The Need for Speed series has certainly given racing fans and sports car enthusiasts a lot to cheer about on the consoles and since Sony’s portable gaming machine hit the market its great to find such a beloved series in a handheld system worthy of bringing all the things we love about the series in one bite-sized package. On the major consoles, the series has attempted to reinvent itself while not losing sight of the elements we love about the series but in a competitive world where other game developers bring their own style of racing game to the virtual racetrack, it’s the Need for Speed franchise that still manages to pull in their loyal fans. Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City for the PSP is here but is it gripping enough to still keep our interest?

The answer is yes and no. Yes the game has what it takes to hook in the loyal racing game fans it attracted since Hot Pursuit and with a world wide enough to explore who can really blame us. Then again, the game feels like very little has changed at all and thus disappointing any gamer who was looking for something unique and something fresh. We’re basking in the fresh new glow of the next-generation of gaming so why does it feel like we’re playing a slightly cooler version of last year’s Most Wanted? This is not to say that Own the City is not a bad game because it really isn’t bad at all. In fact, it’s another excellent portable version of an excellent console game.

Own the City’s single-player story mode puts you behind the wheel of a talented young street racer who gets into a horrible accident during a race. Waking up in the hospital, you have no recollection of what happened to you or who the lovely girl name Sara is and what she means to you. You quickly find out that the man you were racing against before the accident was your brother Mick (Sara’s boyfriend and leader of a racing crew known as the Lucky 7) and that a mysterious car intentionally rammed him and you off the road. It is now up to you to form your own crew and discover the identity of the driver that killed your brother. While the story does sound interesting, it gets lost in the game’s various races and your attempt to dominate the city’s territories.

The game begins with three tutorial races that introduce two major new features that come in the form of your own crew as well as crew abilities. Your introductory wingman Carter, for example, shows you what a Brawler does during a race. You can call upon your brawler (by way of a picture of our brawler on the upper right-hand corner of the screen) who will disable a rival’s car ahead of you by slamming into said rival. Sara then introduces her role as a Drafter that, when you call for your drafter, will pull up ahead of you at top speed so you can ride your drafter’s wake to build up acceleration. Finally there’s the Assassin role that, when you need it, will slip ahead of a lead car and lay a spike strip in front of them. The downside to the spike strip is that if you’re not careful it can pop your tires as well.

You will quickly get access to your Crew House where you can purchase cars and then customize them with a number of mod kits as well as create your own crew including deciding on the name as well as your crew logo. This is actually an excellent element of the game since you can pick racers you meet out in the game’s open city and have them join your crew. That means you can assign a Drafter, Assassin or Brawler role to certain members of your crew and use them during races. The idea of beating out other racers and offering them a spot as a member of your crew is neat but I feel that this phase of the game could have added a lot more such as using a crew racer to fill in when your skills or car aren’t up to a particular challenge. At least your crew can level up on their skills during races.

From the Crew House you can chose to Free Ride through the game’s many areas that range from an industrial area to a shipyard and even a campus area. Along the way you can accept a number of races to earn points, cash and territory. Like the story mode races there are a variety of race types such as Circuit, Sprint, Lap Knockout, Escape and Deliver (where you must deliver a package before anyone else wins the race). Own the City also takes a page out of EA’s other franchise, Burnout, with Crew Takedown. Crew Takedown has you trying to take down a number of rivals by slamming into them and thus knocking them out of the race before the time runs out. You’ll be glad the game’s controls remain simple and easy to get into because some of the races are actually pretty challenging.

Visually, Own the City does the environment justice with its beautifully detailed industrial, residential or inner city areas. Much like the last two Need for Speed games, the open world is filled with traffic and great backgrounds that really stand out. What doesn’t stand out are the cars that, while resembling the real car models, just aren’t detailed enough. They don’t even look like they’re going fast, which is something the console version does nicely.

The sound effects aren’t as detailed either, although the engine sounds and the tires screeching do manage to give you the impression that you’re behind the wheel of a hot Mitsubishi. At least the soundtrack is pretty good with its collection of cool tunes that sound great during races. You can always download tunes from an MP3 player to your memory stick to use in the game but the soundtrack provided works beautifully. The game’s story includes some voice acting but most of the characters sound like stereotyped urban caricatures.

Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City for the PSP still follows the same boring formula as past games in the series but if you’re a fan of the series or racing games in general you’ll find that this one makes for a more than decent portable game. It would have been great if the game added more to the interesting crew features or added more to the story but it’s all about the races and that’s handled well enough. Maybe next time the series will stretch out to something different but in the meantime this will have to do.  

Gameplay: 7.2
The controls are just as good as Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the PSP and while the Drafting move does give the impression of speed you won’t feel like you’re zipping past a rival at 90 mph. Forming your own crew is just downright cool but it could have been a lot better and while the story isn’t compelling, you can’t help but see it through to the end.

Graphics: 7.5
The cars aren’t as flashy as you should be and that’s really unfortunate since you’ll be driving around in the automotive world’s most sleek and sexy machines. There’s not even a good sense of speed, although riding in your Drafter’s wake does look great even on the PSP. The locale is just plain gorgeous in this game.

Sound: 7.5
A healthy dose of rock, electronica and some hot beats make up the soundtrack and if you don’t like it you can always add your own tunes thanks to Electronic Arts best new media feature. The voice acting in the game is decent with the exception of some racial stereotypes tossed into the game to sound “street.” As for the sound effects, they’re not bad at all.

Difficulty: Medium
Many of the rivals you’ll encounter in the game will offer a serious challenge that will have you restarting a race to do it all over again. The cops in the city don’t play around a well and you’ll find it pretty hard to shake them off your tail.

Concept: 6.5
After finishing the somewhat lengthy single-player mode, there’s very little to come back to when you’re finished. Then again the multiplayer mode will most likely win you over. There are some unlockable extras throughout the game and being able to start your own crew is a great idea. I just wish there was more to the crew aspect than what is seen here.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Up to four players can race against each another online through Infrastructure mode or play wirelessly using Ad Hoc. Either way the game runs as smooth as a baby’s bottom and the great track design and slick cars will have you racing long after you finished the single-player mode.

Overall: 7.2
Own the City is not a bad Need for Speed game for the PSP but then again the series does feel like it’s in serious need of a major modification. Sure it still is a fast and furious racing game with a lot to offer but this is stuff we’ve seen before. If you’re a fan of the series you will like this game but if you’re expecting something new you will be in for a disappointment.