Need For Speed (NFS) is a series of racing video games by Electronic Arts, released on platforms including the 3DO, personal computer, PlayStation, PS2, PS3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, and various other gaming platforms. The games consist mainly of racing with various cars on various tracks, and to some extent, include police pursuits in races. Since Need for Speed: Underground, the series has integrated car body customization into gameplay.

Hot Pursuit 2 draws primarily from the gameplay and style of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit; its emphasis was on evading the police and over-the-top tracks featuring lengthy shortcuts.

The game allows players to play as the police, where the goal is to arrest speeders. A variety of methods may be used to arrest a speeder, including ramming, calling for assistance (backup) by other police cars and utilizing spike strips to immobilize a speeding vehicle. The "Hot Pursuit" mode is less realistic than preceding versions of NFS, as it is possible to arrest a speeder by lightly ramming them often enough. However, in timed races it is more effective to use less time-consuming, actual police tactics, such as spinning the offending driver.

Races take place in four environments which differ in atmosphere, with a handful of tracks per environment. The different tracks in an environment are formed by different roads being connected or separated by road blocks. A fictional tropical island, reminiscent of Hawaii, is the most varied environment; the track traverses a city, volcano, waterfall, beach, forest, and two villages. The coastal forest environment, reminiscent of the Washington coast, sometimes has foggy weather, but this does not effectively limit visibility during races. The Mediterranean coast and so-called Alpine environments are more homogeneous, with little variation except the occasional short cut. Compared to NFS III, which features weather and day/night variation independent of track, and widely varying environments from snowy mountains over cities to desert, NFS:HP2 tracks have significantly less variation.

For the multiplayer mode of the PC version, players can host a game server for local area network (LAN) or internet based playing. In addition to this, the GameSpy internet matchmaking system can be used to publish and locate such servers.

Hot Pursuit 2 is also the first in the series to lack an in-car view that was available in preceding Need for Speed titles. There is only a "driver's perspective" view available, without a visible dashboard.

Different versions of the game were produced for each game platform; the Xbox, GameCube and PC versions were developed in EA Seattle, a subsidiary of EA Canada, while the PS2 version was developed by Black Box Games in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Also, it did not feature a career mode allowing car customization. Instead, there is a point system where cars are purchased from winning races. Points are determined by laps led and finishing position. In the "Championship" and "Hot Pursuit" trees, extra points are awarded if a medal is won, decided by the requirements. For example, a sprint (see section below) would give 5000 points if awarded the gold, 4000 for silver, and 2500 for bronze, etc. Points would give types of tracks to race on, cars, police cars, etc.

Single Race
Like all NFS games, this mode is from 2-8 players racing on any course, with more customizations, like how many laps, traffic on/off, World racing or Hot Pursuit, etc. You only get 3 opponents in hot pursuit mode, however.

Race types
All types of modes can only have a certain class of cars to be used. Faster cars are used near the end of the "Championship" and "Ultimate Racer" modes.

Delivery
A timed point-to-point dash, with the police in pursuit. This similar to delivery mission in NFS Porsche Unleashed (Playstation) while the police pursuit make it more challenging.

Sprint
A long track to get from one end to the other before the opponent.

Time Trial
3 laps on a level with the goal being to beat the required time to get the gold/silver/bronze medal.

Lap Knockout
Last person to finish after each lap is knocked out (eliminated) until one remains.

Knockout
There are three opponents. After each race, the last player is disqualified and there is one less player left for the next race. This continues until there is only one opponent left and you have a last head to head battle between you and that opponent.

Tournament
A number of levels won by earning the most points at the end of the tournament (by winning races). Gold, silver, and bronze places award different amounts of points.

Single Race

PC version of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, showing the player in 'You're the Cop' mode in pursuit of an offender, having called for backup in the form of an additional police unit.A regular race, with a specified number of laps.

Be The Cop
In this mode, the player chooses a police vehicle, and the task is to disable speeding cars (by ramming into them multiple times), thereby apprehending them. The player can turn lights and sirens on and off, ask for a road block or spike strip, request help from a helicopter, or ask for a backup car to assist in chasing the target vehicle. At the end, the player is awarded for the cars busted. In the Playstation 2 version it is called "You're the Cop" mode.

Championship/Ultimate Racer
The goal here is to get to the bottom of a racing 'tree'. You first start off at a time trial. Once you beat that, you will have 2 options. Then you continue on from there until all the races are completed with a bronze/silver/gold.

