Need for Speed: Nitro

Need for Speed: Nitro
NFS Nitro Wii cover with a Lamborghini Reventón, 1970 Dodge Charger, and Ford Mustang
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.^[2][3] 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.^[4] The game was developed by EA Montreal who have previous experience with Nintendo titles, although the DS version was developed separately by Firebrand Games' Florida studio.^[5] 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 four players to race, with a maximum of eight racers at once. The Wii version lets up to four racers compete in a drag race.

Modes

Events feature different modes, namely circuits, team circuits, elimination races, drift challenges, speed trap 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, police will attempt to block and ram racers, causing damage that will reduce the players' top speed and amount of nitro available. Police are not in drag races. The game features power-up icons in the race that immediately repair vehicle damage or increase your opponents' police heat level. During a race, players are awarded "style points" based on performing powerslides and drafting, and nitro is recharged over time. There is small nitro and powerful nitro similar to the Wii version of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Own It

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. Lines on the road will also have the color of the car colors. ^[6] The "Own it" feature is a convenient way to indicate the race leader, and players get additional style points for staying in first.

Racing Tracks

The five cities that in which are in the game are Rio de Janeiro,^[7] Cairo,^[8] Madrid,^[9] Singapore,^[10] and Dubai ^[11] (and San Diego in the DS version). Each city has two full race circuits, one track for drag racing, and the game takes certain parts of a circuit for time trial, speed trap, and drift events. The two circuits in Dubai are the Palm Jumeirah (artificial islands) and the Dubai Marina. The tracks for drag racing are almost in straight lines. In Dubai, the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab, and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel are seen in the video game while racing. In Singapore, races take place during sunset. ^[10] In all the other cities, races take place during the day. ^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Cars

There are 30 classic and modern cars included in Nitro on Nintendo Wii. There are three classes of cars in the game. The "C" class refers to family cars and includes vehicles like the Renault 4. The Tesla Roadster, an electric car, is in the "C" class, too. 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).

Here is a full list of the cars in Need for Speed: Nitro:

Exotic

• Audi R8(class A)
• Ford GT (class A)
• Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 (class A)
• Lamborghini Reventón (class A)
• Pagani Zonda R (class A)
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS (class A)
• Porsche Cayman S (class B)
• Nissan GT-R (class A)

Tuner

• Audi TT RS (class A)
• Ford Escort RS Cosworth (class B)
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (class B)
• Nissan 370Z (Z34) (class B)
• Nissan Skyline class B
• Subaru Impreza WRX STI (class B)
• Toyota Corolla (class C)

Muscle

• Chevrolet Camaro (class C)
• Chevrolet Corvette C3 (class B)
• Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 (class A)
• Dodge Challenger (class A)
• Dodge Charger R/T (class B)
• Ford Shelby GT500 (2010) (class A)
• Shelby GT500 (1967) (class B)

Electric

• Tesla Roadster (class C)

Family

• Ford Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin (class C)
• Hummer H2 SUT (class C)
• Nissan Cube (class C)
• Porsche Cayenne Turbo S (class B)
• Renault 4L (class C)
• Volkswagen Beetle (class C)
• Volkswagen Type 2 (class C)

Racers/Characters

There are 35 racers with names in the Wii version of the game, with Jawad being the most competitive and the hardest to beat. He drives a black Lamborghini Reventón and is from Dubai.^[12][11] In a video Jawad throws money at you. He has a black mustache, a black beard, orange sunglasses, and a silver watch. He also wears a keffiyeh.^[11]

Soundtrack

Dizzee Rascal in 2008

There are 26 songs in Need for Speed: Nitro's soundtrack for Wii. Some artists in the soundtrack are k-os, Dizzee Rascal, Danko Jones, LMFAO, and the Crystal Method.^[13]

The following is a list of the songs in Need for Speed: Nitro Wii:

• Alex Metric - What Now
• Bloody Beetroots feat. Cool Kids - Awesome
• Crookers feat. Wiley and Thomas Jules - Business Man
• Crystal Method feat. LMFAO - Sine Language
• Danko Jones - Code Of The Road
• Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden - Bonkers
• Drumagik - Make It Rock
• Earl Greyhound - Oye Vaya
• edIT feat. Wale and Tre’ - Freaxxx
• Evil 9 - All The Cash (Alex Metric Remix) Feat. El-P
• Hollywood Holt - Can't Stop
• k-os - FUN!
• Lady Sovereign - I Got You Dancing
• Major Lazer feat. Mr.Lex & Santigold - Hold The Line
• Matt & Kim - Daylight (Troublemaker Remix)
• Mickey Factz - Yeah Yeah
• Pint Shot Riot - Not Thinking Straight
• Placebo - Breathe Under Water
• Rise Against - Kotov Syndrome
• Roots Manuva - Buff Nuff
• Rye Rye - Hardcore Girls
• Street Sweeper Social Club - Fight! Smash! Win!
• Taking Back Sunday - Lonely Lonely
• The Enemy - No Time For Tears
• The Gay Blades - O Shot (Dmerit Remix)
• Two Fingers feat. Sway DaSafo - Jewels And Gems

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 Reventón.^[14] 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)[15] 72% (DS)[16]
Metacritic	69/100 (Wii)[17] 70/100 (DS)[18]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	B- (Wii)[19]
Allgame	[20]
Eurogamer	5/10 (Wii)[21]
GameSpot	7/10 (Wii)[22] 7/10 (DS) [23]
GameTrailers	7.2/10[24]
IGN	8/10 (Wii)[25] 6.8/10 (DS)[26]

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".^[27] Although 1Up enjoyed the title, they criticised the game for its shallow campaign, awarding the game a B-.^[28] 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.^[29] 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." ^[30]

References