Need For Speed ProStreet review (PC)

You know the EA slogan on their adverts, “EA Games – Challenge Everything”? This came to mind during the play testing of the latest Need For Speed game, ProStreet. Specifically, whether EA is trying to go beyond videogames and challenge our perception of what ‘average’ means. Thankfully it has done a good job and reminded us, in pure videogame form, what the true meaning of the word is. ProStreet says hello.

Same day, same old race

As mentioned in Boomtown’s review of the PS2 version, the main elements of the series - avoiding cops and racing illegally around the streets - are criminally (arf!) absent from this latest incarnation, and the game is worse off because of it.

The meat of the game comes in the form of the career mode, seeing you play as Ryan Cooper and tracking his progress through various competitions and events in the aim to reach the top of the street racing tree. This is done through four different racing events, none of which are especially exciting. Grip is a straight forward race against other drivers, with the first over the line being declared the winner. While these races are reasonably enjoyable, there’s a distinct lack of excitement in what’s a representation of something that, you’d imagine, would really get the adrenaline pumping. Corners are easy to drift around, and while this is fun, the lack of imagination in the circuits and therefore simple track layouts mean that there’s no real challenge to winning these and it’s pretty simple to win on your first attempt.

Drift events are a case of drifting as much as possible to “win massive drift points”, and as mentioned before, drifting is easy to pull of and there’s little joy to be had here either.

Drag races see you having to warm up your tyres by doing a burnout prior to the race, with various ratings ranging from ‘bad’ to ‘incredible’, and then it’s on to the race itself. Timing is the key here, with gear shifts needing to be bang on in order to maintain speed, and a nitrous boost available for that extra burst. Again, this is all easy to do though, and there’s no difficulty in winning these events and making the target times. It’s a shame, as they’re probably the most enjoyable along with the regular races.

Finally comes the Speed mode, which is essentially a time trial between yourself and the other competitors over three laps. Whoever has the fastest time overall wins, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this isn’t anything groundbreaking or challenging, and is equally mundane as the other races. Boredom soon sets in, and while it’s nice to be able to buy new cars and tweak and upgrade your collection, it’s no fun when the actual events you use them in aren’t going to excite you and keep you playing.

Come back, baby come back?

There are slight variations in all of these race types, but they’re superfluous really and can just boil down to a different length of track in the drag races or reaching certain speeds in designated areas. A career map tracks your progress through the game and new events and locations become available as you win, but whether you’ll want to keep ploughing through and reach the end will be down to how much enjoyment you can squeeze from the game.

There are various online features available, and while this makes the game more challenging by adding human players, the foundations of the game remain the same and therefore little appeal is added.

Last over the line

ProStreet looks decent on PC will all settings on maximum, but it can stutter at times and the car jerks around in a worrying fashion, which doesn’t make for a particularly attractive view when using the behind the car viewpoint. It wouldn’t be an EA game without annoying prompts at loading screens, such as the always-helpful “Avoid the red and white crash barriers – they mean the track’s the other way”. Thanks for pointing that out EA, I thought for a minute there I was meant to drive into them. An annoying announcer accompanies the career mode and the soundtrack provides various indie tunes that are instantly forgettable.

By taking out the two aspects of the series that made it stand out from the slew of other racing games on the market, Need For Speed ProStreet ends up as an exercise in mediocrity and offers nothing new or remarkable. It you’re a serious fan of racing games and want to expand your collection, you’ll be disappointed, and if you’re looking for an arcade racer with a street racing flavour, check out Midnight Club or some of the previous NFS games. ProStreet is fun for a short while, but ultimately too easy, too dull, and too average.