Need for Speed: Prostreet

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First of all, I'm not a gamer. I haven't owned a console since the Sega Genesis. I bought the PS3 because I wanted Blu-ray but needed protection from the format war. My wife wanted Guitar Hero, so we purchased the PS3. Since I've never played any other version of NFS, I had no opinion of the franchise before making this purchase.

My PS3 came with Motorstorm, and I really enjoyed playing that game. So my wife brought home NFS Pro Street thinking I would enjoy this as well. I played it for about an hour and it sat for the better part of two months before I picked it up again. The reason? It's painfully slow to play and I wasn't up for having to go through the process of tuning.

I rediscovered it a week ago and have given it more of the attention it needs. I have to say that I kind of enjoy the game. The cars are cool, there are a million different combinations of cars and setups to use in different types of racing (grip, drag, and slide). There are different modes for racing and online play is available. You get a lot of game here. There is enough here to keep you busy for quite a while.

Annoyances such as the announcer in career mode, and the slow, redundant processes that take place between the action ruin the experience. The fact that you can't exit a race day until you have dominated it without losing all your progress in that race day confuses me. Some race days have six or seven events. Have trouble with one of them and decide to quit, and you'll have to go through the trouble of going through every race again.

Overall, the game isn't bad. I have a feeling we'll be seeing this one in the bargain bin once GT5 comes out. Until then, if you're a racing fan and the idea of designing your own tuner to race interests you, then give the game a try. Just don't expect perfection.

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Instead of improving on a great formula, EA decided to go in a whole new direction by making the latest Need For Speed politically correct. Gone are the races through the city streets and the chases by the police. Instead, what EA has given us is an uninspired track racing game with a racing announcer whose voice and repetitiveness begins to grate on one's nerve like fingernails on a chalkboard. I found myself bored after only an hour of play and eventually lost all interest in playing this game.

Everyone makes mistakes, and EA is no exception. Hopefully they will return to what works and the next Need For Speed installment will make us all forget about the nightmare known as Need For Speed Pro Street.

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Need for Speed took a very different direction with this particular installment. There were no police chases, no city streets, and the cover for all of this (that Ryan Cooper is trying to go legit) is rubbed in your face at every race day. Does that make this a terrible game? No! It is however called, "Pro-Street" which should indicate that it isn't about canyon battles, outrunning the police, or re: later in the series going undercover.

The mechanics of the game are fine, so long as you set yourself on King and do not use the assists. This is probably one of the best games to play with a steering wheel and foot pedals as opposed to the controller which can be very trying later in the game. This is a more finesse game than the previous, and it can be incredibly frustrating at first when your stage one car responds exactly like one should. That doesn't take away from the game; it just pisses you off, which should be a motivating factor in a competitive game.

The story isn't really there, but let's face it these games were never huge on plot. They're mostly about fast cars, fast tracks, and hard turns. I loved many of the different events and I enjoyed trying to dominate and squeeze out that slightly higher score to break records on tracks. There were also entire events that I despised and couldn't wait to be through, that made me want to scream and tear out my hair or better yet throw my controller at the television.

In comparison to the other games in the series thus far and those that came after it, this isn't one of the best but it certainly isn't one of the worst. It's a "middle" game and shows that they were attempting to take a more family friendly approach, or possibly got some heat (judging by the disclaimer at the beginning of the game about not street racing) that they were trying to make up for. Still, it's a must have in the series.

Pro: Plays like a car should, they suck at stage one and they're ridiculous at stage three without proper tuning. Great game for a wheel (many games are painful if you use one ala Dirt). Wonderful party game that you can walk away from and check the grill without missing anything.

Con: Poor plot, huge step away from the actual progression of the series, handicaps do more harm than good for new players.

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I love this game. The 1/4 & 1/2 mile drags are my favorite. The drifting could've been a little better but overall I'll give it a 9/10. Ridiculous graphics and the damage is actually shown. So it makes you want to drive more clean in order to not have to pay for your repairs....

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Everyone seems to be hating on this new Need For Speed, but I think it's finally evolved into a real game, and I'm glad for it.

Reviewers complain about removing the free-roam segment of the game. Frankly, the free-roam was overrated to begin with. Half the time I just skipped to the events anyway. It also sponsored and glamorized illegal street-racing, and (contrary to the opinions of many of the poseurs that play video games) that's not a good thing. The last thing the streets need are a gang of unskilled, overenthusiastic children behind the wheel of their daddy's car causing accidents. EA probably realized this (thank God) and decided to take a different tack for this edition.

The gameplay itself is great, the drivability of the cars is significantly improved, tuning the car plays a *huge* role in the success of your ride (and the mechanisms for doing so are nicely put together and intuitive to understand). Improving the cars is simplified but thorough and satisfying. Steering and acceleration, all the game mechanics are great and actually better than previous versions. Overall, it's true that this game is more of a simulation than previous versions, but it's definitely *not* a Gran Turismo or a Forza. It's closer to Project Gotham in its pseudo-realism, but still keeps a street edge to it that PG4 hasn't got (and isn't missing cuz it's not that kind of game).

The menu system is a *little* rough I understand what they were attempting, and I'm not sure they fully succeeded, but it's usable.

The graphics are stunning. It's true that the game lost a little bit of the previous versions' sense of speed this time around they decided to take a more 'real' approach to things rather than the pseudo cartoony approach in previous NFS. The fact that you can wreck and wreck badly is a significant improvement over previous versions. Now you gotta be able to drive the car, not just ram through the boards careening off stuff.

Things that disappoint are the lack of tracks and the audio. The lack of tracks isn't *too* terrible a situation, because there's tons of variety within the tracks. Besides, it's a track game. Why bother with lots of crazy cityscapes and whatnot? The audio is unforgivable, though. The announcers are ridiculously annoying. Granted, they're actually somewhat realistic, but holy crap it makes me want to break something after an hour. And they love to say "Ryan Cooper" about 9.6 billion times. Aside from that, in-game audio is good enough with blow-offs and engine noises that are pretty immersive. Surround sound helps this a lot. And like pretty much every EA game, the soundtrack gets repetitive pretty quick.

Among the racers for the PS3, this is the one I'm personally most satisfied with. The next Gran Turismo will no doubt be a gorgeous addition with really good simulator-style gameplay, but I still believe that NFS:ProStreet will be my primary racing game for some time. This game is all about racing, not juvenile drama and getting chased by cops, and it will capture the attention (and appreciation) of most experienced street enthusiasts out there.