Free Run
This lets you drive around any unlocked track, with or without traffic. Cops are not available in this mode (PC version).

Need for Speed: Underground (NFSU) is the seventh racing game in the Need for Speed video game series developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts in 2003.

NFSU's premise (highly tuned, customised cars participating in illegal street races) is reminiscent of the import scene and the movies The Fast and the Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious.

A complete reimagining of the series' formula, NFSU offered a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allowed players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. All races take place in a generic city at night (though the city bears some resemblance to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles). Instead of hundred-thousand dollar exotics, Underground featured vehicles associated with the Import Scene. This, plus the increasingly arcade-like controls, became points of controversy for Need for Speed fans. Despite this, Underground was commercially very successful, and inspired a sequel.

It is rumored that the car manufacturers were very strict in how their vehicles were to be portrayed in this game, especially considering the "illegal street racing" reputation of the tuner culture. EA took some effort in making the races appear as sanctioned racing events, and included a public service announcement in the game's introduction. In addition, vehicles do not have damage models.

The player starts straight into the action, at a circuit race driving a uniquely styled Acura Integra Type R, easily winning over his opponents...only to be woken up from his daydreaming.

Samantha is the player's friend in the new environment; she shows the player how the console with the races works, who's who, and makes fun of the player's starter car. Eddie (and his orange-metallic Nissan Skyline), is the leader of the Eastsiders and current top racer of the streets, and Melissa is his girlfriend. The rules are simple: 'You win races, you get cool parts. You lose, and you're out'.

Time passes, races are won. The player meets other racers, and eventually gathers a small list of nemeses who continually challenge him and are defeated. He's introduced to TJ, who promises unique vehicle upgrades in exchange of beating time trial challenges; Samantha does the same from time to time, offering unique visual modifications instead.

The player's successive victories don't impress Eddie. First, he mocks the player's skill, saying he has a long way to go to 'roll his streets'. Later in the game, the player builds enough hype to be too hard to ignore, so Eddie challenges him to beat Samantha in a sprint race before coming after him; the player's willingness in going for it infuriates her. Samantha totals her Civic's engine trying to beat the player, unsuccessfully. TJ takes the junked car for himself after the event.

When the player comes close to reaching #1 in all kinds of races, Eddie tries to once again get rid of his rival. Around the same time, the Player sees TJ in Samantha's recovered car, now working again, but vandalized; at first, Samantha's car has a vinyl of Hello Kitty on it, but TJ spray painted over it to turn it into one of a dead kitty that looks somewhat evil. Both run a circuit race worth the other's vehicle, which the player wins. The player returns the car to Samantha to make amends, and she gives the player a choice of a wide body kit for his car.

Right after the touching moment, Eddie challenges the player and loses, like everyone else who ever challenged the player so far. Before any victory can be sung, a mysterious, legendary silver Nissan 350Z challenges the player for a last run through the Market Street circuit. A challenger who, after being beaten by the player, is revealed to be Eddie's girlfriend, Melissa.

That event solidifies the player's status as the new best underground racer in the city.

Circuit
Circuit is a standard race that involves racing with up to four opponents cars around a loop track for two laps or more, and is the main mode of the game. For about the last 4 races of underground mode, the number of players decreases to only 1 rival.

Knockout Race
A variant of Circuit, Knockout Mode is similar to previous Need for Speed titles, involves "knocking out" the last racer who passes the starting line in each lap until the final leader of the race remains, and wins the race. In the case of Underground, Knockout sessions have a maximum of three laps for four racers.

Sprint Race
Sprint mode is a variation on the Circuit mode, where the contestants race in a point-to-point track instead of loop tracks. These races are typically shorter than "circuits" (with a maximum of 8 km in length), so players are required to be more cautious of any mistakes during racing.

Drift Race
Drifting is the most challenging and technical aspect of the game. Drift mode consists of one player in a short loop track, where the objective is to collect as many points as possible by drifting along the track. The player competes with three other contestants, who appear to accumulate scores along with the player during the drift session. The player would be required to beat these scores in order to obtain top positions.

Bonuses are awarded for players who drift in the outer borders of the track, drift vertically, or perform chained-drifting (continuous drifting by constantly steering the vehicle during drifts to maintain speed); if the player succeeds in ending a drift without collisions onto the sides of the track, the collected points are added into the score, otherwise, the collected points are cancelled.

