The graphics, to be honest, are very nice for a PSP game. Right up there with Daxter and God of War, the detail is beautiful on the city streets of the various countries that this game covers. EA did a great job of bringing realism to the cars themselves, with reflections in the side mirrors as you speed down the streets as well as on the paint jobs. There are many races where the weather is less than favorable, with rain falling on the road, making it shiny and slick. Keeping control of the car is much harder in these conditions, and the third-person perspective is a little blocked (not enough to really throw you off) by raindrops hitting the screen and streaking down. It’s little details like the trail of thrown water behind the car’s rear wheels that give the game such depth.
Game control seems to have little to no learning curve. Each car handles differently, but they all seem a little touchy. Hit the brakes wrong or at the wrong time, let off the gas while going around a turn without tapping the brakes, confusing the foot brake with the hand brake (I did this several times), or accidentally hitting the Nitrous Oxide when you are not on a straight-away can lead to disaster every time. The game requires very fast thinking and reflexes to keep you from obliterating your car or losing to the NPC cars around you. This gets me to the actual racing in the game, and why it is so ridiculous.
One of the first races in the game, you have to drive a street legend’s car as you try to collect as many time extenders as possible. Each one adds around 10 seconds to your time. You have to beat the legend’s amount of collected time checks before the timer runs out completely. This is next to impossible even after you get halfway through the game. The learning curve on this is blatantly retarded at best.
