There must be a chase that I cut to on this one. As the Spaniards would say: 'Los graphicos son buenos.' NASCAR Thunder 2002 's intro, though not as elaborate as Gran Turismo 3's , is heart-pumping and mirror-worthy to boot. Beautiful stands are packed with lifelike crowds that roar their approval at you. The cars are absolutely phenomenal as 43 cars can be on the screen at one time, each with their own snazzy color scheme. Sponsors are as real as any billboard logo you'll see, and even the NASCAR car's make is as distinct as the smell of liver and onions. The tracks are beautiful while shimmering horizons loom overhead. Heck, even the Pit Stops are worth watching, because each man is busy doing his own perfectly rendered job. Anything from filling up the tanks, to taking off the tires is performed down in the pits. What else amazed me was the ability for the developers to have so many nice looking cars on screen at one time, and keep the game running nice and quick. There are really no graphical flaws. The damage done is convincingly truthful, while smoke will try to escape an overheated engine. Pieces will lay strewn and skid marks will criss-cross all over the track as cars vigorously fight for position. In my case, I wasn't fighting for position, but fighting to keep from 'kissing' the walls. Thus, my skid marks looked somewhat like Zorro's 'Z.'

You have two options as to what song you want to hear on startup. You can hear one of EA Sports' rock medleys, or you can hear the anthem of NASCAR racing, that anthem being none other than Sweet Home Alabama by Lynard Skynard . I opted for the Alabamian song, and thus got my racing juices flowing every time I turned on my PS2. The music is good throughout the game, providing you with nothing too loud. Too loud equals annoying sometimes, so NT2002 is definitely not annoying in the music dept. The sound effects are ear enamoring from the get go. Massive multi-HP engines growl from start to finish, humming in happiness when speeds of 200 mph are reached. Tires remind you that you turned too hard, while those unable to heed the tire's warnings will hear a fiberglass smashing crash as front bumper takes on concrete wall. Your team captain bellows in your headset any movement from opposing drivers, be it high or low. He also will give you advice if he sees a passing situation. The crowd will virtually writhe with excitement as the race gets hotter. The pit sounds are delectable with air wrenches 'zzzz-ing,' and tires rolling, etc. It's difficult to grasp NASCAR's atmosphere and jam it onto a CD, but having stunning sound definitely helps!

EA Sports doesn't throw in anything too fancy from last year's installment. There is Quick Race that pretty much implies a...well, a quick race. You can go head to head with a friend which is always fun, unless your friend takes unending joy in spinning you into the wall. Hitting walls means coming in 'not top-10' usually. There is also Season Mode, for those little drivers that want one season and call it quits. (There's always fishing I guess). Or there's the Career Mode that challenges you to win eight NASCAR points championships in 20 seasons. This is no small task, but accomplishable with a little help. You see, you will need to improve how your pit crew trains, or how your engine runs, etc. All this takes tons of money, which a poor boy from Louisiana can't pull off all by himself. Thus, you take your created car (can you say paintjobs galore?) and a sponsor will opt to pay you some money if you do moderately well. As you get better, big buck sponsors will step up, asking you to accomplish harder challenges, but paying quite nicely. Of course this gives you the opportunity to race with something like EA Sports emblazoned nicely across your hood. If you don't like how your car is set up, there are so many tweaking options available, that your car will be customized just how you like it. There are five or so different views that let you look down on your car, or right through the window in a pretty realistic looking cockpit. Racing gloves are included.

NASCAR Thunder 2002 has a ton of options that help tweak difficulty right for you. The controls are really solid, and not too loopy at all. Of course, if you find that your car drifts too much, then you can adjust your steering to be just right. The only thing that agitated me (and it does this on the PSX version too) is that the AI is always on your rump. Even if you take an early pit, thus pulling out to a huge lead in later laps, guess who'll be right on your tail in the closing laps? It's like the AI can get up to speeds of 250 mph. NT2002 makes up for it by realistically crashing every car. So, there are no 'player-seeking' missiles out there, but every car will actually wreck if the physics engine calls for it. NASCAR Thunder 2002 is fair enough in its difficulty, except for the AI thing. Of course it could be my tender heart hiding behind a concrete exterior.

The manual is a good read on this one, but a bit non-informative on some things. All these questions are answered as the game progresses. Again, the controls are well done, and not floaty at all as is the case with some other EA games. I also liked that you could create car after car, and they take up relatively little space on the memory card. With all the options and settings, you can make NT2002 totally yours.

Riot Rundown: This game is great. This game is great. Wow, what a great game. NASCAR Thunder 2002 is the best NASCAR game out there right now, and along with GT3 , I think it's a game worth buying. I was very pleased and amazed once again that Electonic Arts put out another great game.