Need for Speed: Carbon - Retrospective

An overview of the story and gameplay elements of Need for Speed: Carbon, the game that made everyone mad by being not Need for Speed: Most Wanted (except it kind of is).
I'm Mitchell Diedrich, and I like to talk about video games, and, sometimes, other stuff.
👀👀 Come join the Discord / discord
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I also Tweet / mxtchxll
Chapters
-----------------
00:00 - Introduction
00:34 - Prologue
06:36 - Welcome to Palmont City
10:36 - Kenji's Bushido
20:32 - Angie's 21st Street
27:07 - Wolf's TFK
29:03 - Darius' Stacked Deck
35:22 - Rumination
Attributions
-----------------
Track: Aggressive Racing [Sports Music] by MokkaMusic / Selectra • (No Copyright Music) A...
Music provided by "MokkaMusic" channel and inaudio.org

[@mitchelldiedrich]

On acquiring the game: towards the end of the video, I mentioned that I received a nastygram from my ISP. After this video released, I discovered a different way to obtain the game that doesn't run that risk. I won't share that information here because I very much like my channel and don't want to jeopardize it, but my Discord server may be of interest to you: discord.gg/2ndtX7JY

[@BrandonS2K43]

VPN is always the option, my ISP spectrum did the same

[@BALDOOOOO]

Thanks

[@KaoticReach1999]

​@@BrandonS2K43Even with a VPN they still sent one

[@ashhhh2]

yeah it's called an emulator and it works really well if you're gonna fly a jolly roger might as well use an emulator

[@chochoobaca55]

Hey uhhhhh is anyone able to help out here? I joined the discord but haven’t seen anything and I have a huge hard on to play the classic games on the PC ports

[@kushkeniry3798]

The live action cutscenes are 10 times better then the horrible ones we get now

[@ryanmurray4899]

Yes and no, I feel like the ones in the early 2000’s were on point but others like need for speed 2015 felt really cringe

[@nicolasoliveira4903]

I like the ones un most wanted.

[@cxssetteman182]

@@ryanmurray4899 Nah man, Most Wanted cutscenes were pretty crap. They made my eyes hurt, and ears bleed. Even Jose Maran's midriff couldn't save the experience for me. Not to mention, the writing is extremely childish.

[@BiIlDipperIy]

@@cxssetteman182 I mean although nfsmw was sorta cringy... It wasn't as bad as it is now. Everything is selfie this, hashtag that. "were cool and hip, bro". For a 16 year old game, Carbon's cutscenes are really pretty good. I like nfs unbound too. I just skip all the cutscenes, sadly. I can't handle the cringe.

[@0uttaS1TE]

@@BiIlDipperIy Nah, not sorta. It *is* cringy. I've seen better writing from wrestling.

[@Leequidude]

My dad played this game a lot but there was one moment that we will never forget. It never happened again. During the final canyon duel with Darius, Darius fell off the cliff. We couldn't replicate it again no matter how hard we push him lol. That was like a one in a million moment for us.

[@AlexanderTrombetta3010]

😯😮👍

[@SHOTIMELV]

it happened to me but I also fell off the cliff, so I have to replay it again

[@Fooooobar]

Happened to me too, and after that it never happened again.

[@jommyinnit5702]

Meanwhile I made it mandatory to pass Angie, if I didn't I'll restart until I did. She just pissed me off the most out of them all lol

[@aaronkristofer18]

I hear this a lot that the bosses will never drive off the cliffs or anything, and honestly it must be a 7th-gen thing, because in the PS2 version they kamikaze themselves quite often.

[@bodivanbodivan3668]

Whats funny is the fact that instead of sending a text message to tell you how much they hate you, they rally the entire crew, wait in an alley until you drive by, then pull up on you, let down their windows, and speak for 12 seconds just to then pull off in unison. Its utterly amazing.

[@TheCobCAP]

good days when everyone was on flip phones and texts cost money

[@AndrewSmith-ub6xs]

one important cultural factor to remember when discussing NFS:MW and Carbon respectively, and I swear no one ever mentions it; NFS:MW ('05) was still riding high off the 'street racing' persona success of 2 Fast 2 Furious ('03), and Carbon (October '06) was running hot off the success of The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (June '06). The fact that you could kind-of 'replay' those moments from Tokyo Drift was a peak moment in my childhood.

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

and the UG2 with with its cheesy ricing.

[@0047sssss]

@@rizkyadiyanto7922 UG1 & UG2 were riding on the fad from first F&F

[@bangerrr569]

NFS carbon is one of my favorite games of all time I was 10 when it came out, and Tokyo drift is one of my favorite movies of all time too, don’t think it’s a coincidence.

