ARTS The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 24, 2004 - 7 EA races to the Cup with'iNA8CAR' By Brandon Harig Daily Arts Writer EA Sports' latest release, "NAS- CAR Chase for the Cup 2005" has nearly every element possessed by NASCAR's real-world counterpart: the drama, the speed and the crashes. For all of its celebrated simplicity, the blues too often comes off as some elitist gentleman's club. The structure and minimalism are everyman tools, but ever since the folk revival of the '60s anointed the blues "legends," everyone else has been relegated to the "Sure, you can play it, but only the Black Keys chosen ones may play it." Rubber Factory Dayton, Ohio, duo The Black Epitaph Keys have been pre-ordained: Their first two albums were steeped in a garage-blues tradition that welcomed their "medium-fi" sound with open arms. The Keys' Dan Auerbach is the latest in a line of Midwest- ern roots-revivalists; his plaintive voice is less a big blusey wail and more a sweet homeland crawl. Backed by the cigarette ash of his alternately sweet and terrifying guitar and Patrick Carney's tasteful drumming, Rubber Factory is both the duo's most realized work and their greatest departure from their hallowed blues. Of course, it's not pure delta blues. The opener, "When the Lights Go Out," rides an eerie, bleating pulse too an alternate dimension of woozy chords and distorted vocals. "You know what the sun's all about / When the lights go out," sings Auerbach in a no-accent Midwestern creak that, for all its subur- ban, hipster T-shirt reservations, sounds all the world like an authentic blues hammer. Rubber Factory has more than one such revelatory But fails to bridge racing fans. Graphically, "NASCAR" is just as strong, if not better, than any of its racing peers. The shine of the sun or sta- dium lights reflect and bend on the the gap with non- Nascar: Chase for the Cup 2005 PS2, Xbox and GameCube EA Sports Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad you're not from Ohio? moment. "The Lengths" is a Bic-waving country bal- Chuck Berry's naive propulsion and Led Zeppelin's lad with lazy slide work and candy-sweet high notes. mammoth confidence. In fact, Auerbach seems hell- The Kinks' "Act Nice and Gentle" swallows a six- bent on avoiding the damning lyrical miscues that string honky-tonk pill and wakes have threatened to novelize the band the next morning feeling nothing on past albums ("Do the Rump"). but sweet contentment. The closer, The more oblique subject matter "Till I Get My Way," tears around suits the band well and molds the in a big-fuzz guitar riff and throws album into a cohesive whole. piano chords all over the highway. Rubber Factory takes the Keys' The first single, "10 A.M. Automat- rough-hewn aesthetic and plants it ic" might be the track that finally ! in ground much more fertile than breaks the band with the ever-grow- garage-rock or kitschy blues ste- ing indie masses. The song is a clas- reotypes. Rubber Factory places sic rock miniature, done up in great the Keys next to a host of Midwest- detail, its exactness blurred only by ern roots-fanatics (Califone, Jason its diminutive stature. Molina, Wilco) who are running the underground's Even when the band comes close to their dreaded coal train of noise and dissonance into America's garage-rock label, they avoid it with blustery riffs rich folk/blues tradition. The cover may scream sub- and enough blues to sidestep the pigeonhole. "Grown urban malaise, annoying retro T-shirts and goofy So Ugly," for example, takes a classic folk/blues lyric hats, but the music roars with the ballsy, mythical - that of the tragically ugly narrator - head on with simplicity of the blues. cars as they go around the track, and the physics model the game is based upon allows for a realistic pull to the outside of the track. The A.I. of other drivers increases as the player make his way up through the pack to the No. I spot. The game benefits the most from being an EA Sports release. While there are not that many ways to reinvent driving a car in a circle, the creators of the game worked hard to bring more to the title and ensure it was not another run-of-the- mill sequel. One of the game's most interesting features is Next Gen- eration Grudge and Alliance mode, which allows serious taunting and the opportunity for the player to be a NASCAR good guy or a terror on the track. With this game, it is entirely satisfying to flatten people's tires around the bend and be heralded 'as a villain. Who wouldn't like bring- ing the hero down near the end of the race? While a simple race with a friend or two might satisfy some, games like "Need for Speed" or "Grand Tnr- ismo" carry higher replay value for those who don't follow NASCAR's professional series. It's exciting -to be able to race in a variety of dif- ferent racing series, including the Craftsman Truck, Busch and Feath- erlite Modified series. However, tie strength of the title is in its "Fighi-to the Top" mode, which requires con- tinual play and attention, something the casual racing fan might not be, Up to doing. Assuredly, this game's selling point will be its capacity as a member of the Xbox Live series. Easily the best part of "Chase for the Cup," racing three other Internet players and causing them to wreck or fall into the player's rearview mirror is entirely gratifying. Rules and policies prevent players from going all out, demolition-derby style but the chance to race against people from all over the country gives the game the most replay value. For racing fans, this game is not only the best game yet released by NASCAR, but also an extremely close representation of the screaming- engine sport. 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