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Need For Speed ProStreet

Need for Speed has a long tradition of offering racing on the edge of legality. Driving supercars or souped-up import racers, dodging traffic and evading the police. But what's this? For the Christmas crowd, EA pushed out yet another shiny box with "Need for Speed" on it, and this time they didn't skip the PC. The problem is, while cooking up ProStreet, they left out the old ingredients of traffic, the police and... well, everything that made Need for Speed what it is. So, the end result must be a horrible mess? Well, not exactly - it all depends on what expectations you have going in. Besides, the PC market isn't exactly overcrowded with shiny racing games at the moment.

You call this "Need For Speed"?

Now I must admit upfront that I have not spent much time with the recent NFS titles - the last one I played for a considerable time was NFS: Underground, and I've only sampled Most Wanted and Carbon for a little bit. Yet even with my limited experience, I can only ask - is this really a Need for Speed title? The game retains the concept of "street racing" by presenting a game with customized versions of normal road cars - usually Japanese import cars or US muscle cars, as seen on previous NFS titles, and tosses in some true supercars as well. However, the underlying concept of Need for Speed - the illegal races on public roads - has been tossed overboard. Yes, some early NFS titles had some races on closed roads and tracks, but as far back as I can remember, the critical feature has always been illegal racing on public roads, while dodging the traffic and avoiding the police.

ProStreet moves to racing on temporary racetracks built on normal roads or other paved locations, and the police has been sent to eat donuts. You compete in race days, a "legalized" form of street racing - an overt attempt at political correctness that won't please the fans of the series. There is nothing wrong with a racing game like this, and I'll say right here that I think overall ProStreet is a fairly good game, but it just doesn't fit to the general idea what a Need for Speed title is. Gone is the concept of free roaming in a city, as seen in NFS: Underground 2, Most Wanted and Carbon.

A Need for Speed title without police chases? Has EA gone completely bonkers?

Page 1: IntroductionPage 2: Racing Modes & EventsPage 3: Gameplay problemsPage 4: Performance and VisualsPage 5: Final Thoughts and Scoring

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