[@iamatlantis1]

UG2 i had a retarded amount of fun with. the day that i got it I stayed up all night and had to work the next day. i was like 19 or 20

[@Bruno-fw6nw]

At the prologue, when the guy with the red coat asked cross what's the player's bounty, cross should've said "he is the most wanted"

[@TheBoostedDoge]

You mean crock?

[@rydoggo]

@@TheBoostedDoge it's Cross. And this guy's from outta town.

[@nicolasoliveira4903]

@@rydoggo its MA'AN !

[@djpemb]

@@rydoggo been a long time kid...

[@Chromeno]

I loved it when Cross said "this is a nice Carbon car!"

[@dylanthomas9907]

Bodykit sculpting. That was a whole new level of amazing

[@marcusipcw]

I always hope it come back

[@Jetanium]

@@marcusipcw they call it BBL these days.

[@sparda9060]

@Gibbon brazilian butt lift lol women get those to make their ass bigger.

[@Jetanium]

@Gibbon I have the same google you do.

[@_fudgepop01]

@SandboxCrasher big beautiful Lamborghini :)

[@weakestlink20]

What I really like about Palmont City's style is how each of the districts are designed with your car class in mind at the start. Downtown is tight and technical as fuck, things that tuners don't have much trouble with. Kempton on the other hand is chock full of wide roads and has lots of soft turns, making life easier for muscle cars and giving them the ability and flex their might. Fortuna and Silverton are rather varied in their layouts, Fortuna moreso because Exotics aren't the most distinct in terms of playstyle, and Silverton is where it all comes together.

[@mitchelldiedrich]

Where were you when I was writing this script, huh?

[@weakestlink20]

@@mitchelldiedrich Out in Rockport, most likely.

[@irishurbadlmao]

Except Tuners early game weren't good at tight and technical, They lacked the acceleration to achieve decent average speeds there. And Downtown had very few technical sections. Kempton also had many sharp corners itself, and a fair share of narrow roads. It's really not that varied when you think about it

[@weakestlink20]

@@irishurbadlmao That feeling exists if you use the RX-8, which is one of the worst handling tuners. Trying using the MazdaSpeed3, a different tier 1 tuner that plays more like one. Or the Nissan 240SX if that can be made available for you,

[@irishurbadlmao]

@@weakestlink20 The 240SX is broken and competes with tier 3 cars so it's not comparable. The MPS3 is better but it's still not a drastic improvement and so it doesn't really speak for the tuner's viability at all. Especially since it's illogical to buy, since it's initially too expensive and the money you earn needs to go towards upgrades. By the time you can comfortably afford it, tier 2 is available and or downtown is already done

[@n00bGT-R]

a bunch of corrections: -muscle cars arent shit in this game in fact they are the exact opposite, they are kinda useless in tier 1 but in later tiers they have far superior acceleration than the rest of the cars in the game (corvette and viper are known to be the most op cars of the game because of their insane acceleration, you can beat darius canyon duel easily by overtaking him in the first turn with those two) -the minimap is actually supposed to show the race course, i personally never had that issue so its probably a problem with your copy -the game is called Carbon because of the Carbon Canyon which is where you do all the boss races

[@alexjackyperson101]

i play the game on ps2, so to me the minimap works so yea

[@SleepDaemon]

4:39 the "Activate Windows" watermark that you see through out the entire game is the best thing a game could have.

[@phoroclock]

Man if carbon didn’t have such a short story and half it’s content cut it would have been way bigger than it is today. Still such a great game and mods keep it alive as ever. Great video

[@poompopgaming6518]

I think ppl would say it's better than mw if that happen

[@4wheeledlife]

Hi where can I buy this game for windows 10 without risk of virus?

[@luisortega8085]

yeah, a lot was cut. like, the cover of the disk is a cut race where you would've raced the cop that let you get away in the Fateful Night. also, the cut area in the "learn how crew members work" (called San Juan) and so on

[@CometWarriorYT]

@@poompopgaming6518 It definitely is just as good, so yeah, probably

[@imprelude]

Man if Angie would still drive after the electric shock 😂

[@thaddeus3648]

If I remember correctly, this game was originally a lot more ambitious, wanting to do some revolutionary things for it's time, but EA gave them a harsh deadline and they faced a few other setbacks as well. EDIT: This game is also my introduction into the racing genre and started my love for the spinning Doritos and now drive a RX-8 😄

[@mr_coffee9917]

Always so nice to hear from people

[@s1d3k1ckRO]

I have a (regular) Mazda 3 because of this game ❤

[@Three60Mafia]

@@s1d3k1ckRO i own a speed3 but its regular traffic in Forza 5 lol

[@tboy355]

I'd like to add that certain muscle cars in this game are OP. With Angie's car alone, you can clear most of the game even the race events in Silverton and also making Kenjis and Wolf's boss races seem like a joke if you've chosen a muscle car at the beginning

[@j2jwhatsapp]

I agree, I took a corvette and simply overtook Darius right at the start of the canyon race, 12 y/o me was mighty impressed.

