Need for Speed: Nitro

Need for Speed: Nitro
NFS Nitro Wii cover.
Developer(s)	EA Montreal (Wii), Firebrand Games (DS)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Series	Need for Speed
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, Wii
Release date(s)	3 November 2009 (US)[1] 6 November 2009 (EU) 17 December 2009 (JP)
Genre(s)	Racing
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ PEGI: 7

Need for Speed: Nitro is a 14th installment in the long-running racing video game franchise Need for Speed. It was published by Electronic Arts for the Wii and Nintendo DS platforms, It is also the only game to date in the franchise to not be made for PC. It was announced in January as part of a three-game announcement that includes Need for Speed: Shift and Need for Speed: World.^[2] The game was developed by EA Montreal whom have previous experience with Nintendo titles, although the DS version was developed separately by Firebrand Games' Florida studio.^[3] An improved version of the DS edition of the game, Need for Speed: Nitro-X, was released for DSiWare in November 2010.

Gameplay

Need for Speed: Nitro features disproportionate real-life vehicles.

Need for Speed: Nitro is an arcade style racing game that emphasizes speed and excitement over realism or vehicle tuning. The Wii version allows up to 4 players to race, with a maximum of 8 racers at once. Events feature different modes, namely circuits, elimination races, drift challenges, drag challenges and time attacks. Career mode allows players to compete in several cups and build up a roster of vehicles, while Arcade Mode lets players immediately jump into a race with customized difficulty and race conditions.

During races, cops will attempt to block and ram racers, causing damage that will reduce the players' top speed and amount of nitro available. The game features power-up icons in the race that immediately repair vehicle damage or increase your opponents heat level. During a race, players are awarded "style points" based on performing powerslides and drafting, and nitro is recharged over time.

The game has an aesthetic feature called "Own It"; while a player is in the lead, the surrounding landscape and buildings are textured with his car's colors, graffiti, and tags, all of which can be created with the game's new car customization system.^[4]. The "Own it" feature is a convenient way to indicate the race leader, and players get additional style points for staying in first.

The five cities in the game are Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Madrid, Singapore, and Dubai (and San Diego in the DS version). Each city has two full race circuits, 1 track for drag racing, and the game takes certain parts of a track for time trial and drift events. There are 32 classic and modern cars (33 on Nintendo DS) included in Nitro on Nintendo Wii.^[5] There are 3 classes of cars in the game. The "C" class refers to family cars and includes vehicles like the Renault 4. The "B" class refers to performance vehicles such as the Ford Escort RS Cosworth and the Nissan Skyline GT-R. The last car class, "A", refers to supercars, such as the Ford GT and the Nissan GT-R. There are also 3 SUVs unannounced but officially available in this game, they are Porsche Cayenne Turbo S ("B" class), Hummer H2 SUT and Ford Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin ("C" class).

There are 35 racers with names in the Wii version of the game, with Jawad being the most competitive and the hardest to beat.

Development and marketing

In the new franchising model for the series adopted by EA, Nitro takes its place aiming at casual gamers rather than the hardcore fans of the series and is also Nintendo exclusive. As with previous titles in the Need for Speed series, Nitro features a large catalog of customizable licensed vehicles, as well as cops. It is distinguished by fast, arcade racing with an anime-like visual, akin to the also upcoming Blur racing game. Need for Speed Nitro is also the first Need For Speed game that has traffic cars that can also be bought in career mode (with the exception of the Volkswagen Golf traffic car).^{[citation needed]}

A trailer was released on the Need for Speed website depicting four cartoon-like vehicles that are actually disproportionate real-life vehicles. The cars were a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, a Nissan Skyline, an Audi R8, and a Lamborghini Reventon. The trailer also displayed the buildings in different vibrant colors and several disproportionate police vehicles (Shelby GT500's).

