Customer Reviews

NASCAR Thunder 2002

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

To start, I am from Alabama and a true NASCAR fan and I thought this game was designed for the Nascar fan at heart, however, after playing it you will find that it is actually for all driving fans, unlike GT3 this game has damage options, customizeable car and the physics are the best I've seen. Career mode is the way to play this game and remember, not everyone is gonna win everytime, that's way it is in real-life NASCAR, Jeff Gordon doesn't win every race he enters and neither will you. You have to build your car up using the money you receive from your sponsors, they give you their requirements and after you meet them, you get paid. Also, when you create your car and get ready to choose a color, you can click on the individual color and adjust the RGB. This game is unbeliveable if you own GT3 or like racing or driving games you'll absolutely love this game. Also, if you are one of those gamers that has to have codes or cheats to play a game, be advised that are hardly no codes to beat this game, you have to play the game and enjoy the experience like every true gamer should. It's for all skill levels and I highly recommend this game for any racing or driving game fan. Also, DO NOT COMPARE THIS GAME TO NASCAR HEAT, NASCAR HEAT DOESN'T EVEN COMPETE WITH NASCAR THUNDER 2002.

This game is tough! It is very hard even on easy. It is designed for those fans who love NASCAR. The competitors are mean...they will run you off the track. Dealing with sponsors is also tough on you but very rewarding. The gameplay is great, same as any NASCAR game. The neat thing also is you can design your own car and race. I had a lot of fun with this option. I played this right after NASCAR Heat and expected to dominate like I do on Heat but found out thats not the case here. To be competitive you have to set your car up with such things as air pressure, etc... (unlike with NASCAR Heat) Some people find this tedious, NASCAR fans would find it fun. So I recommend this game only to those fans who are die-hard NASCAR fans, you will enjoy the game a lot.

WOW what a game! EA must have listened to their blazingly negative reviews of Nascar 2001, and have totally overhauled the entire game to produce one of the true Gems on the Playstation 2.

This game has it all! All the drivers, all the tracks(even the newest tracks Chicago and Kansas City), special paint schemes for some of the drivers, including the Looney Tunes cars, and Dale Jarrett's Flame car. In addition, there are Busch Grand National drivers that can take you on in the Winston Cup Races. Want to race against Greg Biffle in the Grainger car, Jimmy Spencer in the Yellow Freight car, or Jeff Green in the Nesquick car? You can.....its in there!!! Feeling Nostalgic and want to race with Richard Petty in the STP car? It's in there!!!!

Did I mention that you can race against 42 other competitors in each race? This is video game console first. On average it has been 16 - 20 cars max due to memory constraints....somehow EA has pulled this off too. Do you want to know how may top 10's top 5's or wins you have scored? This game tracks those stats too! YEA!!!! Do you want multiple views while you are driving....its in there! Would you like to create your own driver/car? Its in there! Would you like to start off as a rookie and work your way up through Winston cup upgrading your team and your car as you go along? ITS IN THERE!!!

This is the first Nascar game that has simply blown me away.....
Its the best one for any system EVER! The only bad thing about Nascar Thunder 2002 is that it will now make all of your old Playstation and Playstation 2 Nascar Games obselete.

This NASCAR fan is smiling!! If you are a fan of NASCAR, this game is a no brainer, BUY IT NOW!! If you are looking for a solid racing game with a ton of options, and scores points for originality while being a simulation/arcade racing hybrid, BUY IT NOW!!!

Bottomline, this is an excellent game! You are going to love it!!!

THE GRAPHICS ARE THE BEST. THE CAREER MODE IS GREAT, YOU GET TO BUILD YOUR OWN TEAM AND SPONSORS AND THE COLOR OF YOUR CAR. THE GAMEPLAY IS THE BEST AROUND, THE WAY THE CARS FLOW THROUGH THE TRACK AND THE DAMAGE IS SO REAL, OIL FIRES FALLING PARTS AND TIRE MARKS ON THE DOOR OF THE CARS IS AMAZING AND WHEN YOU COME AROUND THE TURN WHERE THE SUN IS AT IT WILL BLIND YOU FOR A COUP[LE OF SECONDS. WHEN YOU GO TO EACH TRACK YOU CAN SAVE YOUR CAR SETUP TO MEMORY CARD SO YOU CAN USE IT AGAIN WHEN YOU COME BACK. THE GRAPHICS ON THE PIT STOPS LOOKS PRETTY GOOD ALSO. THE GAME HAS 43 DRIVERS ON EVERY TRACK AND THEY COME TO RACE EVEN ON ROOKIE MODE, THEY WILL DRAFT BEHIND UNTILL THEY CAN MAKE THE PASS,DONT GET CAUGHT OUT OF THE DRAFT. EA SPORTS HAS DONE AN AWESOME MAKEOVER OF THE NASCAR GAME, IF YOU WANT 4-5 WIDE RACING, BUMPING AND GRINDING IT OUT TO THE LAST LAP, THIS IS THE GAME TO GET, NASCAR FANS WILL BE IN HEAVEN WITH THIS GAME.