[@WearingGoldluck]

The Corvette and the Viper were absolutely bonkers in T3, they just dominate in all the straight aways and both can win Canyon Races in the first 20-25 seconds.

[@BigGomer]

@@WearingGoldluck that would probobly why i don't remember that race boing to hard as a kid in 2006 i loved this game back in the day I wish I still had my copy but I sadly lost it over the years

[@user-md2gv4zo7k]

And what they're doing when u use the manual, omg

[@user-gh1vc9kb4e]

Every career mode race in the game except for one of the Silverton speedtraps can be won with the 1992 Nissan 240sx. This car can be obtained in the collector's edition by completing one of the challenge task series.

[@MusicByOwlsome]

HOW can you say nobody wants live action cutscenes? I cant believe thats all you had to say about this..... it looks SO much better. I always wondered why they stopped doing that. Yes, I know they did it in 2015, but they didnt even try to make it look like the rest of the game... The genius thing about MW and carbon was that they filmed it and then made it look like the game. It was such a smart way to do it.

[@yol_n]

Can you show examples of what you even want? You want live action cutscenes that look like a game? Also NFS2015 is technically what you want because the game looks so close to real life the actors just perfectly blend in.

[@MusicByOwlsome]

@@yol_n Did you even read my comment? The answers to your questions are all there, but Ill tell you again... -what I want is what they did in MW and Carbon. -What they did in 2015 did not look enough like a game.

[@hi_its_jerry]

what the other guy said about 2015 is true. there was no need to make it look like a game because the technology available didn't require that kind of workaround. besides, they were specifically pushing for visual fidelity and hyperrealism

[@MusicByOwlsome]

@@hi_its_jerry its not that they NEED to do it that way. It just looks better. I never said anything about needs.

[@hi_its_jerry]

​@@MusicByOwlsome no, dont need to do it that way, not anymore at least. but during the PS2 era, blbx had to do it for visual cohesion but by 2015, ghost realized that they didnt have to do what blbx needed to do in order to achieve that same visual cohesion. also, whether it looked better or not is subjective

[@RiC3R69]

They were making these Games with love unlike these days

[@simp2234]

Unbound is shit

[@ManLikeEddy]

No they werent they made em just the same as they're making them now Same shit just different purpose

[@kylebeach2316]

@@ManLikeEddy minus microtransactions 😂😂😂

[@ManLikeEddy]

@@kylebeach2316 good point

[@Hidden_lvl]

Unbound wasn't made with love because you say so.

[@ix-badsport-xix7433]

For the mini-map not displaying the race line, I think that’s solely a PC problem because on PS2 and PS3 it’s always highlighted in yellow.

[@aftdawn]

It shows up for me, so its something to do with his copy

[@layerp]

It's the extraoptions mod

[@juanmanuelgarcia4605]

It's funny how he brushed off how useful Samson race bonus is. If you don't know he gives 10% bonus to the cash reward also if you add Neville as the second partner you get an extra 200$.

[@premierbudouci5067]

Live action combined with greenscreen in this game is actually perfect, acting is good enough, the atmosphere is there and the characters are mostly memorable, Neville ftw

[@smokey3504]

Sal was the homie man

[@LeoMkII]

Neville gang

[@reedrazor7546]

And cringe

[@esatd34]

I hated Ford GT skidding

[@itseveary5756]

@@LeoMkII monkey man

[@TheSektorz]

Damn, when the blur kicks in, this game holds up like a champ visually! I loved it as a kid, my first memory is crashing and some cop saying "Dispatch, this guy can't drive." and me laughing my ass off at both the hilarious line and the fact that the AI was reactive to your driving. Awesome game stylistically, with fitting music. The menu music alone is GOATed AF.

[@christcarscountry6870]

I remember an old video of a guy ramming one of the Corvette cops and hearing the line "Suspect just hit my PC!" followed by an image of a man screaming as his computer is destroyed.

[@TehButterflyEffect]

Motion blur is truly awful and shouldn't even be an option in games.

[@davidhenderson4754]

Carbon was one of my favorites because it was the closest we will get to late 90s to early 2000s street racing in Japan aesthetics or ideals.

[@stevedimitrov]

If that’s what you’re looking for then you NEED to play midnight club 3 dub remix. I just started playing it after carbon, and even tho the graphics are shit, it’s Tokyo map has pretty iconic locales. The map has Tokyo tower, scramble crossing, downtown shinjuku, Tokyo station, and some docks, just to name a few. Its car selection and customization is awesome too.

[@Crogatho]

Everything is a DB-9, didn't you know? The toyota across the street is actually a DB-9 in disguise.

