NASCAR '06: Total Team Control

"Another year, another racing game." That's the thought that comes to mind with so many titles. But not the NASCAR series from EA. It's the only racing series that works its butt off to push the boundaries of the genre, year after year. 2005 brings the series' biggest boundary-pusher yet: Total Team Control.

Total Team Control is exactly as it sounds. The driver is the commander; the controller of all things on four wheels. Races are team-based, and although it means more to your success (and more to the player) to win the race yourself, the game is open to mistakes. Losing one race doesn't have to mean the end of the road for your career, not if your teammates are on board. Active teammates are as real as the car you start the race with. If you crash, total your vehicle or fall a little behind, switch to another vehicle and it'll still be possible to come out victorious.

That's what Total Team Control is – a system that lets you manipulate the whole team. It's one of those things that makes you say, "Why didn't they think of it sooner?" It wasn't that simple though. Imagine what it could do to the difficulty. Why concentrate on my driving skills if there's no complications from causing an accident? Why shouldn't I launch a chain of destructive pileups, switch vehicles, and claim the first place spot?

To prevent the obvious from occurring, the developers fought hard not to stray from making each race about success of the team, not just one race. The artificial intelligence is smart, both on the ally and on the rival/opponent side.

Good relations go a long way. Your allies won't let you take control of their vehicle if they don't like you. When it comes time to take the lead, watch yourself. It's easy to get carried away and bump the sides of your allies along with the rest of the crowd, thinking solely about the finish line. Eventually you're going to need someone else's help. They're less likely to listen to you if they don't like you, and won't have a chance at making the top 10 if they lost speed because you rammed them into the wall.

Season Mode and Chase for the Cup have returned as expected, but the big mode – the one that'll keep you up at night – is Fight to the Top. This mode focuses on every detail you can imagine. View contracts, see who's making the best offer, check team statistics, and sign on the dotted line.

Fame and fortune are just a few races away, however, the game is far from over when the season ends. Fight to the Top is a multi-season mode that'll take you from signing with a Whelen team to having the option to sign with Craftsman, NNS and NEXTEL Cup teams. It's almost like four simulation racers in one. Score enough dough and you can purchase a team, adding to the list of responsibilities, but also adding to how much power and control you have.

It's amazing to me that 12 laps – which can result in long and furious battles – is just 8% of what a full-length race would be. You can literally race 300 laps! On one track! If there was a special mode with a big reward at stake I'd do it, but right now I just don't have the endurance for that. (I generally kept the game at no more than 12%.)

Logitech's PS2 microphone technology has been implemented for driver feedback and driver command functions. Call out to your teammates – tell them to "hold position" or to "block" opponents. The response times are pretty good, and the voice recognition quality is above average. It detected my commands with few problems.

It does, however, detect heavy breathing (which does not cause any gameplay interference) and mistakes certain words for curse words. If you've been following our NASCAR 06: Total Team Control coverage you're probably aware of its anti-curse system. Curse once or twice and get a warning – curse after that and they'll start deducting points, saying that you're a role model who should know better.

Good idea I suppose, but after I noticed the mic could pick up heavy breathing I said to myself, "It picked it up, that's funny." The game registered that as a curse word and told me to stop. I repeated myself and it said the same thing. Apparently there was something funny about one of the words in that sentence.

Comparing Total Team Control to EA's first PS2 NASCAR release will not yield major, eye-popping differences. Irrespective of that, NASCAR 06 is one breathtaking racer. The cars, the tracks, the backgrounds, the sunlight, the shadows – it's too beautiful for words.

Like looking outside a window at sunset, the game captures the essence and beauty of the real-world visuals NASCAR fans would notice if they took their eyes off the race for one second. The sun pours through the background with a gorgeous, blinding ray that shines the most perfect effect on the vehicles, and creates a shadow that stretches accurately. Players are treated to a cornucopia of effects that change from race to race, and from daytime to dusk and to night.

Product placement is everywhere in this game. With all the Mr. Clean and Old Spice High Endurance deodorant billboards you'd think the developers were trying to tell us something. (I just showered like five days ago. What more do you want?) But why waste time with those products when you could spend the day racing a few hundred laps?

NASCAR 06: Total Team Control's gameplay, graphics and lasting side effects (excessive amounts of replay value) put EA on top again. There aren't any other NASCAR titles on the market, but when there were EA's games were still the best. The only difference is that now you no longer have the option of making the wrong choice. Now you only have one game to choose from – the right game. The best game. The one with Total Team Control.

Gameplay: 8.8
You can't call your game Total Team Control without first creating the best, most-realistic control mechanics possible, and NASCAR 06 doesn't disappoint. Not only do the different types of vehicles control differently, but also the terrain (are you on the track or making figure eights in the grass?) affects how the steering with great prestige.

Fun comes first with this game, but that doesn't mean that the series has left its simulation roots. The physics engine will get you every time. Bump your opponent the wrong way, hit the side too harshly or from the wrong angle and you'll be the one who drops to last place. For this reason (and the inclusion of new difficulties through team-based gameplay), Total Team Control is the most challenging NASCAR game since the series' PS2 debut.

Graphics: 8.5
A slight upgrade from past seasons, NASCAR 06 appears to have done all it can do with the PS2's Emotion Engine. Sunsets, textures and eerily realistic shadows make up the bulk of the beauty, but the whole game is visually appealing.

Sound: 8.0
Not the best EA Trax collection though. They pick the soundtrack based on who they expect to play it, and I suppose the country/rock sounds will, in theory, appeal to the average NASCAR fan. But it doesn't appeal to me.

The sound effects, however, are as close to the real thing as ever. And the voice recognition is top-of-the-line as far as PS2 games go. The technology has a long way to go before it's perfected, but if I call out a command and the game responds accordingly, I'm happy.

Difficulty: Medium
A challenge that's fair but unforgiving. Opponents are equipped with sharp AI, while the realistic physics make your vehicle a speeding time bomb. Playing NASCAR 06 will make you a better gamer. Defeating these challenges will make you feel like a king.

Concept: 9.0
Total innovation. Total originality. Total team control. EA has an instant winner on their hands with a game so massive I had to take extra time to write the review. The car swapping system has changed the series forever. It creates gameplay dynamics that were not there before, and breathes new life into the old ones. It's especially challenging (and wonderfully rewarding) when you figure out how to make your team take the top three spots.

Multiplayer: 8.5
Still limited to two players when gaming offline, NASCAR 06 lets broadband users compete with up to three other aspiring champions. An exhilarating multiplayer experience that'll give NASCAR enthusiasts goose bumps, and will turn non-fans into obsessed gamers who won't part with the controller. "What do you mean there's a NASCAR race on TV? I'm playing one right now."

Overall: 8.7
Did you buy last year's NASCAR game? Those who did had a great time with a great game. The wonderful thing about NASCAR 06: Total Team Control is that you have to have it whether you own its predecessors or not. No NASCAR fan should go another day without experiencing Total Team Control's addictive magic. It's the ultimate simulation racer.