At a Glance

EA's venerable street racing franchise has been split into several versions for the 2009 model year. Nitro is the arcade style game aimed at mainstream gamers looking for a fast, fun experience, rather than a realistic racing sim. Though the choice is kind of made for you since apart from being split by game style, the different versions are available for different platforms. So if you have a Wii or a DS, Need for Speed: Nitro is the only choice open to you. The upside of this is that instead of a shoddy port of a 360 game, Nitro is built from the ground up as a DS title, and it shows... Need for Speed: Nitro stays true to core values of the Need for Speed series. Users compete for position and kudos in an outlaw street racing scene. You must guide your tricked out street machine to victory to make your way through the ranks of other racers building your reputation, and your score. Smashing scenery and performing tricks earns you the Nitrous boost of the title - shake your controller and the already impressive sense of speed goes into overdrive. The action takes place throughout five cities around the globe, but while the scenery may change, one thing is constant - cops are always on hand to try and bust your action. And these cops are like no others ever seen in Need for Speed - more intense and aggressive than ever before. Keep an eye on your heat meter, if it gets too high, you'll find you're spending as much time avoiding the cops as you are concentrating on your driving line. Avoid the cops, and beat other racers by mastering high speed drifting. Conserve your boost and retain your speed by drafting behind other competitors until it's time to make your move. Take on up to 12 opponents in sprints, circuits and elimination racing, and target in-game pick-ups to enable you to repair your vehicle, turn up your opponent's heat and more. While you are in the lead, you will automatically tag the scenery with your logo, and at the end of the race, you'll get a progress report.