Drift mode is the only type of racing where time taken to complete the track does not matter, since players are given the freedom to complete the allocated number laps at their own pace. This may explain the absence of nitrous oxide in this mode, since it serves no suitable purpose in this situation.

Depending on the track, sometimes drift is one of the easiest modes.

Drag Race

In the Car Customization menu, cars such as the pictured Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits.Drag racing is the second most technical form of race in the game. It involves racing against one or three cars on typically straight tracks, and attempting to obtain top positions to win. In order to master Drag mode, players must employ good timing and reflexes for gear shifting, redlining, overtaking, and the use of nitrous oxide boosts; the mode places particular emphasis in monitoring the tachometer during races, which is enlarged and situated on the leftmost portion of the screen. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for lane changes, while the computer handles the steering along the lanes, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car.

Two conditions will result in players being forfeited during a drag race: head-on collisions with an opponent, barriers or dividers (being 'Totaled'); or blown engines as a result from prolonged redlining and the subsequent overheating of the engine.

Need for Speed: Underground 2 (NFSU2) is a multiplatform racing video game published and developed by Electronic Arts. Released in 2004, it is the sequel to Need for Speed: Underground, and is part of the Need for Speed series, available on GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and Windows. It was developed by EA Black Box.

The game is based around tuning cars for street races, resuming the Need for Speed: Underground storyline. Need for Speed: Underground 2 provides several new features, such as a broader customization, new methods of selecting races, the "explore" mode (just driving around freely, similar to Grand Theft Auto, in a large city known as "Bayview"). Underground 2 also introduces several SUVs, which could be customized as extensively as other Underground 2 vehicles and used to race against other SUV racers. Brooke Burke is the voice of Rachel Teller, the person who guides you through the story.

On the Nintendo DS installment, users are able to design custom decals to adorn any vehicle in the game.

Need For Speed Underground 2 takes place in Bayview after the events of Need for Speed: Underground. The prologue begins with the player driving in a Nissan Skyline R34 in Olympic City (though the racing scenes are actually in Bayview), the setting of NFSUG. He then receives a race challenge from a rather ominous personality who offers him a spot on his crew, but "won't take 'no' for an answer." The player races off - despite Samantha's warnings - to find the guy only to be ambushed by a mysterious driver in a rage that totals his Skyline. The driver, who has a unique scythe tattoo, makes a call confirming the accident, and the flashback fades out.

Fast forward to the present day, where we see the player arriving in Bayview via airplane, with a note from Samantha referring him to her friend Rachel (Voiced over by Brooke Burke), who will set the player up there. He also has the keys to Rachel's Nissan 350Z, which is waiting for him outside the airport. The player then has the option to complete a few races in the car before inevitably returning it to the car lot, where Rachel will allow him to choose his first vehicle. This one is free, as it was paid for by the player's insurance from his totaled Skyline.

It is then that the player embarks on a quest to become the top racer in Bayview and eventually take down the man who sabotaged his ride in the flashback, who turns out to be Caleb. After winning many races, the player runs into Caleb's street racing gang, the Street Reapers. The gang has the same vinyl, paint, and rim set. The player challenges them to a series of URL races and eventually gets Caleb's second in command, Nikki, to join his side. Rachel tells the player that Caleb has been manipulating the sponsorship deals throughout Bayview towards him. After the player beats the Street Reapers, an infuriated Caleb challenges the player to one final race in his custom Pontiac GTO. The reward for beating the game is all cars and parts. If the player beats the game 100%, he gets Caleb's car. But, in order to beat the game at 100%, you must go back and race the events on the World Map in your Garage.

Bayview is the fictional city that the racing and freeroaming takes place in. Its located on the west coast and features racing in all from high hills to industrial land. To enter a race, you must forst find the race in this huge city. As you win races and earn reputation new parts of the city will be unlocked and new events and shops will be to find.

The city can only be explored at night. The city has a great amount of skyscrapers, neon lights and casions; each of these is placed strategically to remind the player of Las Vegas.

In addition to the racing modes included in the previous Underground game (Circuit, Sprint, Drag and Drift races), 4 new variations of races have been provided in Underground 2. One racing mode was dropped, this being the Knockout competitions. Still, a Lap Knockout option is available when racing Circuit in non-career races.

