Need For Speed: Prostreet (Xbox360) Review
Posted by Julian Williams on 01.04.2008
Need For Speed goes pro this year, but is it able to meet the lofty standards set by its predecessors. Only one way to find out...
I suck at racing games. Every since the days of Cruisin’ USA and Ridge Racer, I was always more inclined to crash than finish the race successfully. Yet, despite my general sucktitude, I can’t get enough of racing games. Maybe it’s the fact that they are the only way that I can (legally) go 180 MPH in the wrong lane or drive bumper-to-bumper with some poor sap, but racing games give you an exhilaration that many other type of video games cannot emulate. Need For Speed has been one of the staples of the racing games genre ever since it’s debut on 3DO (remember that?) back in 1994. It’s fast-paced, break-neck style has endured it to many fans and the illegal nature of most NFS titles (underground racing, escaping cops) as well as its above average gameplay has made it one of the most successful racing series to date. This year, the crew at EA decided to switch it up a little bit and instead of glorifying illegal street racing, they’ve decided to turn Need For Speed pro. Was it a good move? Keep on reading to find out.
The cars look gorgeous, but the same can’t be said for everything else.
Gameplay
The first thing you’ll notice about this new iteration of Need For Speed is the lack of cops. That’s because NFS has gone legal and are running authorized street racing events. This automatically takes away some of the fun factor of the previous iterations of NFS because there’s no real sense of urgency anymore. Basically, since the fear of being chased down by cops is gone, that only leaves the racing to depend on for fun and that isn’t enough (at last in this game) to gain a feeling of gratification. Don’t get me wrong, the races can be very fun. Especially when you start to unlock faster cars and begin jetting across the track. The only thing is that it takes an awfully long time to get to that point as in the early stages you’re stuck with cars that can barely reach 100 MPH and in a game called Need For Speed, that’s unacceptable. Despite the snail-like pace of the cars in the early going, the game can still be a joy to play due to the Race Day feature.
Each Race Day consists of various events. You’ll have Grip races, Grip Class races, Time Attack races, Sector Shootouts, Drift competitions, Wheelie competitions, Top Speed runs, Speed challenges and Drag races. Grip and Grip Class are essentially standard races, the only difference being that Grip Class places you in sets of fours to compete rather than having a free-for-all race. Time Attack is exactly how it sounds in that the driver who records the fastest time on a track wins. Sector shootouts divide the track into various sections and the goal is to record the fastest time for each section. It sounds weird, but it’s pretty fun. Drift competitions consist of racking up as many points as possible by performing fast and high angle drifts. If you like to drift in racing games, you’ll LOVE this feature as you can lay out some pretty sweet drifts. Wheelie competitions are drag races with the twist being that you have to drag while popping a wheelie. Top Speed runs tally up all your checkpoint times and whoever has the lowest total wins. A Speed challenge is a straight up race from one point to another. Finally, you have the drag races which are the most entertaining part of this whole shindig….for a while. The way they set up the drag races is quite entertaining. First you have to burn out your tires, then you have to time your launch perfectly to get the best start possible, and finally you have to shift at precisely the right moment or wind up being left in the dust. The whole process can be pretty exhilarating, especially when you’re neck-to-neck at the finish line, but after doing it a couple dozen times you’re interest in it will begin to wane.
The Race Day feature is the bread and butter of the Career Mode where the goal is to not only win, but dominate as many Race Days as possible and defeat the various “Kings” of the game. The main “king” is Ryo who disses you throughout the game, so your ultimate goal is to shut Ryo up once and for all. The road to get there is an expansive one as the Career Mode features many different events that you have to win before getting to the top guy.
The online feature of this game is perhaps the most redeeming quality of it. Quite frankly, it is absolutely awesome. Not only can you hop online and challenge various racers from around the world automatically, but you can also set up your own Race Day for others to compete in. You can customize everything about it from the locale to the cars allowed to compete to the type of races that everyone will compete in. On top of that, you can sign off of Xbox Live and other racers will still be able to compete in your Race Day with the racer with the highest total being declared the winner. This is a fantastic feature as you can sign off and check in the next day to see who the current leaders are to try to beat them and vice versa. This will easily provide you with hours upon hours of entertainment.