[@Tyrian3k]

Never knew that bosses in canyon duels can actually fall off the cliff at all. It never happened to me, ever.

[@SinisterShift]

I spent so much of my races trying to throw em off lmao

[@emaheiwa8174]

You can push them but it takes practice

[@LeoMkII]

@@SinisterShift this lmao

[@Carlos.Rivera]

You could throw them

[@MarioPanait27]

Meanwhile I never knew you could win by just racng down the canyon, I always passed the boss back in the day

[@xristaka8199]

One of the greatest racing games to ever exist.

[@user-fw4kz3bb4g]

One of the racing games to ever exist.

[@btwiamgay]

One of the racing to ever exist

[@shalindelta7]

Exist ever to games racing greatest the of one

[@snakecake1000]

Games exist to ever racing the one of greatest

[@borondo6102]

@@snakecake1000 Racing games to exist one of the greatest ever

[@TheGingerGandalf]

The activate windows in the corner goes HARD

[@CVlad92]

So many most wanted and carbon retrospectives and so many channels grew from them. This says how loved these games are. Love to see it

[@SuperLeosid]

One thing I would like to add is the speed scaling. Corvettes shred apart canyon duels and Vipers are roleplaying as an intercontinental ballistic missile. Just love it.

[@nanogalactic6016]

And just like ballistic missiles, the Viper crashes into absolutely everything because it can't steer xD

[@koR0ziwe]

I want to reply just to let you know that abt the 4th or 5th playthrough of carbon, when i decided to finish the game with a Corvette, I won by overtaking Darius in the canyon, all within 25 seconds

[@SuperLeosid]

@@koR0ziwe Yep, super-muscles like Viper and Vette are very OP and can tear through anything in canyon races.

[@ProfDrMau]

@@SuperLeosid if he thought the lambo is shit, he should try he vette on extra stiky tires. impossible to drive sice it understeers like hell. Driving it like a drifter is OP AF

[@AlineaEuros]

I remember in the tier 3 classes, the evo, viper and vette were the kings in online racing With the lancer you find yourself accelerating in corners rather than slowing down due to its black magic handling.

[@Nooboroshi]

Apparently the Supra at the beginning of Carbon was a placeholder for the M3GTR from Most Wanted but the devs couldn't get the license in time so the placeholder Supra stayed. Basically you've always had that M3GTR. You escaped Palmont in it and reached Rockport. Then after leaving Rockport, you return to Palmont again and that is where Carbon starts.

[@michaellorah9051]

And the switch up could be chalked up to the player just switching cars after leaving Palmont between the flashback and the start to Most Wanted.

[@MG99GM]

How are u driving it in the beginning when they didnt get the license??

[@kamonek3825]

Thats good info right there

[@Nooboroshi]

@@MG99GM They made the cutscenes before the game.

[@FilipDautovic]

Possibly, I think Underground and U2 happened between that cutscene and MW, as Rog says something like "Look what the Underground spit out, let's see how you do in the daytime."

[@matthewwarner3618]

Darius pulled the Disney villain plot twist move💀

[@veijonurminen5396]

I played this as a 10 year old Finnish kid and had fun times guessing what the characters were talking about

[@u9477]

Sal is a G. He would always finish in front of me in first place and win the race 😭

[@egiese3]

Same! I think Sal won 95% of my races for me.

[@LexeLite]

Lmao, racing with Sal is almost a guaranteed win.

[@firehawk6778]

Yeah, i used to turn off his power just so I can win the race lol

[@retseh]

i swear i was looking for this comment. Sal was the fuckin goat.

[@Miguel23887]

Yeah, Sal likes finishing in front of me too.

[@josephlim8061]

I got this game on my 14th birthday. I'm 30 now. Time flies! I still remember using Kenji's car to beat Wolf, Angie, and Darius on the PS2.

[@flazzy6931]

I always beat wolf then Angie then Kenji, not sure why but that's what I always done

[@JustinLT212]

Woah 30 when I was 16 yrs old I thought that was like the end of life lol I’m 23 now and sometimes still get scared by how fast life goes but I calm myself down by realising 30 is not even that old… huge tangent but these games defo make me feel old.

[@aleksaa24]

I used to play this and under ground 2 when I was around 4 and ask my dad to beat tough races for me hahaha... Im 22 now but thats still a core memory

[@GameRocker]

All the game problems were due to EA and not the designers. They never had enough time to fix everything. It's crazy how much they were able to do with the little time they had. The game was started before MW was released so I assume they added cop chase later because higher-ups wanted to have cops in the game.

