I rented NASCAR Thunder 2004 Friday, and have been playing it quite a
bit. Since this is my only day off, I'll keep this straight and to the
point.
Things I Like:
- AI who fight back once you piss 'em off so much. Anger them a little,
and they'll block. Anger 'em a lot, and they'll really get into ya and
try to ruin your day. Of course, the Rival number is based on how hard
you make contact, and how often. Ally numbers are gained by being behind
a car, and pressing R2 to draft it. The longer you stay behind him, the
higher the number gets.
- Rivalries that continue from one race to another, during season and
career modes.
- Race Presentation (pre and post race audio). I love how the announcers
will talk about who you angered during the race.
- Michael Waltrip interviewing other drivers.
- Engine sounds are great.
- Damage is a little better than from last year.
- Physics seem much better than from last year.
- During practice and happy hour, being able to pause and tune your
setup on the fly. I love it.
- The career mode. I still find it confusing as hell, mainly 'cause I
can't find my current development numbers. Apart from that, it's been
improved upon from last year. Ten-fold.
- Online play, though I haven't tested it. A nice inclusion.
- The music tracks are great.
Things I Don't Like:
- Controller configuration. Using L1 and R1 to shift is unusual for me,
since I used the D-Pad to steer. Let us have a custom config.
- Frame rates are pretty low. You'll easily notice this when you race,
then watch a video (Features - What's New) of the in-game action. It
isn't as fluid. Perhaps when the PS3 comes out, this won't be an issue.
- Wrecks are still unrealistic.
- Some tracks aren't to scale or modelled properly. Daytona seems too
small from apron to wall, whereas in NR2003 it seems just fine. The
banking at Richmond still doesn't seem right, nor at Talladega coming
across the D on the front stretch.
- AI don't want to work with you. Example, at Dega you come out of two
and stay right on the line. Nobody follows, ever.
- I wanna hear somebody calling the race. MVP Baseball 2003 did it
acceptably. Or, have an entire replay of the race (start to finish with
5% or lower races, maybe?) with announcing.
- Drafting issues occur at smaller tracks Bristol, which was still going
on in NT2003. You can run right up to their bumper, but not bump 'em
unless you've got a heavy charge. It makes passing a pain in the ass.
- In Career, full aids are disabled completely. Limited or Off is your
only choice. What happened to letting the players choose which aids they
want instead of forcing it on 'em? I wouldn't need any aids if I had a
wheel/pedals for my PS2, but alas I don't.
- No music during the loading screens. I don't like sitting in silence.
- The one problem I have with the Rival/Ally system is the requirement
of drafting, as in having to press R2. I think that any time I draft
behind a car for an extended amount of time, I should get ally points.
But if they insist on keeping it in the next version then here's an
idea: Let R2 be a on/off "Let's Work Together" command. Which would be
directed towards the car in front and behind of you. Based on ally
points, they either will or won't (or some other formula, based on stats
like NR2003). Then the game would calculate up these points, and come up
with a "train" of cars who are gonna work together. If Jeff Gordon was
behind you, then Jimmie Johnson...both would work with you, since
they're teammates, and thus a three car "train". But as I mentioned a
comments up, the AI seriously need some common sense for this to work well.
- IMO, this game would be much better commentary-wise if they would
either get the Fox or NBC booth guys to do some recording. Or simply go
back and grab a shot-load of audio clips from previous televised races.
Honestly, those MRN guys bore me to death.
--------------
All in all, the NASCAR Thunder series is looking pretty good. Give 'em
five years, and we might have something special. Now if EA would only
make 'em add these things to the PC version. It seems pretty clear that
Thunder won't out-class NR2003 with physics alone. :)
-Will
