The review copy Need for Speed Nitro that EA sent came bearing not just the usual fact sheet and contact information, but a letter from producer Joe Booth. In it, he tells the story of how Nitro is not another Wii downport, but a game created specifically for the Wii. He suggested that I not just look at the game myself, but seek out some of the "Wii audience"—grandmothers and children, I guess—and get their stories of how the game plays.
Well, Joe, I did actually let my own 7-year-old daughter in on the action; she loved it. But something else happened, too. I suspect you may have had very reasonable expectations that your typical games journalist would pan Nitro for not being the incredibly deep and serious hardcore racing experience he prefers, and thought it best to write your letter to try to work around this situation. What you may not have expected is that your game in my hands—hands that will pick a racing game that is first and foremost fun to drive over one that's loaded down with a huge stack of features—made a complete end-run around those expectations, because I absolutely loved it from minute one.
I wasn't actually the first to boot up Nitro; my 2-year-old son would have been, if we let him feed discs to the Wii. He begged Mommy to play "the new car game," and she obliged while my daughter and I worked on dishes. My first glimpse of the game was the pretty cool customization mode as she worked on the VW bus she started out with. The Wii Remote can be used here to paint up your vehicle, though it's not really as great of a paintbrush as one would hope; it does do a much better job at stamping emblems. I didn't know it then, but I'd spend a good amount of time in that mode as I bought new cars. It's rather addictive.
My next peek at the game was in-race. Make no mistake about it, this is a Wii game—and not one of the absolute prettiest, but it holds its own and definitely isn't offensive-looking—but there was a fun style element going on as scenery was tagged by the race leader while he drove by. Bright colors are definitely the order of the day, and it's a good choice. But most of all, it looked inviting.
I accepted that invitation shortly thereafter, picking up a Wii Wheel first, as I often do when it's supported. To this day, I have not yet even tried the Classic Controller or GameCube schemes. Does that make me a bad reviewer? Maybe, but when I find what works, I tend to stick with it. Unlike some other Wii racers I've tried, the Wheel works great with this game, leaving me with no reservations whatsoever about keeping it up. (I did try the decidedly wacky one-handed racing method, with the Remote pointed at the screen and wrist twists to steer—advertised in-game as a way to keep your left hand free for a drink—but although it brought a smile to my face, I didn't stick with it long.)
On top of the handling, though, there's a fantastic feeling of speed going on here that actually made me giddy. The street racing game feels wild and highly dangerous, with courses designed to keep you drifting back and forth and jamming your nitro boosts to surge ahead or make leaps through the air—even though the roads seem almost ludicrously sparsely trafficked at times. Cops join the race and try to knock you off the road, particularly if you're in the lead. On-course pickups for fixing car damage and taking the police heat off (passing it to someone else in front of you, if you can) are also available. Style points tick off based on how long you can drift, draft, soar, or hold the lead; the best events have a goal for these that'll net you a star along with those given out for lap times and places. I'm a huge fan of points for racing with style—witness my Excite obsession—and Nitro delivers.
There's a reasonable variety of events to tackle in every city, from your basic circuit and elimination races to drag races, drift challenges, and others. One of my favorites is the speed trap challenge, adding up your MPH as you blow through three speed cameras. Nearly all of them, particularly when I moved past the easy first set of races, nailed that "just one more try" feeling when I came up short a star or two... always achievable, but initially just out of reach.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first saw Nitro waiting for me to check out that first day. I'm not a deep racing game fanatic and I wasn't even really sure I wanted to play another entry in that genre just yet. But I did, and it seriously blew me away. Joe should be happy to hear that my 7-year-old daughter loves to play the co-op career mode with me for long stretches of time and is even holding her own pretty well, but the real story here is that I found that I'm the addict. I almost didn't get this review done last night because I popped it in for a little refresher and ended up putting in nearly an hour. I'm just enjoying the rush that much.
Well, Joe, I did actually let my own 7-year-old daughter in on the action; she loved it. But something else happened, too. I suspect you may have had very reasonable expectations that your typical games journalist would pan Nitro for not being the incredibly deep and serious hardcore racing experience he prefers, and thought it best to write your letter to try to work around this situation. What you may not have expected is that your game in my hands—hands that will pick a racing game that is first and foremost fun to drive over one that's loaded down with a huge stack of features—made a complete end-run around those expectations, because I absolutely loved it from minute one.
I wasn't actually the first to boot up Nitro; my 2-year-old son would have been, if we let him feed discs to the Wii. He begged Mommy to play "the new car game," and she obliged while my daughter and I worked on dishes. My first glimpse of the game was the pretty cool customization mode as she worked on the VW bus she started out with. The Wii Remote can be used here to paint up your vehicle, though it's not really as great of a paintbrush as one would hope; it does do a much better job at stamping emblems. I didn't know it then, but I'd spend a good amount of time in that mode as I bought new cars. It's rather addictive.
My next peek at the game was in-race. Make no mistake about it, this is a Wii game—and not one of the absolute prettiest, but it holds its own and definitely isn't offensive-looking—but there was a fun style element going on as scenery was tagged by the race leader while he drove by. Bright colors are definitely the order of the day, and it's a good choice. But most of all, it looked inviting.
I accepted that invitation shortly thereafter, picking up a Wii Wheel first, as I often do when it's supported. To this day, I have not yet even tried the Classic Controller or GameCube schemes. Does that make me a bad reviewer? Maybe, but when I find what works, I tend to stick with it. Unlike some other Wii racers I've tried, the Wheel works great with this game, leaving me with no reservations whatsoever about keeping it up. (I did try the decidedly wacky one-handed racing method, with the Remote pointed at the screen and wrist twists to steer—advertised in-game as a way to keep your left hand free for a drink—but although it brought a smile to my face, I didn't stick with it long.)
On top of the handling, though, there's a fantastic feeling of speed going on here that actually made me giddy. The street racing game feels wild and highly dangerous, with courses designed to keep you drifting back and forth and jamming your nitro boosts to surge ahead or make leaps through the air—even though the roads seem almost ludicrously sparsely trafficked at times. Cops join the race and try to knock you off the road, particularly if you're in the lead. On-course pickups for fixing car damage and taking the police heat off (passing it to someone else in front of you, if you can) are also available. Style points tick off based on how long you can drift, draft, soar, or hold the lead; the best events have a goal for these that'll net you a star along with those given out for lap times and places. I'm a huge fan of points for racing with style—witness my Excite obsession—and Nitro delivers.
There's a reasonable variety of events to tackle in every city, from your basic circuit and elimination races to drag races, drift challenges, and others. One of my favorites is the speed trap challenge, adding up your MPH as you blow through three speed cameras. Nearly all of them, particularly when I moved past the easy first set of races, nailed that "just one more try" feeling when I came up short a star or two... always achievable, but initially just out of reach.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first saw Nitro waiting for me to check out that first day. I'm not a deep racing game fanatic and I wasn't even really sure I wanted to play another entry in that genre just yet. But I did, and it seriously blew me away. Joe should be happy to hear that my 7-year-old daughter loves to play the co-op career mode with me for long stretches of time and is even holding her own pretty well, but the real story here is that I found that I'm the addict. I almost didn't get this review done last night because I popped it in for a little refresher and ended up putting in nearly an hour. I'm just enjoying the rush that much.