This is the best Nascar game yet!All 43 cars on the grid.I mean it is the next best thing to real racing.The cars look so detailed and sharp.When you wreck there is alot of smoke and debris flying everywhere.The sounds of racing are very real from screeching tires to trading paint with the competion and slamming into the wall.Of course you got your spotter keeping you in line while racing,that can be helpful at times.Some people might be a little disappointed because there is no color commentary while your racing.I thought my game was defective but I called EA Sports and they said they went with a different game developer.So gone are the days of Benny Parsons and Bob Jenkins but you still have a annoucer introducing the field.The detail on the tracks look great and when your at Talladega you have some serious banking to deal with.You just don't see the track you feel each and everyone you race on.The create a care mode is pretty cool alot better paint schemes this time around.I was using Dale Earnhardt Jr's. car at Talladega and Iam on my last lap and Kevin Harvick hits me with a classic Earnhardt move losen me up a little but I still went on to win.Now that's racing! it's as good as it gets.Just like the big boys do each weekend.

OK,thanks to EA Sports for a good game on a platform!(finally)everything is great,opening intro,racing...u may want to turn of autobrake,stability and multi-player comp(this first)for realism.they allow you to get caught up from behind,vice-versa..etc.u get the point. the only thing i didnt like was that u have to be numbers 100-199 for create-a-car. it makes ME feel like im not really a real NASCAR racer,needs to be fixed in my opinion. otherwise great game and great buy!!

I am not a NASCAR fan, but this game is addictive fun!!! I dropped it in to the PS2 just to say that i had tried it, and now I am totally addicted to becoming THE NASCAR champion. The graphics are very good, and the animated pit scenes are a fun diversion. The controls are a little tricky to master, but the game is such fun that i can't hold twitchy controls against what I feel is an exciting racing game. well worth the price, and believe that there is a lot of repeat playability built into it. The tracks offer challenging banks, and even trickier road courses, and each course has its own personality that takes time to master. Enjoy, and Start Your Engines!!!!

The racing is great, a constant battle for position. Unlike Gran Turismo were you can keep extending a lead, the pack will reel you in. The spotter is excellent and essential, since there are huge blind spots on each side. The rookie level and the veteran levels are pretty easy. I haven't tried the legend level. From what I can tell, the difference between the rookie and veteran is that in rookie, when running alone, you can catch up to packs ahead of you, while in veteran, you need to draft to catch them, though, while running alone, barring mistakes, you'll fall behind only very slowly, if at all. Presumably, in legend level, you'll need to run with someone just to keep up. Also, in rookie, the qualifying times are extremely spread out, making it very easy to qualify near the top, while in veteran, it's harder.

Graphically, it's a mixed bag. The cars look great, and all the aspects of damage: the scraped paint, the crumpled fenders, the flying debris, the fires, are very impressive. The oval tracks look fine. However, the two road tracks look rather plain, and, furthermore, the frame rate becomes rather jerky on these tracks, even during practice laps, and even with the rear-view mirror turned off. Racing on short tracks, since it causes lots of cars to be on the screen, also causes jerkiness. I haven't noticed it on the speedways or superspeedways, but I've only tried short races so far. However, since should be more room for the cars to spread out, it probably wouldn't be as bad as with the short tracks. In any case, even doing 195mph qualifying at Talladega, there isn't the smooth sense of speed as in Gran Turismo 3 or in Le Mans 24 Hours, and I doubt that it's ever 60 fps.

The sound is very good. The engines, the tires, the crashes, all sound great, and the spotter and the crew chief are very well done. There was one major glitch. In a short track race, after pitting and until the end of the race, the engine sound, and maybe the tire sound, disappeared. I could hear the engines of the other cars, and the spotter was still there. The crash sounds were still there when I hit the wall, not realizing that I was accelerating.

I noticed a few oddities in career mode. For one thing, some drivers, Michael Waltrip for example, drive two cars in the same race. I assume the second car is the driver's Busch series car, which the game cheaply treats as a completely different driver. Also, between seasons after the first season, when new drivers appear, they are rookies, but after the first race, they're listed as having n years of experience, where n is the same as the player's experience, and no rookie of the race is awarded, and the rookie standings are empty. Presumably the same things happen in season mode, but I haven't gotten far enough to tell, as I am doing 36 race seasons with the race length at 100%.

This is my first NASCAR game, so I don't know how it would compare to other NASCAR games. But I'd say that it's an excellent, excellent racing game.

If you have a PS2 and like racing, man NT2002 is FINALLY what fans wanted. FULL fields (that's 43 cars your running against baby), FULL career mode (create a driver, create a car, race for big names and get paid), racers retire, sound is top notch, hot damn this is a badass title. The graphics are much, much better than 2001 was, the only thing I actually miss is the announcers, but other than that, this is the best simulator for racing I've played in a very long time. EA finally got racing right after all these years. I'm just glad it's on the PS2 heh

ok....yes this game is good, but not great....what is up with the career mode? i started that mode and i could not change how many races to run, how many laps, or if i can have a caution and more...i don't get that...the season mode is all there...can any one tell me why they can't put viagra on martins car? that is ridicules...the extrat paint schemes in season mode is cool...there could be alot better game play then there is but yes it is still a great game..come on its nascar!!!...next game they should add weather factors including rain, snow, etc...and there is kinda of a silly season on this game, but they had kyle petty retire after 1 year of play??? and who are the talkers, announcers that introduce each race???come on ea..it could be better!!!