Need for Speed: Nitro

So what do you get when you cross Burnout, a certain Toyota Corolla, a tin of neon pink spray paint and Dizzee Rascal?

A game for kings and gods with a rather ‘hip and/or with it’ soundtrack? Let’s just say, “Some people may think I’m Bonkers.”

Now, when Need for Speed: Shift has been released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 – it seems the Wii has been given something different, and it has: Need for Speed: Nitro.  Now, you might think that NFS: Nitro is just NFS: Shift for kids – but you’d be wrong.  It has nothing to do with NFS: Shift at all.  It doesn’t have realistic handling, it doesn’t have a realistically modelled in car view.  It has super deformed Bratz style cars, Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers on the soundtrack – and something that seemed to be missing from NFS: Shift (well, all the NFS: Shift that I played on the free Xbox 360 demo before I got distracted by something shiny – ooh Tokidoki!), and what it has is… fun!

If you play NFS: Nitro with the Wii Wheel (like I did) the experience is like finding an old 3D arcade cabinet hidden in a corner at the end of Brighton Pier which looks a bit shonky, but before you know it, fifteen quid in 50p pieces has gone, and you’ve had a solid couple of hours of fun.  So, to start off with, the game isn’t pretty.  It looks more like a Dreamcast/Gamecube game than a Wii game from a AAA publisher, and if it had been slightly repackaged as ‘Starsky and Hutch II: Die Hutcher’ it wouldn’t have been that surprising.  What is it it gets right?  The gameplay.  While I was playing, I couldn’t work out if it was more like Burnout, Outrun or Chase HQ – and that’s not a bad decision to have to make.

To start off with, it’s a race.  A very simple race, and there are power ups – two of them.  You can either repair your car, or get cops to chase after one of your rivals.  That’s it.  You can drift, and it builds up your boost (up to two levels – that’s where the ‘Burnout’ bit comes from) and you have to get to the finish first.  The AI is bullish, but doesn’t cheat that badly – and when it does cheat, it makes it a more enjoyable race.  Then, when you get into first… well, that’s where the magic happens…

Like most racers these days, cars are customisable.  You choose your colour, and have a very easy – yet surprisingly versatile – customisation tool.  You choose an icon (including Tokidoki – YAY!!! TOKIDOKI!!!) and garage graffiti.  When you race, and get in first – the Fifa Street style graffiti aesthetics finally make sense, as the city changes on the fly as you race through.  Buildings get graffitied with your pink stars. Street lines turn your shade of pink.  And rabbit looking Tokidokis reproduce as if they were, well, rabbit Tokidokis.  All this is coupled with the best collection of EA Trax that I have ever come across.

There are a variety of modes.  Drag Race, Speed Trap, Time Trial, Elimination – but they’re all fairly standard.  There are a range of cars, including a Camero – so you can live out your Bumblebee fantasies – and a Hummer – so you can live out your Arnie fantasies.  For me, the car inclusion that made me squeal: a Toyota Corolla AE86 – so I can live out my Initial D fantasies.

The package proudly displays the fact that NFS: Nitro won the best Wii Racing game at E3, and also an IGN award – and you can see why.  It’s pretty much the perfect Wii racer for me – it’s fun, it’s solid and thought through properly.  And for a Wii Need for Speed release, that seems to be a real improvement for EA.  Finally, a Wii Need for Speed racer that’s not trying to be anything more than damn good fun… see, “there’s nothing crazy about me”.