[@csbr75]

38:06 The game does actually highlight the racing line in the minimap with a yellow color. However, it is tied to the original UI aspect ratio (4:3). When you installed the Extra Options mod to solve issues, one of the things it does is allow you to run the game in 16:9 aspect ratio, which ends up breaking the yellow racing line UI element. Since Carbon's coding is somewhat of a mess, the mod devs were not able to fix it as of December 2022

[@Tomahawk0510]

There is a fix through the HDWidescreen mod for the pc version, which brings back the yellow racing route

[@TomokoxKuroki]

weird, ive never had a problem with the route highlight not showing up while using the widescreen fix mod

[@DemonGodDemigra]

This is one of the mistakes this dude made in his videos, one other mistake was calling this game better than MW. 💀

[@csbr75]

@@DemonGodDemigra I'm not entirely sure how can someone's opinion be wrong because... Well, it is an opinion

[@DemonGodDemigra]

@@csbr75 Nah, i get the impression he's doing it on purpose just to create fuzz to get people (like me) to comment...

[@MsBrotherhoodclan]

i just like hearing you complain

[@ImJusBuba]

Fr tho

[@Chromeno]

fr

[@copefx]

this

[@ImJusBuba]

Mitchell pls complain more

[@stingerscorpio4130]

I got something to complain, he forgot to mention the scorpios 🦂

[@siddharthnautiyal5188]

I'm sorry, but the muscle cars in this game are extremely powerful and you can absolutely DOMINATE the entire game with them, if you can control them properly.

[@momoiroyui]

The creator of this video having a massive skill issue detected

[@yasiem6245]

Exactly. Muscle cars are useful if you know how to handle them. The creator doesn't know that and is just whiny about it.

[@cusnirstefan7256]

38:07 If you look closely at 38:16 in the left side on the mini map, near the flame icon from the heat meter you can see the race route is marked with yellow. What you see its a bug that makes the route yellow highlighter move at the same time with you, that's why you can partially see it.

[@123person31]

Carbon and NFSU2 are top of the NFS pyramid in my opinion. They just feel the best to play.

[@bigrod359]

My same thoughts miss the old days

[@b.w.9392]

Agreed, most wanted is 3rd I think. The rest are kind of equal to me, I enjoyed older ones like hot pursuit 2, but also the reboot hot pursuit and the newer games like nfs 2015 and payback

[@aidanbourke8168]

Ashkan?

[@B-A-L]

NFSU2 and Most Wanted for me. Carbon and Undercover were just carbon copies (did you see what I did there?)

[@thespy-dresser3580]

One detail that impressed me in this game is that the brake discs actually rotate with the wheel, a detail that MW 05 didn't have, it's very hard to see without a debug camera or a freecamera

[@itscharlieschannel]

"sit down" is the best line in a game.

[@the3dotsguy...610]

Bro... Activate ur windows

[@hungtheheroluu]

Carbon is my childhood. I used to remember struggling to win races and I'd always get busted, not knowing I could actually escape and hide from the cops. I just immediately ragequit once my car flys off the cliff in the canyon duel. That was little ol' me when I played the challenge series unaware of a career mode until I rediscovered the game as a junior in high school. What good times I wish I could relive. I'm not sure how I could download this game, let alone the Collector's Edition and other classic NFS games like the Underground series and Most Wanted.

[@Subreon]

Download the pc versions of the games or the emulator of your choice with their respective versions, or even buy used copies, though that's not recommended because they're very pricy and the discs are hella old and worn out. It's very easy to download them and even set up emulators. You can be playing the game in 20 minutes from reading this. I wish I could give links to speed up the process and make it easier for you, but the sketchy legal gray area and such ya know

[@afr1canch13f5]

@@Subreon yeah i feel you, i "obtained" the collector's edition on my pc after only playing it on ps2 back in the day and i was pretty surprised with the added cutscenes of the characters while racing, as well as the other exclusive cars. Emulation might limit your options unless you're going ps3 version i guess.

[@retaliaterguitar2]

This game was my childhood. I beat this game countless times with the 69 Charger. It became my main car in every racing game that followed.

[@DUBracer01]

Definitely need a NFSU2 retrospective, these videos have been anything other than ambient noise for me. Keep it up man!

[@jdbb3gotskills]

I hope you keep making retrospectives of all the racing games of the 2000s The explanation inception is hilarious.

[@sledgehamster7610]

My biggest problem with Carbon was the tire screeching. Just constantly. Thats all you could hear for like 99% of your races.

[@PAX-East]

Amen to that, tire screech because a bug hit the windshield.

[@tashrif46]

39:00 The one thing that I wished Carbon took advantage of was the use of the crew mode. We can use it in the race but I wish we could use the crew to help out during the pursuits. Like each crew member can give you more unique ways of evading the cops. Blockers will take part in the pursuit, scouters would find routes to escape, etc. It would have made such a unique experience compared to MW. Or even do a Crew v Crew race at the end with the player, Nikki and two other crew members taking on Darius' crew for supremacy. Ultimately the crew were quite useless other than the normal races. But it had so much potential.

