Screenshots, Reviews, News, Files, Downloads, Mods

PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360

PlayStation 2

Critical reception

Critical reception of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of the game has been average to negative. GameSpot gave the Xbox 360 version a 6.0 rating NASCAR 08 Xbox 360 at GameSpot and a 6.0 for the PlayStation 3 version. NASCAR 08 PlayStation 3 at GameSpot The closing comments of the IGN Xbox 360 review:

Critical reception of the PlayStation 2 version was better when compared to the previous years NASCAR 07, but still faired average to negative. The closing comments of the Strategy Informer review:

Gamer Criticism

The Car of Tomorrow

With the advent of NASCAR 08 came the introduction of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, or CoT, to the video game franchise. EA Sports included both that CoT as well as the "Old Car" and allowed gamers to choose with which car they wanted to race (in Nextel Cup Series). However, due to the little available knowledge of the CoT (in the year NASCAR 08 was release - 2007 - NASCAR only ran the CoT in 16 events, mostly at short and flat tracks on its schedule), the setup adjustments and car behavior/characteristics were also an unknown, which resulted in wholly unrealistic speeds and handling during gameplay. As an example, the track record at Bristol Motor Speedway is 14.9 seconds (just above 128 mph); in the game, a user could qualify with a time of 14.7 seconds and still not win the pole for that race.

Competitor Realism

As in all previous versions of EA Sports' NASCAR franchise, the computer, or A.I.-controlled, drivers engage in on-track behavior which is typically not seen during actual NASCAR events. The "Driver Memory" still malfunctions (A.I. cars create wrecks and the retaliate against gamers who could not avoid contact with them), often due to excessive blocking of human players. A.I. cars will also run unrealistic lines, or grooves, at racetracks which would realistically not be safe and/or fast. Slower cars, or cars which are lap(s) down will suddenly "find" speed whenever a user attempts to lap them, usually resulting in an accident of some kind.

Though these behaviors are created by EA Sports to simulate realism, NASCAR fans/gamers repeatedly criticize them as abhorrently unrealistic.

Absence of Special Paint Schemes

Earlier versions of NASCAR video games, most notably the 2003, 2004, and 2005 editions, boasted an abundance of "Special Paint Schemes" for various drivers (these are racecar paint jobs for associate sponsors which do not normally cover the bulk of the racecar from week to week). In many cases, there were five to eight special schemes. In recent years, and especially with NASCAR 08, those extra paint schemes are noticably absent; many drivers only have the possibility of their main sponsor's paint scheme.

Absence of Lightning Challenges

Earlier versions of NASCAR video games had bonus challenges for the player known as "Lightning Challenges". These involved one driver (Michael Waltrip from 2004-2005 and Kenny Wallace in 2007) interviewing another driver on a particular scenario. These challenges usually cover the last half of the previous season and the first half of the current season. These challenges would have the player either repeating history or changing it. However, EA left the challenges out during NASCAR 08's development, infuriating many gamers. It is speculated that possible challenges would have included Kyle Busch's first win in the Car of Tommorow, Casey Mears's first win at the Coca-Cola 600, and Juan Pablo Montoya's Sprint Cup debut.

References

External links

This article is from Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. The text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material from the Wikipedia article NASCAR 08. You can edit this article here.

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