How good of graphics can you actually get when all you have to portray is a bunch of concrete, and a few grandstands? Well, Infogrames certainly produced a masterpiece with NASCAR Heat 2002's exquisite visuals. No really, concrete has never looked better. Tire marks have never looked 'rubberier', and you can tell what the pit crew is actually doing. The camera views are your standard racing game views, but the 'in the cockpit' view' is praiseworthy in the least, showing a striking resemblance to the real cars' gauges, rollcage, whistles and yo-yos. All of the major drivers' cars have their appropriate sponsors (WOW, that's a lot of licenses!), and all of the cars look real enough. Also if you decide to run headlong into a wall, or crash into another car, you'll see immediate damage on your car. When the radiator cracks, black smoke will come out of the overheated engine, and it's always a blast when your hood goes careening down the track in fifty different pieces. NASCAR Heat 2002 even has the Dodge cars, which is always a plus in my book. Monster Games, Inc did a bang-up job of having 24 monster cars on screen at once with minimal slow down. Now that's an accomplishment! The replay after the race looks exquisite, showing every instant of the race in all its beauty. Don't get me wrong, the graphics could have been tweaked a little bit. The lighting and shadowing has heaps of room for improvement, but overall I was very impressed with NH2002 because it runs at a steady frame-rate, and still manages to look handsomely presentable (Bowtie not included).

Alas, my ears do not enjoy the same treat that my baby browns do. There is only music when you're at the menu screen, and getting ready for a race. The music was fine at first, but then after hearing the same song for all the menus, it got boring pretty quick. Maybe I'm being too nit-picky, but I like to hear some pulse-thumping music while I'm racing. NASCAR Heat 2002 provided no music while I raced, thoroughly disappointing me. The sounds that do deserve high merits though, are the in-game effects. The pit sounds are absolutely amazing, and the engines are appropriate enough. I will admit that all the engines sound the same (like real NASCAR), which gets monotonous after a few races. NH2002 does a wonderful job of the crew leader telling you in your helmet: 'Man high,' or 'Path clear, path clear!' That is pure genius, and it lets you know what is going on around you at any given time. The crowd also swells when anyone on the track makes a groovy move to burst into 1st place. Hey, it's nice to know that the general public applauds aggressiveness, isn't it?

While NH2002 has plenty of modes, they all boil down to one thing. Getting behind the wheel of an 850 hp monster, and winning, winning, winning. You'll find your Single Race Mode, and your Head to Head Mode (which usually turns out being my friend ramming me into the wall.) One of the modes that I found exceptionally fun was the Beat the Heat Mode, which has you trying to pass 35 different driving challenges. The challenges progress in difficulty, and ultimately teach you how to drive a NASCAR car. Race the Pro Mode has you trying to beat a 'ghost car' of a great NASCAR legend. If you can beat the pro, then you shall be showered in roses. If you lose, you shall only be rewarded with a shower. The meat of the game is provided in Championship Mode, where you pick your favorite driver (Ward Burton...woooo!) and start your quest for the notorious Winston Cup championship. Championship Mode also lets you tweak your car to your tuning desires, but ultimately the computer comes up with some darn good default tunings. The only thing that made me dock points in the Gameplay dept. is the fact that the game doesn't race fast. Sure, the framerate is wonderfully steady, but the game itself isn't fast like Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero, or Gran Turismo 3. Plainly put, 190 mph doesn't seem like 190 mph.

Real life NASCAR driving is very challenging, and NASCAR Heat 2002 is no different. You can set the difficulty of the AI, while also toggling between crash/wear realism. The drivers are almost non-existently easy while racing Novice, but as soon as you change the difficulty, you will feel the pain that the brutal AI has to offer. The AI is beatable though, but very discouraging at times. If you keep the 'realism' set to default, the computer will help you through the turns, and your car won't be nearly as bad off during crashes, etc. As soon as you change the realism mode to Expert, one missed turn will flip your car and the race is over for you and your car. The aggravating thing about the AI is they never wreck, never. The reason I say this is for some reason, Mike Skinner kept hitting me right on my back bumper, which would spin me out and send me straight into the wall. I could never finish because my car was completely immobilized. He, of course, never wrecked and if any car managed to hit me while I was spinning, they could right themselves and finish the race. I would lose my right or left tire, break my suspension, blow my radiator, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. This little creation has 'challenge' written all over it.

The load times are very short, and very bearable, and downright cool. When I come home from a hard day's work, I can sit down and NASCAR Heat 2002 will be up faster than a supercharged millisecond. It is very kind to my memory card, barely using any of its precious resources. The manual is very entertaining and informative. It has a whole section on the history of NASCAR and all the drivers who won championships. The manual also has the most in-depth tuning section I've seen for any game. It tells you the pros and cons of tuning different ways, leaving no questions asked.

Riot Rundown: Basically if my review seemed like a flip-flop of what I thought of this game, it's because it is. I think that NASCAR Heat 2002 is a respectable effort. I think for fans of the genre, (which I'm one) this game will be exactly what they want in a racing game. For casual enthusiasts or arcade racers out there, this game will be too slow. Only the most devoted of NASCAR fans will try to beat the game on its highest difficulty. It does look good visually, and it has some great Modes to choose from. Again, the lack of sound, or music hurts it a bit. If you want a racing game that you can customize, and get going from the get go, then buy Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero , or GT3 . But, if you are into NASCAR, and love its environment and such, then this is the road to go.