NASCAR Thunder 2003 Review

The NASCAR Racing series from Papyrus has consistently been at the top of its genre. EA Sports tries to reproduce a little of that magic in its NASCAR Thunder 2003. Tries… and fails. Let us examine the wreck…This is the annual update to the NASCAR Thunder series for the console, but its first release on the PC.

The game is almost identical on the three main console platforms, the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. Unfortunately, the PC version of NASCAR Thunder 2003 is nowhere near as good as its console cousins. Nor does it have any PC-specific enhanced features.

When you first start the game up, you have four options: quick race, testing, season, and multiplayer. Quick race is self explanatory - pick a driver and car, choose a track, qualify and then run the race. Although named NASCAR Thunder 2003, the game is based on the 2002 season, so you have access to that season’s tracks and drivers. Testing is the same as practice mode. You can choose any car and track and try to improve your times. In the season mode, you must first qualify for and then race an entire season of Winston Cup races, gathering points along the way. The season mode is virtually indistinguishable from the quick race mode; the qualifying and racing involve much of the same choices. All the season mode does is put the races together in sequence and keep a tally of your overall score. For what it’s worth, the multiplayer mode gives you extended play against other gamers either over the Internet or on a LAN. However the inexplicable limit of just 16 players and the ability to join many hard fought races midway make the multiplayer an unpleasant pursuit.

The reason that NASCAR Thunder 2003 is such a slap in the face is not because it lacks extras such as a career mode, tutorials on each track led by actual NASCAR drivers or playable racing scenarios from Winston Cup history. What really riles me is that all three console versions DO have these options. Which makes the PC version a watered down, second rate game with limited playability. The graphics and sounds are also a let down. The overall look is average, with great looking cars but horribly bland trackside effects. The surroundings consist of blurry textures for the most part with a large number of indistinguishable and blocky trackside objects. The crowd at the tracks are perhaps the worst I have seen in a while. They consist of blurry cut-outs of humanoid creatures! The sound effects too, are of a much lower quality in the PC version. NASCAR Thunder 2003 on the PC lacks many of the features that made its console counterparts enjoyable in the first place. All of this has been done and done better before. Since this was EA Sports’ first attempt at bringing its NASCAR franchise to the PC, a few glitches were expected. Nobody expected them to actually remove content, good content that was freely available in the console version. If you MUST play a NASCAR game and all you have is a PC, my advice to you is this: Preferably Pick A Papyrus Product Instead!

HIGHS: What’s That Again??
LOWS: I’ve Lost Count.
NUTSHELL: Stay Away From This Game!
Rating: 55