[@88Spint]

I gotta say teh cutscenes did set the mood just right for you to feel like you are part of a movie, with racing bits. A somewhat corny teen movie but one with racing so it's actually kinda awesome :D

[@jacobrawlinson9032]

This game was soo influential on my life. Like my dream car 67 Camaro SS all because of this game. The first car I bought is an 05 rx8. And the only other car I had almost bought was the Alfa berra. Did it subconsciously but I fell in love with these cars from this game. Carbon will forever holds a special place in my heart.

[@sondreelias]

I like the live action cutscenes, it gives it a fun feeling of a older game

[@dtxspeaks268]

Not to mention, Carbon's were pretty good for a racing game

[@brokenportals]

This was the last good NFS game for a really long while. While it's basically Most Wanted but switched to night time, copy-and paste police pretty much. It still had good customization, autosculpting was a cool concept that had potential. Drift came back, the canyon races were fun. The game just wasn't long enough though. You can beat it in a day easily if you've got time. Still love Carbon though, criminally underrated. The PSP version is really good too, definitely worth checking out.

[@omarzidan4055]

Man i love this game. I liked Cutscenes. The dark theme was nice. The crews idea was a nice addition and makes u want to unlock all the places to see the reactions of the other leaders . Nice customisation. Honesty, the only bad part for me is that it was just short, and I wanted to enjoy it more

[@robinsan4401]

I think one part you missed is, that you always wonder whats behind thoose wood logs and then at the very end you find out with a even Higher heat Level than you could Imagine. So good

[@purpl3t3ntacl3]

my childhood is Test-Drive, Outrun and Need for Speed 1-3. and now 30 years later i can still play NFS with my 6 year old son. great memories

[@mitchelldiedrich]

Test Drive Off-Road 3 was my first racing game, I believe. The nostalgia hits hard when I think about it.

[@jnieto490]

This game was the first time we ever laid eyes on an R8 (le mans quattro in the game) and it's been my dream car ever since

[@ZxrelentlessxZ]

This is the first ever game I’ve played, special place in my heart

[@ZoeyEldritch]

"Does everything a little better" He said after pointing out all the things it did worst, sometimes far worst such as the Mini Map lol

[@mofkergt]

bringing back the bmw and then taking it away again really was a kick in the balls

[@tashrif46]

Uphill task for Carbon. Came hot off the heels one of the most vaunted titles in the series in Most Wanted 2005. But I loved Carbon growing up. It had the night racing, neon lights, customization, each tier class had its own perks and disadvantages. I spent more time playing Carbon than MW or Underground 2. And it had large variety of cars like the Skyline R34 which was shockingly left out in MW. Hope Kryzee can make a V2 of the Redux mod

[@xwraden]

Thank you for leaving the whole cutscene! I was invested WOW

[@hemiwarrior6226]

The game is called "carbon" because that's the name of the north canyon. East Canyon, West Canyon and Carbon Canyon. There is one crucial detail about the canyon races you left out; they remove NOS and speedbreaker. And without speedbreaker, those races are SO much harder. Something I never really got (as a kid or an adult replaying it) was the story. Let me try to get this straight, Nikki was holding a bag with what I assume was the race prize. No idea how much it was or who was giving it to the winner. Darius tips off the police, and sends Dave (I think was his name) to knock Nikki over and switch the bags during the confusion, Nikki throws the fake bag into your car and gets caught by Dave again? That's why she is mad when she sees you because you abandoned her? The guy driving the 300 that was blocking the alley was a cop? I'm guessing Darius paid him to let you escape? You escape and start a new life in Rockport, with everyone thinking you got the money (that you were going to win anyway) and disappeared? What are the two times Darius bailed you out of a jam? How was HE making money off of YOU? At one point before a race against him he says "I spent that money you took the rap for. I used it to buy Nikki all the things you couldn't." So he bought himself the Audi Lemans and her the Ford GT? How much money was in that bag?!

[@DetectiveJones]

I remember always kinda exploiting Speedtrap races by using Drafter since they rubber band hard to get ahead of you so if you race like normal and are in first but are losing in points just use the ability before getting to the speedtrap and your follower will have busted speeds to catch up therefore passing the marker with insane speed...Also using cars with high acceleration meant easy canyon races since you could just pass the opponent before the first turn and just stay ahead of them for a few seconds for an auto win

[@iulianiftime6959]

A cool thing I noticed was in the boss cutscenes they are followed by the guys who later spoke to us , here at 22:41 you can see samson looking at us before leaving.

[@AdrianDeSilvaOriginal]

Dude first time watching your video and not a single dull moment! Great editing, story telling and review!

