NASCAR 09
by Electronic Arts
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Video Game Reviews of NASCAR 09
Customer Review: Game is Flawed
Summary: 1 Stars
I usually do write reviews, but knowing that no one has posted a review about the freezing issues, IMO tells gamers the game is good. Please before purchasing this title check the forums and you will notice that everyone is experiencing this problem. Just giving everyone a heads up, thxCustomer Review: Much better than '08
Summary: 5 Stars
I became a Nascar fan two years ago and I anxiously picked up nascar 08. It was a fun game, and after a while it was enjoyable. The controls were very touchy. Nascar 09 is a much better step up. Its easier to figure out what you want and even though I hate Jeff Gordon he helps you get your career started. The graphics are amazing on my elite 1080p. The controls are not as touchy and I am almost through a whole craftsman season and I find myself putting the controls on hard. If you are a fan of racing games i suggest this game, it is truly realistic. Now, I only want the xbox steering wheel to make it the most true racing experience yet. Buy 09. Customer Review: Kenny
Summary: 4 Stars
When compared to last year's game, this was year's game was bound to be an improvement. I wasn't expecting much. I've learned not to. Regardless, I found that this year's edition of NASCAR is one of my all-time favorites. It's playable, but not easy.
Let's start with the graphics. They are fantastic. The sun glimmers off of the asphalt. Imperfections can be seen in the track, including cracks in the painted lines and bumps on the SAFER barriers. The grandstands are not the most detailed, but once your car gets out on the track, it makes little difference. There are some flaws. For example, when you are on the backstretch at Dover, there is a buggy shadow that moves along the outside wall, but it's a great looking game overall.
The audio is decent, yet unspectacular. The stock cars sound like stock cars. The crowd sounds like a crowd.
Now onto gameplay. There is a great deal of customization, so you're bound to find a setting that works well for you. I found that the auto-braking made going around the corners easy, but it prevented me from accelerating off of the corner like I wanted it to. Also, it made the game a little too easy. I found that using manual braking with a low level of stability and traction control made the cars handle best. You still had to exhibit skill negotiating the corners, but it made the cars stable enough that you weren't wrecking on the straightaways, a noted problem last year. In short, the cars drive really well, and it's possible to have side-by-side racing this year, which is really, really fun. On the flip side, they don't handle so well that you can just dirt track through the corners. I like to drive off my right-rear tire, but if I'm not careful, I can use up my tires very easily. Even the loosest race car will begin to plow at the end of a run if the tires are abused. The pit road adjustments can help, however. The air pressure, wedge, and trackbar adjustments work well, allowing me to drive deeply into the corners, roll through the center, and get back in the gas early. I have had bad handling race cars, yet I've been able to get them right with adjustments in the pits. The key is to get your car handling well that you can negotiate the corners without burning up your tires. Another plus about this game is that it is important that you take care of your stuff.
The AI, on the other hand, has never been a strong point in EA's versions of NASCAR, and it's not great here, either. It hampers the overall feel of the game. It is tough to avoid bumping another car, and the game will black flag you for it. I got black-flagged for getting hit in the rear end at Martinsville. When I play a NASCAR game, I want it to be as close to an actual race as possilbe. On the good side, there have been races where I've been a 2nd place car and finished 2nd. That's good. I've been able to run down the leader, only to watch the car behind me pass me and pull away. That's good. You'll see that during a real race. What I don't like is when I take the lead, all of the sudden everybody gets faster. The lapped cars blow by me and pull away. If I'm on the pole, I can never pull away. I never seem to catch the tail end of the field, yet if I fall back to second, I'll hit lapped traffic right away. If I short pit, I'm light years faster than the field when I leave pit road, giving me a prime opportunity to make up 10 or so seconds on the track (yes, you read that right). With my new 10 second lead, I'll find myself back in second within 10 or 15 laps. While it doesn't make the game terrible, it prevents NASCAR 09 from being all that it could be.
You do have the ability to modify many settings from how frequently you pit, to the diffculty level of your opponents, to turning off yellow and/or black flags, to changing how your car handles. Again, this is the greatest strength of the game.
Whereas career mode in this game isn't as deep as it used to be, it still puts an emphasis on keeping your car owner (and sponsor) happy. You'll receive performance boosts if you can please your sponsors. If you don't please them, your reputation will suffer. A higher reputation will land you a more quality ride, even allowing you to sign with Gibbs, Hendrick, Childress, Roush, and Evernham. You can move through the Craftsman Truck Series, Nationwide Series, and finally to Sprint Cup. There is no modified series this year. I haven't tapped into other features such as the scenario racing, but they sound fun.
Overall, where does that put this game? It's a stellar NASCAR title. The racing is fun. The AI is far from perfect, but the game truly allows you to race as you want to race, making this a pick up for any NASCAR fan or fan of racing games in general.
Customer Review: Best NASCAR game yet
Summary: 5 Stars
This game is very easy to just pick up and play if you don't want to get involved with the meat and poatoes of the game.
You have the option of starting from the ground up in all three major NASCAR series-CraftsMan Trucks, NationWide, and Sprint Cup.
On the other hand if your thing is unlimited tweaking of every possible thing on the car and TONS of "paint booth" things you won't be disappointed. This game is 100% better than last years.
You can look forward to endless hours of fun. The multiplayer is very smooth also, as can be expected with XBox Live
Customer Review: New fan to NASCAR games... overall I'm enjoying my experience.
Summary: 4 Stars
First of all this review is written by a newer fan of NASCAR games. I've played a little in the past but nothing seriously due to not really liking the title. I thought the past games were boring, however this game seems a little different and more fun. With that said, my attitude may have changed not because of the game but because of my recent attitude towards NASCAR. I have a favorite driver now so it makes following the sport a lot more fun. As for the game, overall the game is fun and there are some neat features to it such as the things you can do in the garage to customize your car for race day, the graphics during gameplay are amazing and the different options such as career mode and season mode are great!
As for things I dont like about the game, I wish EA could be a little more creative when it came to coming up with the generic sponsors. There were a couple featured sponsors such as COKE that are cool however the no-name sponsors that EA Sports made up were mostly dorky and it was hard to pick out sponsors to put on my car and make it look good. I'm sorry I dont want sponsors such as "Pat and Son's lumber" on my car. I understand the game needed to put some of the lowerlevel dorky sponsors on there to make it realistic however there were too many of them which makes it hard to make a customized car look good on the track. Basically EA needs to improve on the sponsor graphics and take more into account how the overall sponsors' pictures look - they look too cartoonish and unsporty to me.
Another thing about the game I didnt care to much for is that the handling of the car while racing is hard especially when rounding a corner of a track. I'm banging into everyone and I'm not even trying to. I had to turn off black flag options (being disqualified for reckless driving) to even finish a race. This was frustrating. It was hard to pass other cars with out at least tapping them a little. To be all honest this may be due to me being a new fan of NASCAR games and I'm not use to this style of racing in which braking and patience is a must. Also I know nothing about adjustments to a car to make it handle better so all of those features to tweek a car are worthless to me. I wish there could be an option in which the comupter could take care of that based on my driving style... that would be neat.
With all that said, the game is worth playing and I am enjoying it. No major gripes.....