Show 'em what you've got.

The sweetest NASCAR ride yet.

Features * Expanded career mode * Four racing series, including Craftsman Truck series * Steer your driver toward being a hero or villain

To add more drama to the season's final races, NASCAR changed the point system in 2004. Now the drivers in the top 10 in the Nextel Cup points standings (and any racer within 400 points) with 10 races to go square off in the remaining races to determine the Nextel Cup champion.

EA Sports used that to their advantage, creating a whole new game mode based solely on those last 10 races. This feature, however, is just a drop in the bucket compared to how insanely deep this game is.

Fight To The Top

The game's main feature, Fight To The Top, plays out like a story mode. You start out as a rookie driver in the NASCAR Featherlite Modified series. With success, teams and sponsors will contract your agent about getting you to drive their cars and trucks.

You don't have to take the first job that's offered to you. Once you sign on, though, you'll more money and a bigger percentage of the merchandise as you climb the ladder. Once you have enough funds, you can buy a team of your own. A Featherlite team sets you back $175,000 while a Nextel racer runs $4 million. It's an investment worth making.

The method with which you choose to race has an effect on how good or bad you are. DUH, right? Not quite. If you race cautiously and professionally, you gain hero points. If you cut people off and run their cars into the wall, you earn villain points and lots of rivals on the racing circuit. Regardless of which path you take, being an extreme hero or villain sells. As you make your mark, you'll earn the respect of more fans. They'll either love to love you or love to hate you. Either way, it puts money in your pocket.

If you're a villain, drivers are less willing to help you out in tight races. The hero garners more respect on the track. It's much easier to become the villain than the hero, but once your driving skills tighten up, you can turn over a new leaf. Being a villain does have its perks. When you're directly behind a driver, you can push the B Button to try to intimidate them into getting out of the way. On the other end, you can share your draft during a race with others to build alliances. When the Share Draft meter fills up, press the A Button and make a friend (for a while).

In the Fight To The Top menu, go to Game Status to check out your driver's prestige level and rank in the fans' eyes. You don't have to race in every race. Take a look at the racing calendar and skip any of the events you wish. Of course, you don't win money or earn points if you don't race. Racing in charity events will score you big hero points. Additionally, you can drive cars in more than one series in a calendar year. However, if you own a car in a series, you can't accept contracts from other teams.

Race Modes

If you don't want to make a career out of NASCAR 2005, play one of the five different race modes. With most of these game modes, you set difficulty and race length options before you put the pedal to the metal.

Two of the modes, Dodge Speedzone and Lightning Challenge, set up scenarios for you to complete. If you just want to get in the car and go, the Race Now mode is for you. In Race Now, tweak everything from series and players (one or two) to difficulty and race length (from 4 percent to 100 percent of the original race).

For multi-race gameplay, set up a Season or participate in the Chase For The Cup. With the Chase For The Cup, you select where you stand in the top 10 heading into the last 10 races. Then select other game options. Once the parameters are set, select your NASCAR driver and the nine other drivers who will battle you in the sprint to the finish. The AI can also select the opponents at random. Other sports games have a playoff mode, now NASCAR has its way of settling things among the best.

Intelligent Driving

NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup has a little something for every racing fan. For the hard-core NASCAR disciples, the Extreme difficulty setting sets the CPU drivers AI to "legend," forces you to make all pit stops, breaks out the yellow flag during accidents and comes down hard on you for damaging your car.

Not into micromanaging your racing? NASCAR 2005 includes difficulty settings that will assist your driving, let you skip the pits and makes repairing damage as easy as pressing the L Button. It's easy to find some aspect of the game to challenge your ability. Plus, the new hero/villain scale brings some entertainment to the gear-head masses. If you cross a driver during the race, look out. He might come after you in the pits after the race. Don't expect Jeff Gordon to take a swing at Rusty Wallace or Dale Earnhardt Jr. performing a finishing move on Kevin Harvick. But, it's fun to see them squabble after a race.

Bottom Line

It's more NASCAR than you bargained for (and we didn't even touch on managing your own race team), but don't let the wealth of options intimidate you. Even casual racing fans should pick this game up.

Source:

www.nintendo.com – Nintendo GameCube

FIGHT TO THE TOP

EXCLUSIVE GAME OF NASCAR

NEXT GENERATION GRUDGES AND ALLIANCES

NON-STOP ACTION IN EVERY SERIES

INTIMIDATE YOUR RIVALS

EARN NEW RIDES WITH SKILL POINTS

FEATURES

• NEW FIGHT TO THE TOP MODE

Develop your driver and fight for the ultimate championship by simultaneously dominating different racing series, managing race teams, and earning new rides and sponsorships.

• THE FIELD EXPANDS

The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Busch Series, and American Muscle cars join the circuit.

• NEW CHASE FOR THE CUP MODE

Make your own late season drama in the only game featuring the new championship points system.

• BE A HERO OR A VILLAIN

Force mistakes with the new Intimidator Control, but be prepared to deal with the consequences after the race.

• ENHANCED EA SPORTS™ ONLINE*

Join the largest sports gaming community featuring all-new four player racing where you take on a full field of cars in ever series.

Source:

Back of Case - Playstation 2 (U.S.)