, though it feels like getting a speed boost in Mario Kart: Double Dash; easy to do, yet you play a certain system to get it right and if you don't nail it perfectly each time, you'll be eating dust.
A couple of other things dragged the game down; the soundtrack's crap, for one. That covered, the lack of Wi-Fi multiplayer is frustrating. Why not, especially with crazy car designs that you can show off to your mates and strangers?
Luckily, domestic multiplayer is made of win. Game modes are rife, plus painting the city is a treat, though mainly with a couple of mates to fight with.
It seems like it's harking back to the good old days of brightly-coloured, functional racing games from the 90s such as the series' earlier outing Need for Speed 2, Automobili Lamborghini or the surprisingly fun Cruis'n World. While it's not massively, massively enjoyable on a consistent basis, it still has a charm that keeps you coming back for more. A proper workhorse game, one may say.
And with its Wii grounding, it's also a great game to rely on for Christmas and New Year in family houses across the country. Sure, they'll likely have Mario Kart Wii and the rest, yet it's a solid alternative racer with the added bonus of having real copyright licences and crazy tracks that don't see you firing out red shells, lightning bolts or bombs that usually ensure tears before bedtime.
It'll likely be down to more of a bargain price before World Jesus Day encroaches as well, so keep your eye out - even if it just kills time over Christmas, it's still a good laugh. Don't expect the world from it, though.
8/10
Matt Gardner
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