For the PS2
Well, the reason I reviewed this game is because I'm a NASCAR fan. In fact, I have 3 NASCAR games just for the Gamecube, excluding this one. So, of course, I had to pick this one up and play it. I'm sure as many of you NASCAR fans have played NASCAR 05: Chase for the Cup and you have seen that it has been a more enjoyable experience what with the Chase for the Cup and the storyline that follows you through 4 of the NASCAR series. This time, however it's different.
I'm sure you know that in the past 2 NASCAR games you can make allies by share drafting with them and making clean passes and make enemies by bumping into enemies hard and intimidating drafts. Now in this game, teamwork is required. For the first time in a NASCAR game, you can tell your teammates what to do. You can tell them to push you in a restrictor plate race, hit another driver for revenge and even switch to your teammates' cars to go up to the lead or hit cars so your original character can win the race. This makes racing a whole lot different.
While this is a new change for the series, the rest of the game seems to be the same. This is fine with me. However, EA Sports needs to work with those graphics. While there are more details like skid marks, smoke, etc. and more kinds of crashes like the barrel roll, the graphics seem kind of crummy compared to last year's game.
Sound effects are just as good as ever, with the crashes, the sounds of the engines, your crew chieft and more.
Here are my scores for NASCAR 06: Total Team Control (based out of 10)
Graphics- 6/10- EA Sports needs to seriously work on graphics like they do with the rest of their sports games
Sound- 10/10- All of the hard-hitting, crushing, sounds you hear from a NASCAR race. And plenty of it too.
Gameplay- 9/10- The new squad-based racing formula definitely puts more depth into NASCAR and gives racing a whole new meaning to it.
Entertainment- NASCAR and racing fans will now get even more bang for your buck. Casual and hardcore gamers might want to take a look at this game and at least rent it.
Replay Value: High
Overall Score: 9.0/10