Circuit
A circuit race is a standard race that involves up to three AI cars driving around a track that loops back to the start line of itself. A circuit race is typically a maximum of four laps and minimum of 2 laps.

Sprint
A sprint race is just like a circuit race except that the track does not loop back to the start line. It's a race from A to B. It involves a maximum of three AI cars.

Drift
Drifting is one of the easier types of racing (depending on difficulty level) in Need for Speed Underground 2. One difference to the drifting mode compared to the original Need for Speed Underground is that you are drifting with the other competitors at the same time. Players race against a maximum of three competitors.Points are awarded when the player successfully slide the car and finishes the drift without hitting any walls. Like the Street X mode in Underground 2, no nitrous oxide is allowed.

There are also some special drift races where the player starts at the top of a hill and has to slide down from top to bottom, a drifting equivalent of a sprint race (from point A to point B). In these races, there are no other racers, however there is normal city traffic. Players increase their points by sliding past city cars.

Drag
Drag racing is a point-to-point race that forces players to use a manual transmission. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for lane changes, while the game handles the steering along the lanes, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car. The Nitrous Oxide meter is enlarged and displayed on the bottom right of the screen.

Outrun
While cruising around the city, players can challenge other cruising opponents in a one-on-one race. The leader is given the freedom to pick his/her racing route, and must attempt to outrun the opponent and distance itself from him/her to as much as 300 meters (1000 feet) to win. This racing formula is similar to that of Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Wangan Midnight video games, which uses health bars instead of distance to determine the winner. Once a certain amount of victories have been won by player in certain levels, the player is awarded a unique part free of charge by another racer.

SUV
SUV's, also known as Sport Utility Vehicles, was a new element added to Need For Speed: Underground 2. In this mode, players could modify, tune, and drive SUV's in the same manner as they could with normal cars. Players could choose to race in an event with SUV's only or in a mix of Cars and SUVs.

Like cars, users are able to add on parts to SUVs to increase their performance and handling, however, the added weight of SUVs makes them much harder to maneuver, especially at higher speeds.

The following vehicles were featured:

Hummer H2
Cadillac Escalade
Lincoln Navigator
SUVs were not featured in any later editions of the Need For Speed series, thus making them exclusive to Need For Speed: Underground 2.

Street X
Street X involves bumper to bumper racing against three other opponents on a short and small circuit based on the Drift tracks from Need for Speed: Underground, except these tracks no longer induce excessive drifts. Instead, this mode emphasizes precise braking and gear-shifting in order to obtain shorter lap times and win races. Like the Drift mode, no nitrous oxide is allowed.

Underground Racing League (URL)
The URL is a set of tournaments which takes place in a specific set of closed tracks outside city streets - either actual racing circuits or airport runways. URL tournaments typically consist of one to three races, with the player racing against five opponents. In tournaments with two or more races, a points system is used. At the end of each race, drivers receive a specific amount of points according to their standing in a race. The total score at the end of these races determines the winner of the tournament.

As in Need for Speed: Underground, Underground 2 continues to offer similar vehicles for purchase and modification, most of which consist of Asian models, with a sizable number of European and American models. In addition, Underground 2 is the only game in the Need for Speed series to date to offer three SUVs as racing vehicles, which may be modified more extensively than their compact counterparts. A total of 29 vehicle models are available for both versions of the game plus 2 unique for each of them, the PAL version of the game offers an additional two cars that the NTSC version doesn't have and vice versa.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (NFS:MW) is a multiplatform racing video game, developed by EA Black Box and first released by Electronic Arts for the United States on 15 November 2005. It is part of the Need for Speed series of games. The game reintroduces police chases into a large body of the game's street racing-oriented gameplay, with certain (but not all) customization options from the Need for Speed: Underground series. The game is also succeeded by Need for Speed: Carbon, which serves as a sequel to Most Wanted.

Most Wanted has been released for Windows-based personal computers, the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360 (as a launch title), Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and mobile phones. Another version of Most Wanted, titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 has been released for the PlayStation Portable.

'Black Edition', a collector's edition of Most Wanted, was released in celebration of the Need for Speed series' tenth anniversary and in conjunction with the release of Most Wanted. The Black Edition features additional races, bonus cars and other additional content. The Black Edition also comes with a special feature DVD that contains interviews and videos about the game. The Black Edition was released for both the PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the United States and Australia; only the PlayStation 2 version of Black Edition was released additionally for Europe.

