Need For Speed Pro Street

Need for Speed:  Pro Street

Rating: E10+

Score:  7.5/10

             It’s Race Day and it’s time for racers to prove they are “street kings”.  Are you game?  This game is available on Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP, Nintendo DS and some mobile phones.

             The first surprising fact about this game is the lack of freedom in navigating the game.  In other (newer) Need for Speed games, you would be able to drive freely in a nicely detailed environment full of cops and other drivers.  In this game, you pick a place, pick a king of race (drag race, normal race, etc.), then you race and move on to the next race(s).  This takes away from the series’ great freedom in substituting a more arcade style racing game. 

             On the other hand, this game looks beautiful.  Most everything is greatly detailed, making this the best-looking Need for Speed game yet!  If you’re a gamer who hates in-game advertisement though, this game is not for you.  Around every corner there are more and more ads for Duracell, or Old Spice, or other big names. 

            Cops play a role in some other Need for Speed games, but not this one.  There are no cops whatsoever in this game.  My favorite part of the other games, the cops, has been taken out!

            My favorite part of this game is crashing.  After crashing your car, you get a slow motion, fun to watch, scene of your car flying out of control.  These crashes remind me a lot of the game “Burnout”, which is probably where the creators originally saw the technique, minus the car being set on fire and blowing up.

             There’s only one problem – the physics.  In real like, if you were to run your car into a metal pole at 200 km/h, your car would become a large U.  In this game, there would be a 50/50 chance of crashing and flipping, or bouncing off the pole and continuing to race.

             Though this game lacks some of the finer staples of the series, it’s still one of the best racing games out this year.  With a friend, this game can become truly timeless.

             It’s far from perfect, but any gamer who likes their races fast and frantic should check this game out!