NASCAR 09 Review - PS3

After a less than stellar outing last year, EA's NASCAR franchise has been tuned up to deliver what fans expect and deserve.  NASCAR 09 is a much more complete and quite frankly a better racing experience that the 08 version.

Carbon Footprint Racing

Racing aficionados should be pretty comfortable with the focus of the game.  In NASCAR 09, it's all about you.  After creating an in-game persona, which is as simple as putting in your name and some other minor details, nearly everything you do from that point on will earn you 'Rep'.  Rep is the currency by which you'll work your way up the ladder in career mode.

Like earlier titles in the franchise, NASCAR 09 has a ton of features and mode.  And like those games that came before, navigating through the seemingly endless stacks of nested menus and interfaces is cumbersome. To help get new and returning players up to speed on what the game has to offer, Jeff Gordon takes you by the hand and walks you though nearly every mode.  Beyond being slightly creepy and seemingly CG, Gordon is very personable on-camera and the info he provides really does help ease players into the game.

Because you're nothing without your car, NASCAR 09 has a nice car customization mode which lets you trick out your vehicles with several levels of decals, logos, and paint jobs.  Once you've got your car ready to go, it's off to career mode.

Texas Ranger

Unlike last years version where the career mode was peppered with stupid little mini-game challenges, NASCAR 09 will keep you busy with signing sponsors and racing contracts.  What you can sign up for is tied directly to your rep.  Thus the better you race, the faster you'll climb the career ladder.  Doing well will also nab you performance points which let you increase how well your cars handle.  There are three different NASCAR series to play through (Nationwide, Craftsman Truck, and Sprint) so there's plenty to do in just the career mode.

To help boost your rep faster and to get a better handle on the more subtle aspects of driving, you can also play through a series of Driver Challenges.  These are those stupid mini-games from NASCAR 08 wisely removed from the career and placed in a separate part of the game.  Away from the main game is a perfect place for them.  The challenges can be very difficult, but they really do help. Since they aren't tied in to your career, you can play through them at your own speed or ignore them altogether.  Good call, EA.

Turn Left Young Man

As for the actual racing, there's not much new to report.  The visuals are stunning.  Tracks and cars look convincingly real, especially during nighttime races where the lighting looks nearly perfect.  There's a lot going on under the hood, so to speak.  Players have quite a bit of freedom in how to tweak their cars to match their driving styles.  There's a normal mode for amateur racers, but NASCAR vets will likely hit the Pro mode and never look back. Opponent AI hasn't improved much, but there are several difficulty options and towards the end of a race you will notice the other drivers getting more aggressive.

The game also supports online play for up to 14 drivers over Xbox Live.  But once again, EA makes it extra difficult for players to get "in the game" by requiring you to link your Gamertag to an EA account. While the game does most of this for you, it's needlessly intrusive, especially since you're essentially sending your personal info to EA.  If you don't wish to be a part of EA's little club, you can't play online.  I've asked this before and I'll ask it again.  Isn't this the very thing an Xbox Live account is supposed to free the player from?

Hat Dance

Players who were burned by last year's NASCAR game should feel quite a bit better with 09.  Although I personally miss the "Total Team Control" feature from a couple of years back, the new Rep and Career mode is compelling enough to keep you coming back for more.  Solid graphics, solid racing, solid features.  NASCAR 09 is a solid choice for racing fans.

Review by: Greg Bemis