NASCAR games have come along way from the days of NASCAR 2000 for the PS1 and N64. EA you did it again!
User Rating: 8.7 | NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup PS2
NASCAR, is it a sport or is it not? A question that has long since been burning in the heads of sports fans ever since the sport came along. Electronic Arts did a great job at making us all think that it is a sport, at best and is worth watching, playing, and seeing come out from the ashes. That being said NASCAR games have come along way from the days of NASCAR 2000 for the PS1 and N64. EA you did it again! The game starts off with no menus, just a prologue that has you racing against a NASCAR star in a Dodge Viper, which just so happens to be another feature EA has added to this year’s game. After you win the race the star (whose name I will not give away) gives you the right to start your own career in racing. You get to start your "Ultimate Racing Career". You get to move up the ranks from the Featherlight Modified series, to the Craftsman Truck Series, on through the NASCAR Busch Series, and finally on to the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. Right off the bat you will realize that you have a lot of customization options when it comes to how hard you want the game to actually be. You can go with braking assists on or off, or different levels of A.I difficulties. So with that said it will be very easy for a person that is new to NASCAR or to Racing in general to be able to play and learn the game. Just like last year EA has left in the Grudges and Alliances feature to the game. You can have rivals where you get to beat on people and have them mad at you and they might block you or wreck you, or you could be an ally to them, and they will work with you and let you by when in a tight spot. In the Fight to the Top mode you get to be a hero of villain that will decide how many fans you get and how well other drivers will respect you on the track. But remember, if you go out there and beat on everyone you are going to get a lot of bad messages and a lot of angry people on to you. Which is not good for your fan base. Eventually in Fight To The Top mode you will get to buy your own racing team and you will be able to hire drivers and sign sponsors to help you make money. It's not that hard to make money in the game but if you want to get stuff later on you better save it up. The Fight To The Top mode is not a in depth as you want it to be but it still gives you a lot of game play options and a lot of time will be spent in this mode. Besides the Fight To The Top mode you have the option to use some other great game play modes in NASCAR 2005 Chase For The Cup. You can go to the Race now mode and race against the computer or a friend, you can do the Thunder License mode and learn the tracks, or you can go to EA's new game mode this year called Chase For The Cup mode. In this mode it puts you at the last 10 races of the season with any options of where you start, or where you want to be in the chase and you have to try and win the cup. All in all these modes, besides Chase For The Cup mode, were here last year and are kind of getting a bit repetitive in terms of game play to the veteran NASCAR players. Finally I would like to talk about the part of the game, if you have a network adapter for ps2 and an Internet connection is the online play. Online is mostly the same as last year. You go into rooms and set up races against up to three other players and you race for the fun of it. You can usually find some good races online but since I am doing this review late there are only about 60-100 people online compared to the 500-600 that were on when the game came out. And all the good racers only come on late at night but in the day you should be able to find a couple of good drivers. All in all the game is a very good game with lots of hours of game play, but without the EA Sports Bio's and a lack of new game modes and repetitive game play it really makes you wonder, is the game really better than last years game? Specs and Requirements: 1-2 players 293KB's of memory per profile not including the online saves. Analog Control Support Vibration Function Pressure Sensitive Progressive Scan compatible Logitech/PS2 USB Headsets support for online play. Online: Ethernet Broadband or Analog Modem required Network Adapter (PS2) 2-4 players. AOL Dial-Up Compatible. Well that's about all I really have to say about this game and what it is. For all the lack of new features and how online is dieing for it, as well as the new game coming out on the 30th of this month your best bet is to save your money and get the new game. If you can't wait that long and you have that money burning a hole in your pocket then this game will still give you what you want, and for the price it's worth it. Posted by Mike Lirette. 