[@_fudgepop01]

Tbh I really enjoyed the police chases in carbon. That plus the autosculpt feature really let my mind go wild with creativity and “choosing my own adventure” when I was younger. I spent countless hours just dicking around with silly parts that looked terrible by my standards today, but were hella wild and fun to me back then. I also really sucked at gaming in general, so it took a lot longer than just 5 hours. As a complete gaming package it can be considered shallow… but I was able to fill in the blanks myself when I was younger - and that, the dark “night-city” aesthetic, and the motion controls I have a guilty pleasure for on the Wii version, made it one of my favorite pieces of content I had growing up :D The criticisms offered in the video are completely fair - though I still can’t help but look at the live action scenes through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses lol

[@icehawk147]

Back into those PS2 days i remember the graphics being so mind blowing, now looking at Unbound it makes you appreciate how far we've come

[@cclizarkb]

Yea except Carbon and Most Wanted are way better games overall even with technical limitations.

[@erueka6]

Yes its flowing with unbound shit such a fitting name.

[@nibba5692]

Unbound looks like shit

[@aphantomthief1416]

One crucial thing to add: the canyon duels and drifts are a reference to the old Inital D and the legend of the Japanese Drift King who made a name for himself after racing down the Togue lane in the vicinity of Tokyo

[@umut3653]

Carbon is the name of the valley if I am not mistaken, where the canyon races take place. I remember that canyon being referred as Carbon Canyon. That's why the game is called Carbon.

[@CaptainFALKEN]

I've played this every year since it came out. This year I found out how to beat the game in under an hour using the wrong warp glitch after all this time. I beat it in about 50 minutes a couple times. Carbon never gets old.

[@evanlaux3623]

Thanks for making this and the Most Wanted video man. I’m 22 now and some of my fondest gaming memories were doing cop chases in these two games after elementary school with my childhood buddies. Great memories

[@RedBirdTCG]

I remember my dad upgrading our shitty old computer with a graphics card and another stick of ram, so I could play this game, beat the whole thing with the starter Camaro, God I loved this game.

[@joeydiedrich]

OH MY GOD YOU JUST UNLOCKED A MEMORY FOR ME. My dad did the same thing for me! Except he had to do it for the game spore. speaking of spore... maybe watch out for a video about that game. Source: Just got a good feeling.

[@jeffloojiacheng-4646]

I love this game and I'm still playing this game until I completed around 30 careers. the canyon duel, canyon drift, and boss scenes are excellent for me. ofc the customization in this game is incredible and it makes me not bored to play with. Another point I love about this game is it can switch to manual gear while many racing games only hv automatic gear. Lastly, after I spent much time playing and practicing, I manage to use my fav car - rx7, and complete a career and even overtake Darius in a canyon duel.

[@BaseWonky]

This game was one of the first video games I can actually remember being able to understand and let me tell you did it set my expectations way to high for any other game I ever played after

[@mitchelldiedrich]

👀👀 Come join the Discord discord.gg/2ndtX7JY I'm not trying to be the "racing games" guy, I'm trying to be the "games that you played while your parents were arguing in the kitchen" guy. I'm leaning Dead Rising next, but you know I have my eyes on getting a copy of Underground 2 and ProStreet 👀 Subscribe if you're feelin' me, drop a hate comment if you don't. Much love!

[@Nottheoutline420]

Can wait for prostreet review

[@bigcratey1344]

i wanna point out a bit about the part with minimap not highlighting route, its either not originally from the game or is only in specific versions, which is why you see those yellow lines at the edge. those are supposed to be the highlighters, but some versions just have them disappear in a radius around your car for some reason. i never looked it up enough to know the reason why, but i pirated the game as well, multiple times, and some of them have this issue, some dont. and when i originally played it on ps2 as a kid it wasnt an issue as well. also i remember hearing about how bosses being able to crash in canyon duels are only in older versions, and on the newer ones its practically impossible to happen without modifying your car's speed to extreme in a sudden to trigger their catch-up system.

[@Alejandro_BoniIIa]

This was the first and most memorable car game I’ve ever played as a child. I have so many fond memories playing the wii on the few occasions my parents would let me play. I’m days away from my 21st birthday and can still say with certainty that this game has fueled my love of cars which has only grown.

[@mckenna5794]

Equip a draft member. Get in 1st place. Active draft so they get in front of you. Deactivate draft and watch them take off. They win, you win. Easy peasy.

[@hueitor1748]

I've just watched every of your NFS reviews, now you are legally obligated to review every NFS

[@CS_Uravity_PRO]

You should try the Battle Royale mod. It expands a lot on the territories mechanic and adds a bunch more cars and events like City Streets Drifting.

[@tashrif46]

16:13 and 34:30 best and most intense race mode in the game without a doubt. I wouldn't be surprised if that was taken directly from Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, coincidentally releasing the same year as Carbon in 2006. I would not be surprised at all that EA probably went to Justin Lin, the director of Tokyo Drift, and took pointers from the Sean and DK race at the end of Tokyo Drift.

