NASCAR The Game: Inside Line
Overview -
This year's update to Nascar racing (a sequel to NASCAR The Game: 2011) Nascar Inside Line brings everything you would expect from a Nascar experience but nothing more. Compared to other racers on the PS3, Inside Line is bland, vanilla and really a bare bones example of what a modern day racing game should be.
Video Review
Running in 720p the game looks properly high definition. The lobbies are well designed and colorful while the garage gives you a 360 degree controllable camera to admire your ride. In fact, the cars look much better in the garage than on the track, the sponsorship stickers in particular all look razor sharp. Unfortunately, in game is where most players will be spending their time and while the cars look okay (especially in demo mode), the environments are horribly boring. Racing on the practice track feels like you are playing a beta, with textures and background detail quite poor. If you were expecting a graphical powerhouse on the lines of Forza or Gran Turismo you will be disappointed.
Audio Review
The game supports Dolby Surround sound and it shows. The game sounds great all around, gunning engines and fiery crashes all sound great. I can't really comment on braking sounds as I have yet to need to use my brakes........ On a side note, the soundtrack for Inside Line is impressive, my review copy shipped with a cd from Simple Plan with the game track "Last One Standing" a particular highlight.
As much as I love racing games I just could not get into Nascar: Inside Line. From the rules to the play mechanics and broken online system it just isn't that much fun. The only redeeming factor is the amount of Nascar integration that the game offers. In that sense, I could see it being enjoyable if you have a few friends over and they were huge Nascar fans (target audience is key here), but for everyone else I would suggest you try out a different racer on your system.
