XBox Xtravaganza: EA Sports NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005

By Jonathan Berohn

OK-again I think I should start out by laying out my bias. While I do enjoy the occasional racing game, I tend find that they all suffer from the Pong syndrome. In other words, I can only take left turns so long before I'm longing for the variety and action of a good game of football or hockey, the challenge of a role-playing game, or the thrill of a 1st person shooter.  That said, of the racing games available for the XBox, EA Sports NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 is one of the better offerings.  It's handcuffed by the repetitive nature of its sport, but it does its best to interject fun and excitement to what a friend aptly described as "take a left, take a left, take a left, take a left."

Playability

As you might imagine, NASCAR 2005 is fairly simple to play.  There's one button for the gas, another for the brake, a steering control, and another to reverse if you happen to end up in a wall or on the infield.  For advanced play you can also add another button to shift gears and one to draft, but that's about it.  This simplicity, though, is fairly deceptive.  Actually negotiating your way around the track at high speeds without the benefit of any kind of feel for the road is challenging for even long time drives (especially since here you're using a joystick unless you buy a separate driving controller).  What you'll quickly find is that you end up 18th or 19th in the field without much trouble at all.  Like most EA games, though there's plenty of improvement and learning on the fly that comes with NASCAR 2005.  Before you know it you can challenge for the checkered flag.

The Cup

The heart of NASCAR 2005 is the quest for the cup.  In this mode you race the NASCAR circuit to amass points to win the NEXTEL cup (and yes, the shameless plugging you find in NASCAR has made its way to the video game as well).  In this mode, you really have to learn how to master your car and make the best use of your upgrades.  Again, while this suffers from the same inherent monotony, the new features like intimidation add a little pizzazz.  It's also always a fun to race other players-the bumping and banging of NASCAR are a lot more entertaining when the person next to you is cursing while reversing off the wall.