[@ptibab73]

Could be, I always thought that the evo on the game box is looking like the evo in Tokyo Drift

[@thabs2001]

I actually really enjoyed Carbon. More than MW I think. I wanna play this again. Let me buy your game, EA

[@spidre-nw7od]

The "supra" wasn't a DB9, it was obviously a 370z

[@roznaczygestosc]

I wanted to study, but your Most wanted video showed up and I just couldn't have resisted, it was that good. I watched that and now will watch about carbon (even though I've never played them, just watched both games on youtube).

[@knowtheplan472]

I found it kinda funny how in 5:10 you can see cross crash into a sign in the background

[@thefirsttrillionaire2925]

I always noticed that 😂 the poles fall on your car different every time too

[@momoiroyui]

OP: Muscle cars bad NFSC players: Skill issue

[@kingtyranius2207]

I like how the soundtrack and music in the game changes depending on what type of car you racing in

[@WhiteTenpenny]

One thing that I always thought was funny even as a kid was when Cross drove off, you get this dialogue for a few seconds, Cross then coming back into view in the distance and he hits that sign. That’s shit is still funny to me.

[@ntsikelelothandodlamini3237]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 it was really funny

[@1dudecrush]

I first played this game at a friend’s house at a sleepover. My friend and I stayed up alllll night while our host friend slept. I got ridiculously good at this game over those hours, and he stayed up checking MySpace over and over because Panic! At The Disco was about to drop what became possibly their most iconic album in the wee hours of the morning. I’m old. But that memory is a good one. Life was good, I had very little to worry about. Energy drinks and video games until the sun comes up, with a few breaks every now and then, because the PS3 would overheat repeatedly 😂

[@Bularistan4o]

Most Wanted and Carbon were the first NFS games I played. Actually I think somehow I got my hands on a NFS 2 and there was also Hot Pursuit 2 at the local internet caffe. The "slider" customization of Carbon was an awesome idea. I miss that.

[@hanzocs514]

This the first time watching 40min video without a break , srsly good video ❤

[@Coolbruhjay]

I only remember carbon for the canyon duels they were so frustrating but so much fun

[@thebossisheretostay]

I never played this game back in the day, but watching your video on it and all the content on the new NFS, this one is so much more appealing from the car list, the customisation, the game modes, the locations…

[@leonmwangi4943]

fun fact, which starting car you choose also affects the car used by each crew leader, the cars being better depending on the order in which you take on the crews

[@Ashberryvillage10]

I like how we all enjoyed having Neville around and put Sal in his place when he tried to diss our boi

[@dezpotizmOFheaven]

The cut scenes in Most Wanted and Carbon were good! I liked them. What I did not like was the "Tiers" for the cars. I like being able to tune out a beginners car to compete with late game ones. EA should bring some updates so you can simply install and run those old NFS games on new hardware without any troubles!

[@palmontunion1385]

I love the tiers for the cars

[@VannessTVofficial]

I didn’t get to play this game as a kid, but I remember searching youtube for the mountain drift world record video with my friend and watch them again and again

[@psyhodelik]

Thanks for the vidéo, i was forgot that the pitch is really cool in this game ^^

[@SamyTheSheep]

A beautiful blast from the past 💙

[@totesfleisch258]

With Carbon being my first Need for Speed (I dont count Underground 1 and 2 as i was wayy too young and only dabbled a bit in it on my Brother's Saves untill i got older) the following is a Hill im willing to die on: I LOVE the Live Action Cutscenes in Carbon, fight me about it. Theyre something i will always remember of this Game, playing this on my PS2 i felt like im living trough a Movie, it was awesome. If i walked past these People on the Street nowadays, i would immediately recognize them. I think they where great.

[@TheProkonover]

Here is the thing, both in real life and racing games, when someone says "muscle car" the first thought that it should come to mind is drag racing. Just pure power in a straight line, that's what in my opinion a muscle car should be.

[@bakedstreetyt]

muscle car is big ass motor, rear wheel drive and usually american

[@mikeshaver-miller745]

Yeah, that Darius race was horsecrap, and the Lambo was a trap if I ever saw one. I bought a Lambo and sold my Evo to get it, but it was NOT capable of beating the last race. I needed to buy a car and upgrade it, so I ended up back in the Evo again, funnily enough. It took me an entire summer to beat him in the last race, and it only happened because I was PERFECTLY blocking him the entire run. I basically had to get good enough to drive while only using the rearview mirror to navigate, which is about as horrible as it sounds.

[@FGC292]

When I was a kid playing this, my only memory of this game is that it has a huge emphasis on the color blue for some reason.