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	73% (Wii)[6] 72% (DS)[7]
Metacritic	69/100 (Wii)[8] 70/100 (DS)[9]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	B- (Wii)[10]
Allgame	[11]
Eurogamer	5/10 (Wii)[12]
GameSpot	7/10 (Wii)[13] 7/10 (DS) [14]
GameTrailers	7.2/10[15]
IGN	8/10 (Wii)[16] 6.8/10 (DS)[17]

Need for Speed: Nitro received mixed reviews upon release. Mark Bozon from IGN awarded the game an 8.0 out of 10 for the Wii version, stating that "Nitro is a blast despite its faults".^[18] Although 1Up enjoyed the title, they criticised the game for its shallow campaign, awarding the game a B-.^[19] Eurogamer were considerably less impressed, awarding the game a score of 5 out of 10, stating that "[although] it might scream 'excitement' at the top of its tiny lungs...Need For Speed: Nitro's initially endearing zest quickly degenerates into repetitive strain." Despite this, Eurogamer praised the innovative use of the changing level appearance depending on the player's car.^[20] Official Nintendo Magazine gave a more positive review, rating it 80% and saying; "Need For Speed: Nitro doesn't do anything remarkable. It doesn't have a fancy gimmick that no other game has featured before, it doesn't have the sort of visuals that will blow you away, and it doesn't offer outstanding online multiplayer gameplay that will have you playing for years to come. It's simply fun to play, and in focusing on quality over quantity EA has managed to put together one of the best racing games on the Wii." ^[21]

References

1. ^ Kirk Pedersen (19 October 2009). "NFS Nitro in stores November 3!". Need for Speed. http://www.needforspeed.com/web/nfs-na/blogs/need-for-speed-news/-/nfsblogs/469776?_Blogs_WAR_globportlets_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fnfs-na%2Fblogs%2Fneed-for-speed-news%3Fp_p_id%3DBlogs_WAR_globportlets%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_col_id%3Dcolumn-2%26p_p_col_count%3D1%26_Blogs_WAR_globportlets_struts_action%3D%252Fnfsblogs%252Fview%26_Blogs_WAR_globportlets_delta%3D10%26_Blogs_WAR_globportlets_keywords%3D%26_Blogs_WAR_globportlets_advancedSearch%3Dfalse%26_Blogs_WAR_globportlets_andOperator%3Dtrue%26cur%3D55&p_r_p_564233524_authorId=91892. Retrieved 22 May 2010. 
2. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/driving/needforspeedshift/news.html?sid=6205554&tag=topslot%3bthumb%3b4
3. ^ Jordan, Jon. "DS Preview - Need for Speed: Nitro DS". http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/news.asp?c=12893&sec=4. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
4. ^ Bozon, Mark. "Need for Speed Nitro Review". http://wii.ign.com/articles/104/1041851p1.html/. Retrieved 2009-11-12. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Haygood, Joe. "Need for Speed Nitro Hands On". http://www.aeropause.com/2009/06/need-for-speed-nitro-hands-on/. Retrieved 2009-07-26. 
6. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro for Wii - GameRankings
7. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro for DS - GameRankings
8. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro for Wii at Metacritic
9. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro for DS at Metacritic
10. ^ Need for Speed Nitro Review for Wii from 1UP.com
11. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro - Overview - allgame
12. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro Review - Wii - Page 2 | Eurogamer.net
13. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro Wii - GameSpot.com
14. ^ Need for Speed: Nitro DS - GameSpot.com
15. ^ Need for Speed NITRO Video Game | GameTrailers.com
16. ^ Need for Speed Nitro - Wii - IGN
17. ^ Need for Speed Nitro - DS - IGN
18. ^ Bozon, Mark. "Need for Speed: Nitro review on IGN". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/104/1041851p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-21. 
19. ^ "Need for Speed: Nitro on 1up". 1UP. http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3176861&p=44. Retrieved 2009-11-21. 
20. ^ Reed, Kristan. "Need for Speed: Nitro Review on Eurogamer". Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/need-for-speed-nitro-review. Retrieved 2009-11-21. 
21. ^ http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=13019