If you drive anything like me, this is how your car will wind up
Graphics
The graphics in this game are a mixed bag of excellent and blah. You aren’t going to see the same kind of detail here that you would in Forza 2 or Project Gotham Racing 4 so if you’re looking for that type of quality, you might be disappointed. That being said, there is still some great quality to be found here. The details on the cars are excellent as many look identical to their real life counterparts and when cars get wrecked, the damage looks realistic. I’ll even go so far as to say that the car detail is some of the best I’ve ever seen in any racing game. The downfall in the graphical department for Prostreet is the environment that surrounds these fabulous looking cars. It’s lackluster at best. Every track looks virtually identical and there isn’t a single thing about them that makes them unique. Therefore, you can often feel like you’re driving endlessly through the same track for the whole game. Sure, there might be a few twists and turns with each new track, but essentially the environment is exactly the same. It feels like you’re racing in NASCAR rather than a street racing event. The fun of a lot of racing games is to go to different locales and see various monuments and signatures that make each location stand out from the other one. In this game, every track feels identical and it feels like there was no effort to differentiate each track graphically. On top of that, the crowd looks pretty horrendous and seem like they belong in a PS2 game rather than an Xbox360 game. The frame rate is also suspect as once you start using the faster cars, you’ll notice considerable slowdown.
Sound
The sound in this game is nothing to write home about. The cars sound pretty good as the engine roars when it should and when you crash, it sounds very realistic. That’s about the only good components audio wise in this game as the soundtrack is easily forgettable and the race announcer is absolutely atrocious. Seriously, he sounds like he belongs in a skater park rather than a racing event. On top of that, he’s repetitive and his voice in general is just annoying. This is the type of game where you can play the songs downloaded on your hard drive rather than listening to the in-game audio because it would be a marked improvement. Even if you have Ashlee Simpson songs in your hard drive.
Lasting Appeal
There are A LOT of events to compete in before you meet the final “Legend” so that in itself should keep you busy for a long time. On top of that, the online feature is excellent and you’ll probably get a lot of enjoyment from that long after you’ve finished the Career Mode. This will easily keep you preoccupied until the next Need For Speed game comes out.
The customization features are pretty sweet
Fun Factor
Despite some drawbacks, this is a very fun game to play. The racing is solid, the race day feature is nicely set up and you can compete in some great races online. Overall, this is a very fun game to play, but not as exhilarating as previous NFS titles.
The 411
If you’re a huge fan of the Need For Speed series, you’re probably going to be disappointed with this latest iteration. The expansive customization features are still there and this is the most impressive looking NFS title to date, but the gameplay is lacking. If you enjoy a good, old-fashioned racing game in the same vein of a Gran Turismo (although not as fun) then you’ll most likely enjoy this title. If you could get a good deal on this game, you should definitely pick it up because it will provide you with hours of entertainment. But don’t shell out $59.99 for it because, quite frankly, it’s not worth that much.
(Screenshots from Gamespot.com)
Graphics
7.5
The cars look terrific, but a boring environment, shoddy looking crowd and suspect frame rate keep this game from reaching its true potential.
Gameplay
7.0
The cars drive well, The Race Day feature is fun, and the online experience is fantastic. Too bad the rather pedestrian racing takes away a huge chunk of the enjoyment found in previous NFS titles.
Sound
6.0
The cars sound like they should, but the boring soundtrack and horrendous announcer make you want to put this game on mute.
Lasting Appeal
8.5
The Career Mode is expansive and will take you a good while to finish. Add to that the insane amount of fun that you’ll experience online and you have a game that will keep you occupied for a long time.
Fun Factor
7.5
Make no mistake about it, this is a very fun game to play. The only problem is that it could have been even more enjoyable if EA hadn’t taken out a huge portion of the elements that made the NFS series so popular to begin with.
