NFS SHOWDOWN : MW’s EVO 8 versus CARBON’s EVO 9

I’ve been playing Need Speed Most Wanted since a friend of mine brought the game into my course block and Need for Speed Carbon since the time when I got my PSP. To be honest, the NFS Carbon for PSP was surprisingly easy. I even finished the game without knowing the game’s story. (since I got a choppy CSO file of the game) The Most Wanted is one of the game’s I consider as a pain-staking game especially when you play and study at the same time. It’s not like NFSCARBON that’s full of circuit races, crew takedowns and the like. The NFSMW carries a lot of tournament that bores me a lot.

Anyway, I’m here to talk about one of the cars that is common in both games. This car is the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and both games have one but technically,  each of the game has a “unique” LanEvo to offer. The MW game offers the not-so-good Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 and the Carbon carries the Lancer Evolution 9. The REAL world tells that Lancer Evolution 9 is far better than Lancer Evolution 8. Lancer Evolution 8 carries a lot of technical problems when it was released, especially the high end ones. Lancer Evolution 9 came solving the 8’s problems and eventually made a good exit to make for the Lancer Evolution 10. Back into the game and with the information above, the Evo9 of CARBON should perform BETTER than MW’s Evo8 but that’s just about to go wrong.

Let’s start first with NFSCARBON’s Evolution 9. I designed it with the same manner as the one with MW although I painted it differently but the rims and spoilers and other visual upgrades (except bodykit) are the same. The Evo9 looked good at every angle. The Evo9’s performance figures are here:

 Seems slow? For me, it is. Probably the clue for my impression is the Evo’s position on the list. The Evo9 is one of the cars at the bottom of the list so probably it’s one of the slowest. When you drive it on FREE ROAM mode, everything is tolerable except the speed. When I floored down the accelerator, the car doesn’t feel as fast as what you can expect from an Evo. As you can see, the top speed is unbearable and the handling too. (Although I still love it). What I like about the Evo9 is that you can perform perfect drift donuts with all the counter-steer and stuff:

 

 

 

 

The N2O for CARBON is not bad either. You can feel that every drop is used efficiently. The classic N2O blur effect is so nice that I cannot see the corners that are coming:

 

 The Top Speed of the car, fully tuned, only reaches around 162 mph, no N2O applied.

 

So how does it compare with MW’s Evo8?

 

 Look at that! compared to Evo9, the Evo8’s performance figures are overwhelming and almost the opposite of Evo9. The Evo8’s Bodykit made the evo8 look like Evo7 and I like it since I hate the Evo8’s bird-face-like front grill. I was inspired by Tokyo Drift’s LanEvo9’s design and adapted my Evo8 to the movie’s Evo car although I’ve changed the rims to white Volks and the vinyls as well.

 

 The Evo8’s bodykit really looked very well and the Carbon Fiber hood and spoiler. When it comes to the performance, the car amazes me a lot. The car might not possess the Evo9’s donut capability but the Evo8 can perform technical corner drifts at good speeds. Although it can drift at technical corners, the worst about the Evo8 is that once its rhythm is disturbed, it spins off quickly like the Lamborghini Gallardo in steroids. The best thing with the Evo8 is that it surpasses the Evo9’s top speed, no N2O. The Evo8’s top speed is more than 200 mph, flat out. Both cars have 6 gears and the Evo9 can rarely reach more than 190 mph.

 

 Both cars are amazing with each having unique ways of performing but it is the Evo8 that captures me. The Evo9 is enjoyable, no doubt with it but if you want a seriously performing EVOLUTION, I’ll suggest Need for speed to put back the best performance figures of the Lancer Evolution.

 

New stuff!

I got the screenshot plugin from my brother and took a shot of the drifting Evo 8 in Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0. The screenshot plugin was set up for shooting images for home only [VSH]. Now, my brother told me to add another setting for [GAME] so that I can get in-game screenshots.

This might be an addition to my Takara-Tomy mini-R/C collection, CAUL. CAUL means “Car Action Units Line”, which is weird and I don’t get the point.  I still don’t know if this thing runs on radio frequency or infrared just like Q-steer. What’s good with it, though, is that you have to assemble the car thus gives you opportunities of modifying stuff like bodykits and so on, if you’re a modelkit builder. 😀

Sony PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite

The Sony PSP or PlayStation Portable Slim and Lite was the second handheld gaming device released by SCEI. The main purpose of PSP Slim and Lite was to lighten up the burden carried by the first PSP.

PlayStation Portable was the first overall handheld gaming device released by SCEI to compete for the world of handheld gaming. It was designed to outperform Nintendo’s DS. The device was game-oriented and it followed the traditional PlayStation buttons. The joystick, however, that was present on Dual-Shock controllers was shortened and reduced to one joystick for PSP. The PSP went out not only for games. The PSP is actually a multimedia powerhouse wherein other than playing games, you could also play your favorite video clips in MP4 format, play your favorite music in MP3 format and WMA and store and view your memorable pictures in the Memory Stick Duo.

The Slim and Lite version had several changes. First of all, the face lift for the Slim and Lite version, which was a bit embarrasing for PSP players largely because it is not distinct from the old PSP. Most enthusiasts say that there was really no face lift at all but if you look closer, you will notice the minor differences. For instance, the speakers are moved beside the screen instead on the bottom. The thickness and weight of the device is really lighter compared to the old model. The buttons are now crystal clear rather than having a solid color touch and this shall prevent small dirt and scratches on the buttons from being seen. The WLAN switch was moved to the top from the side so that players will not accidentally turn it on when gaming gets rough. The bulges for the hand grip was removed. Like the old PSP, you can also connect to other PSP via WLAN or WiFi and connect to the internet as well.

In terms of the program and the system, the cache size for the gameplay in the Slim and Lite version was increased so that the graphics will run faster and smoother. The interface comes with default themes, including the magnificent cookie theme! The device loads quickly especially when it is modified*.

Although there are lot of advantages made by removing excess weight, there are also disadvantages that was carried along the way. One of these disadvantages was the battery life. Because the body was chopped of excess weight, including the bulges at the back for hand grip, the battery was also reduced in size and eventually in battery life. The system also does not have the Flash player program for some units. Although having this program might be an abuse to the device, especially when browsing the internet. The input method in PSPs are still painfully hard. The buttons worries me also because it is not as hard to push as the old model so the press might get a bit light faster than usual.

Overall the device was excellent, especially if you are the person who wants every bit of entertainment on one device. Even though this was just an observer’s review, the gameplay, music, video and the rest, despite the disadvantages, is perfect. 5-star rating for PSP Slim and Lite.

*Modified in terms of Operating System version. Most of the systems were modified to play games that are not played via UMD or the game disk but the game is played, instead, on the memory card. Most versions released by Sony cannot read the game files from the Memory stick and modifiers upgrade to modified version so that the device can read games from the Memory Stick.