Game Review: Need for Speed ProStreet

(andPOP) - When you think of the Need for Speed franchise, two things should come to mind – besides needs and speed. Fast cars and intense races are what make this Black Box developed, EA published series successful, and unfortunately the latest PSP port of Need for Speed ProStreet fails to meet these criteria.

Different from past Need for Speed titles, ProStreet doesn’t have the usual traffic, police or other real world distractions. It's just straight up professional driving on closed tracks. ProStreet feels like it tries to take the best of street racing with pimped out street cars, and mix it with professional racing. I think it would have worked well if the PSP port didn't have such hard-hitting problems.

While ProStreet tries to stay true to its console and PC counterparts, there just isn’t enough of anything on the PSP to compare. Instead of the massive amount of customization and fine tuning we have gotten used to and enjoyed in the past, this version only has a few options, like having a number on your car, hub caps, and window options for the visual aspect and engine, chassis, handling, induction and nitrous for performance. There are a few modes of play in Need for Speed ProStreet to select from, but again, they are extremely limited in this PSP version. As with most other EA titles, there are EA extras, but in this case you will only find a FAQ and credits for the game. The game has an EA media centre, which allows you to customize your music experience (for which I find the included tracks in this title repetitive and uninspiring), watch videos you unlock, or another FAQ about how to use the media centre. My NFS includes records, options and game data. Quick play mode includes Grip mode and Speed mode, each having different types of racing options within. Next is the ever important career mode in which the majority of your play time will be involved, here you buy cars, customize them, and race in events to make more money, and get more cars. Within the career mode, you can choose your difficulty level by selecting weekend warrior (easy, where your 'Driver Intuition' controls you on the best path automatically), adrenaline junkie (medium, where the 'Driver Intuition only shows you the best path and gives you a boost), and speed king (expert, same as adrenaline junkie but harder). In Career mode, you can also race maps you unlocked to test out cars and check out your career stats. There is also a multiplayer mode, which is available in both ad hoc and infrastructure for LAN or online play. The online play mode is pretty decent, you race against whoever you want anywhere in the world… if you can find anyone else playing online, pick any car you want (whether you own it in career mode or not) and race away.

The game plays very oddly, the controls feel a little too arcade like and even then at some points it seems a little odd, with the turning especially. At one point I could be making a right turn and everything would be going fine, then all of a sudden it will straighten out or turn too hard. The controls are simple in the sense that you have gas, brakes, E-brakes, look behind, turn, nitrous, camera change (for which there are only three views, all poor angles), and a special button called Driver Intuition. As you drive, your intuition builds up. Then when you push the button, a big green (or red if your going too fast around a turn) pathway shows itself and basically tells you that’s where you should be driving, it also gives you a boost of speed, and in weekend racer difficulty, drives automatically for you. Something the game didn’t tell me before playing though is that driver’s intuition will turn itself on and off without warning whenever it feels it should. I would be making a right turn, minding my own business when BAM, driver intuition turns itself on in the middle of a turn, making me hit a wall, then turns itself off in the middle of that same turn, making me hit another wall. It also doesn’t help that this driver intuition is very bright and big, obstructing the track. The loading times are a bit long but still fairly acceptable. There are about a dozen tracks from all over the world and 32 cars to choose from, which, while not Gran Turismo-esqe, is a decent size for a portable port.

Graphically, the game looks decent for a PSP title, not the best, but definitely not the worst, especially for a racing game. The car models look unrealistic, but at the same time, professional enough that you get the feeling some millionaires somewhere in the world are actually racing these cars just for fun. While car damage is shown during races (and you get billed for repairs after each race in career mode), I have yet to see damage actually slow the car down or a car actually stop working. The visible damage does little besides take away some cash. The tracks themselves hurt to look at. The tracks are varied in their turns and locations. From the fairly straight Autobahn in Germany, to the monstrous looking Mondello Park in Ireland, there is enough variety here to entertain most racers. That being said however, the roads are dull and gray, signs are everywhere, and there is blur out the whazoo. I understand adding blur to a game to give it a sense of speed, and when using nitrous or tailing behind a car, the blur becomes super blur to such a point that it’s hard to see where you’re supposed to be driving. Next thing you know you’re hitting a wall at 200 km/h and you get a dent near your tire that doesn’t seem to do much but run you 50 bucks after the race.

The soundtrack is customizable, but the included songs all sound alike and off for this type of game. Beyond that you have the generic driving sounds of engines revving, tires screeching and nitrous expelling. Nothing new, nothing great.

In the end, if you only have a PSP and must have every Need for Speed title out there, you might as well pick up this one. Otherwise, get it for a console or PC. While not all bad, Need for Speed ProStreet suffers in a number of areas: mixed graphics, bland sound, frustrating game play, weak customization and not enough speed, for which we have the need.

Graphics: 3.0 / 5.0
Gameplay 3.0 / 5.0
Sound 2.5 / 5.0
Replay value 3.5 / 5.0