The player arrives at Rockport City, fresh out of the underground racing world, with a heavily-tuned BMW M3 GTR. Following Mia Townsend (played by Josie Maran), the player proves his driving prowess as he is pursued by a veteran police officer named Cross, who vows to take down the player.

Races seems to be in the player's favor until a particular group of racers, led by the game's antagonist Clarence "Razor" Callahan, sabotage the player's car and seize the coveted BMW. Without a car to escape in, the player is arrested by Cross, but is later released due to lack of evidence. Mia picks up the player and then informs the player about Razor's new status on the Blacklist (a group of drivers most wanted by the Rockport Police Department). She then helps the player by assisting the player in acquiring a new car and working his way up the aforementioned Blacklist. Rivals are defeated one by one, warranting a sizable reputation and comparable rides with every Blacklist member taken down. She also sets up safehouses for the player to lie low in throughout Rockport as new boroughs are accessed, in exchange for placement of "side bets" on the player's races.

The final challenge for the #1 spot on the Blacklist pits the player in a race against Razor, with the player emerging as the victor, thus reclaiming the BMW. When Razor refuses to relinquish ownership of the car and attacks Mia after she confiscates the keys from Razor, she subdues him and in doing so she reveals herself to be an undercover police officer. Mia throws the keys to the player, and orders him to escape the incoming police force. Razor is taken into custody and the player is pursued by the entire Rockport Police Department under the command of Cross. The player manages to slip away from Cross and abandons Rockport City by launching the BMW over an old incomplete bridge that Mia points out to the player in a last phone call.

After the player's escape, Cross brings up the player's rap sheet and adds him to the National Most Wanted List. In addition to Razor, the entire Blacklist is arrested with the "help" of the player.

Need for Speed: Carbon's storyline acts as a sequel, set just after Most Wanted.

Most Wanted, like other Need for Speed games, is essentially a driving and racing game, where the player selects one car to reach a destination or race. Police chases have once again been integrated into certain racing sessions, in which the police employ vehicles and tactics to either slow down or halt the player's car. As players take control of faster cars and increasingly rely on nitrous oxide speed boosts (the oxide meter now reloads automatically, for the first time since its introduction in Underground), driving sequences become fast-pace and intense, similar to the Burnout series.

Three distinct regions are offered in the city of Rockport, along with cycling weather. There is no racing in the night, all the action is done between sunrise and sunset. A Grand Theft Auto-like free roam mode is still provided like Need for Speed: Underground 2, but is still limited to Career mode, as well as pursuit-based events in other modes. Most Wanted continues to avoid the use of major vehicle damages on all racing models, as it has been with the Underground series, with only scratched paint and heavily cracked (but not shattered) windscreens comprising the whole of the racers' damage modeling. Police cars, however, are subjectable to extreme physical body damages, and immobilization if they flip over or have been heavily damaged by "pursuit breakers" (see pursuit system) or the player's

The game provides players with a selection of game modes, which include a combination of races and police chases. In Career mode, achieving goals by winning races and performing a number of actions, dubbed "Milestones", during police pursuits, as well as a minimum Bounty (see Pursuit system for details on Milestones and Bounties) are needed to advance in the storyline and race against any of the mode's 15 Blacklist racers. In the Xbox 360 version, the player is awarded with Achievement Points each time a Blacklist opponent is defeated. Career mode introduces a new feature - the ability to win a Blacklist opponent's car ("pink slip"), bonus functions (e.g. the ability to "Get Out of Jail Free"), extra cash or car parts and decors ("backroom parts"), after defeating the opponent in question. These come in the form of six markers - the rival's pink slip (which is concealed as a bonus marker), two bonus function markers, and three custom backroom parts markers of which there is a body part, visual upgrade, and performance marker (called a "Junkman Marker") that the player can select - of which the player can choose only two. New cars and parts are also unlocked as the player progresses through Career mode by beating Blacklist racers.

In addition to the Quick Race and Career modes, there is also a "Challenge" mode comprised of 68 progressively difficult challenges (69 in the Black Edition) where players are required to successfully complete Tollbooth races and pursuit challenges, such as tagging a number of police cars. The pre-tuned cars used in each Challenge is fixed, ranging from mostly Career cars with poor handling to traffic vehicles such as a cement truck or police cars. Additional bonus cars may be unlocked as the player progresses through Challenge mode.

