BUY ME!
I loved the first entry into the Underground genre. The second one, not so much. Carbon ranks up there in the upper echelon of racing games in my opinion. You still have the option to completely customize your car, but now with even more options. You can now sculpt the various ground effects you place on your car, altering the height, width, depth of recesses in the parts. The races have also been changed a bit. There are a handful of race types that I believe are brand new to the series. The first are the Speedtrap races. I personally hate these ones. The object is to go along the track and at certain intervals there are icons that log your speed. Your speed accumulates throughout the race and as long as your speed is higher than the two computer controlled cars, you will win. Next are the checkpoint races. If you need me to explain these, then you probably should go hang out in the garage with a vacuum hose on your exhaust being fed up through your window. The checkpoint race gives you a minimal amount of time to get from checkpoint to checkpoint. A nice new addition is the territories around the city map. Each section is controlled by a different faction. As you win races you gradually take over more areas and get more rewards unlocked. After taking over the majority of the territory you will be challenged by the boss of that particular area. These are arguably the most fun part of the game. The boss races consist of three heats. The first is a straight up circuit style race. Usually two laps. Now when you win that heat the fun really begins. The 2nd and 3rd heats are racing down a mountain. The first run down you follow the boss as closely as possible. This rewards you with points. The closer you are the higher the point totals. If you're able to pass the boss and maintain the lead over him for 10 seconds, the race is over and you win. Should you not be able to do this, the points are your friend.
The second run down the boss is following you this time. Same rules apply, the closer he is the more points he gets. These races really have no sense of style, it's basically the type where you go and floor it all the way to the bottom. If you finish and win, you take complete control of that territory.
For every boss you defeat you get to select two rewards. The problem is they are completely random. You could get the pink slip to the boss's car which is already souped up to begin with. Or you could get a free towing pass if you wreck. You can also unlock unique parts and vinyls for your vehicle. Once again the soundtrack for Carbon is top notch. Mostly drum and bass clips, even some oriental themed music for the boss races. The music meshes very well with the environment. The only downside with Carbon is there are quite a few less cars that you are able to choose from when in comparison to the past few entries to the series. To offset this a bit the producers added old muscle cars, like the Dodge Charger, they also added exotic cars like the Lotus Elise and Porsche. If you're a fan of the series you will also be thrilled to know that they have included police chases once again. Though not as hardcore as Hot Pursuit, the police have a bad habit of showing up during the tail end of races. Once the race is completed, the race to escape the cops begins.
If you are a fan, you probably have already picked Carbon up. If you're a fan and you are waiting to hear what other people have to say about, my advice is to pick it up. You will not be disappointed in the least.