Need for Speed: Nitro
Of course, there's also the competitive aspect of the game, which is just as fun, albeit in short bursts. The game's star-based progress system is pretty standard but well executed: it's suitably hard but not impossible. The race types are standard Need for Speed: circuit, elimination, drag races, drift challenge, time attack, and speed trap. Progressing through each location is a matter of completing all the events and acquiring the required number of stars to unlock the next city. However, within each event there are three or more stars to be won by doing different things: for example, you can race in a circuit event and aim to come in first, second, or third for three stars, two stars, or one star, respectively. You can then go back to the same event and forget about placement (since you've already got those stars) and focus on something else--you can acquire a star for drifting successfully and another star for clocking a lap under 1 minute 15 seconds. One good thing about this system is that it gives you an incentive to play the same event more than once, and to spend more time at each location. After you achieve a certain number of stars, you will be able to unlock new cars, customization options, and new locations.
Unfortunately, Career mode is a bit of a drag because of the
lack of variety in race types. While the star system keeps things
interesting throughout one location, doing the same thing over and over
again in five locations is repetitive. Even when you unlock new cars
and compete in the higher-difficulty races, the motivation to keep
playing completely disappears after a few hours of racing the same
events. There's no real evolution behind this aspect of the game: you
don't feel like you're advancing or developing in any way because
you're doing the same thing, just with different cars. Things aren't
helped by the lack of camera options in the game, which could have been
used to break up the monotony somewhat. It's unforgivable for a modern
arcade racer to offer just one camera view. While the close
third-person view is the most common, a cockpit, bonnet, bumper, or any
other view would have helped immensely; staring at the track from the
same angle every single time you race gets boring quickly. The level
design is also a bit off--at times the track and cityscapes seem to
melt into each other, resulting in unexpected corners, crashes, and
lost time.
The varied customization options help to save the game from total repetitiveness. You spend a good chunk of time playing around with the designs--even though the cars are rated in terms of speed, acceleration, handling, strength, and drift, you can make only aesthetic changes to them. You can choose from dozens of colours and stickers, or customize your own. Placing them on the car is simply a matter of pointing the Wii Remote on the spot where you want them to go. Different brushes can be unlocked throughout gameplay, so those who believe strongly in their artistic abilities can also free-form paint all over their car if they so wish. But the best part of the whole process is a quirky design concept that works brilliantly for this type of game: you have the option to customize how the trackside buildings appear when you're racing. Again, you can pick from dozens of graffiti designs and stickers, which will first appear on the showroom walls so you can get a feel for what you've picked. During the race, your designs will appear on the buildings around you, but only when you take the lead--a sort of triumphant tribute to your personal style.
Need for Speed: Nitro is a good-looking game that boasts a
dizzying sense of speed at all the right moments. You're afforded
plenty of opportunities to leave your mark on the tracks with a good
dose of interesting gameplay that is, for the most part, a lot of fun.
It's unfortunate that the gameplay isn't more varied, but this is still
a good, accessible arcade racer.