NASCAR Thunder 2002 is hard to put into words. At times it feels like all hope is lost. Some idiot runs you into the wall, you spin out and before you know it, the guy in 42nd place is barely visible. First place seems impossible right now, but this is one of the things that makes NASCAR Thunder so much fun. You didn't enter this race to go home a loser, so you try harder than you ever did before. Then you come to a fairly sharp turn and 30 of the cars in front of you have slowed down to navigate the turn without bumping the wall (which would slow them down tremendously). But you never hit the brakes, knowing that this may be your only chance to catch up. Carefully swerving in and out of the lanes, then cutting off a few drivers as a way of saying "thanks for ramming me into the wall," you speed past all of those sissy wannabes and create a photo finish unlike any other in the process. While all of this was going on, the sun slowly faded as stars began to appear. Blinded by this beautiful picture, you squint, staring directly at the sun because you don't want to miss out on this gorgeous view. And when all was said and done, there was only one thing on your mind. Not, "I can't believe I won." Not, "Those graphics are amazing." Not even, "This game is a blast." The one and only thing on your mind was when. "When will I get to experience this again?"

Although it may be hard to believe, NASCAR Thunder 2002 really is that good. As I said in my review of Devil May Cry, every month I am blown away by a new game. November isn't even half over yet, and there has already been the release of a mind-blowing game. I once said that last year was the best year in gaming history because of all the great games that came out. But look at 2001. The year isn't even over yet, and already I've played more must-have games than ever before. It's a shame I don't have enough space to list them all here. Electronic Arts has helped contribute to this "must-have" list, starting with Rumble Racing and NBA Street. Their latest contribution is the best, most entertaining game yet -- NASCAR Thunder 2002. Featuring three game modes and an awesome multiplayer mode that allows four gamers to experience the NASCAR action together on one television, NT2002 will keep you glued to your PS2 for a long time (as if you weren't glued to it already!).

The bread and butter of NASCAR Thunder is definitely the Career mode, but Season mode is my personal favorite. Winning the championship in Season mode is nice and all, but the ultimate goal is to beat the world record number of championship wins (seven) before you retire. You have 20 years to win eight championships, which gives you 12 years to make mistakes, fall behind and inevitably fail. With 42 aggressive drivers vying for first place, 12 years isn't much time to practice. Luckily, all of the drivers have equal strength and weakness in this mode, giving no one an unfair advantage.

Each season has 12 races. The guy who gets first place isn't necessarily going to be the champion, as the overall winner of the season is based on the point total of each racer, not how many times they win first place. In some cases, first and second place winners can have the exact same amount of points. 175 points are awarded to the first place winner, and 170 are award to second place -- but if the second place winner received a five point bonus, their scores will end up the same. Five bonus points are awarded to the racer who holds the lead the longest, and additional points are award to anyone who leads the race for one full lap. This gives anyone with some experience a huge advantage, as they are able to rack up a ton of extra points simply by leading all the way through a 10-lap race.

Regarding NASCAR Thunder 2002's graphics, let me quote one of the guards in Metal Gear Solid and say, "!" NT2002 uses the PS2's particle effects capabilities in ways that I never even thought of. Any time your car bumps the wall, hundreds of tiny sparks are dispersed around the side of the vehicle. If you hit the wall too much or too hard, your vehicle will be visibly damaged. The cars can be dented, smashed and bashed in almost every conceivable way, while pieces of the battered vehicle are thrown in the air.

NASCAR Thunder's rear view mirror is much more detailed than the one featured in Gran Turismo 3. The backgrounds tend to fade out of GT3's mirror, which creates a backward pop-up effect. Your eyes are supposed to be glued to the road ahead, but when you do look in your mirror, you expect to see just as much graphical beauty as you do in the rest of the game. NT2002's mirror doesn't fade out the backgrounds -- no matter where your car is, everything behind you is visible.

It's like watching a race on TV -- the graphics, even on a standard television, are picture perfect. I don't think I've ever seen pavement in a video game that looked so real before. The color and texturing is unprecedented. NT2002's artists must've spent several weeks, if not months, designing and painting the gorgeous (yes, gorgeous) pavement. The grass is also nice to look at, as are the many vehicles, motor homes, trucks and trailers parked in the background. Electronic Arts has always been good at utilizing a console's true power, but never before have they made a game that looked this good. I know that Gran Turismo 3 can hold its own at retail, but aside from Polyphony Digital's masterpiece, I pity the release of any other racing game on the PlayStation 2.