In terms of actual variations of races, Most Wanted inherits several racing modes prevalent in its Underground predecessors. The game's four existing modes: Circuit races, point-to-point Sprint races, Lap Knockout races and Drag races, remain largely unchanged since the first iteration of Underground, while Drifting, Street X, Underground Racing League tournaments and Outrun racing are foregone. Meanwhile, Most Wanted see the introduction of two new racing variations, which places emphasis on speed. The first mode is known as "Tollbooth," where a player races alone to designated checkpoints (toll booths) along a point-to-point route before time runs out (similar to Time Attack modes in arcade-style racing games); the more time a player has as they reach a toll booth, the more time they have to arrive at the next one. The second mode, dubbed "Speedtrap," sees racers competing with each other to get the highest accumulated speed record at multiple traffic cameras. At a speed trap/traffic camera, players accelerate their car to aim for the highest possible speed. Accumulated speed is reduced over a period of time after an opponent crosses the finish line first.

Need for Speed: Carbon picks up where the player left off in Most Wanted, driving out of Rockport in his recently-retrieved BMW M3 GTR.

Driving through Carbon Canyon in route to Palmont City, a flashback of what seems to be a race against Kenji, Angie, and Wolf comes to the player's mind. A police incident at the end of the race forces the player to make a hasty escape from Palmont. In present day Carbon Canyon, former Police Sergeant turned bounty hunter Cross in his Chevrolet Corvette chases the protagonist down the canyon[5] leading to his BMW M3 GTR being totaled. Darius then compensates Cross, and the player meets up with Nikki on bad terms.

Darius tells the player with the help of Nikki to clean up his image by beating the rival racing crews to gain territory and to reclaim his reputation as a respected street racer in Palmont. Winning races one by one, the player acquires territories and ultimately districts from Kenji, Angie, and Wolf. As the player meets up with racers who want to join the player's crew, several of the defecting crew members slowly reveal their side of the story, regarding the night the player took off from Palmont.

Securing all three districts, Darius asks the player to meet up with him, where he reveals he was just using the player all along. On the brink of being arrested by Cross, Nikki saves the player, and tells him that some of his team were telling the truth regarding about the police incident months ago, and finally joins the player's crew. Realizing that Darius was ultimately liable for the player's fall, the Player attempts to conquer Silverton, and oust Darius and his "Stacked Deck" crew, to clean up the player's reputation once and for all.

A string of final races between the player and "Stacked Deck" ensues with the player coming out as the victor in spite of Darius's efforts. Knowing the rules full-well, Darius grudgingly hands over his Audi Le Mans Quattro to the player and exiles himself from Palmont but not without warning the player to "enjoy it while it lasts, there's always someone out there who's a little faster than you are, and sooner or later they're gonna catch up..."

The gameplay is based upon rival street racing clubs and teams.

Players run a crew and can hire specific street racers to be in their crew. Each hirable street racer has two skills, one which is a racing skill (scout, blocker, and drafter) and a non-race skill (fixer, mechanic, and fabricator). Each skill has different properties from finding hidden alleys/back streets to reducing police attention.

In career mode, players have to race tracks to conquer territories and face off against bosses to conquer districts.

The game also features the return of drift racing, a mode that had been included in two previous installments Need For Speed: Underground and Need For Speed: Underground 2, but omitted from Carbon's predecessor, Most Wanted; and new style of race, Canyon Racing, based on Japanese Touge races. There are 4 types of Canyon Races: Canyon Duel, Canyon Race (essentially a sprint or "Canyon race"), Canyon Checkpoint and Canyon Drift. Canyon Duels consists of two stages. In the first stage the follower gains points contingent on how tight and aggressive he/she can follow the leader. In the second stage the follower takes the lead and loses points depending on how good the first stage leader follows the follower. The follower wins the duel by reaching the finish line with the most points. The leader loses the race if the follower passes the leader for 10 seconds. The follower loses the race if he/she falls behind for 10 seconds. Either car will lose the race if he/she falls off the cliff. Checkpoint races works the same way Tollbooth races worked in Most Wanted-players must get from one point to another within the alloted time. The Drag race mode has been omitted from Carbon, previously featured in Underground, Underground 2, and Most Wanted.

The Need for Speed: Carbon Collector's Edition features 4 exclusive cars, 10 pre-tuned cars (out of the box), 6 new races, 3 unique challenge events, 10 unique vinyls and a Bonus DVD showing the making of Carbon and showcasing all the cars used in the game. The Collector's Edition also features alternate box art and metallic finish packaging. Although the Mac edition doesn't display the Collector's Edition title, it contains all Collector's Edition features.

The mobile edition of the game (Own the City) features the Audi TT and the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, while the downloaded version of the game features the Ultimate Performance Kit, 2006 Pagani Zonda F and the 1971 Dodge Challenger.

There is also the ability now to upload one's in game screenshots to the Need for Speed website, complete with stats and modifications. Also, the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 versions features an online only, "Be the Cop" racing mode, wherein the fastest player has to try and evade the others who are all police; once someone overtakes the fastest player they then become the hunted car.

In the PS2 edition of the game, some of the aftermarket wheels cannot be unlocked, but can be seen on other racers.

Control of the actual game play varies on among the different consoles. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 control steering through the use of their joysticks, while acceleration and braking as well as other controls can be configured and mapped to the different buttons on the controllers. On Windows, joysticks and wheel controllers are supported, as well as those that support force feedback.

The Wii lacks online game play, but fully supports the use of the Wii Remote.

Carbon features a new car customization option called "Autosculpt", enabling players to utilize aftermarket car parts and shape/mould the parts to their liking. Players can also have multiple and/or custom vinyls as well. Performance tuning has been redone so that players, as upgrades are purchased, can tune the car for a number of different properties, such as higher top speed or higher acceleration. Unlike Most Wanted, all of Carbon's performance tuning/enhancing and car customizing is done inside the safe house.

As with Need for Speed: Most Wanted, players will interact with key storyline characters (i.e. Darius, Nikki, Angie, Wolf, and Kenji) ranging from antagonists, and selectable "crew members" in which some claim to be connected to the player's central plot.

Because players will run a crew in the game, throughout career mode players will run into several major crews, minor crews, and "hirable" crew members as career mode progresses.

Need for Speed: Carbon features about 10 race types as follows: sprint, circuit, drift, checkpoint, race wars, canyon duel, canyon sprint, canyon drift, canyon checkpoint, and speedtrap. Some race types are accessible only through the game's challenge series set.

Most of Carbon's focus lies through various canyon races, which the game's theme is based on. Players have to race against other racers, drift through canyons, or even face off against an opponent in a one-on-one competition known as a "canyon duel", borrowed from Japanese Touge races.

As with Most Wanted, cops are everywhere in Carbon. Police chases can break out at any time, including when in Free Roam mode, when racing, or just after a race is completed. Some races do not have a chance of a police pursuit, such as Canyon races, and Checkpoint races. As with Need for Speed: Most Wanted, there are 5 conditions. Players have to be careful to avoid getting pursued by state or federal authorities.

Although the pursuit system is similar to Most Wanted, this feature has been reprogrammed in Carbon to ensure that police were not too dominant in arrest tactics in high pursuit levels. Some of the police tactics (such as the spike strips) while at the same time to make pursuits much harder to escape once a pursuit initiates.[citation needed]

When you hit a road block going more than 35 miles per hour, the game will go into slow motion and you see your car ram the cop cars from third person perspective. Also, if you hit a roadblock going more than 100 miles per hour, the police cars fly into the air and stay there for up to 12 seconds.

Players can choose from many licensed cars divided into three classes as follows: Tuners, Muscle cars, and Exotic cars. Each car has its own characteristic ranging from easy cornering to well-balanced road performance. Players have to learn how to master each car class in order to play the game well. Players can choose a class to start career mode on which the set of unlocks will be different.

There are 3 types of cars featured in the game

Tuner Cars - Their strongest point is handling, with decent acceleration but a low top speed. They consist of Japanese cars and mainstream European models.
Exotic Cars - Their strongest point is their top speed, but they also have decent acceleration and handling. Most of the cars in this class are from European companies. Many players of the game choose this class because it is the most balanced car type in the game.
Muscle Cars - Their strongest point is acceleration and a decent top speed. Their handling is poor though, and such cars are prone to sliding. Most cars are from companies of the United States.
The official site only lists 46 vehicles, 3 of those being special police cars.

Players can also unlock cars that are reserved for quick races as the players progress throughout the game and earn reward cards.