Need for Speed ProStreet (Xbox 360)

EA – please – I hate micro-transactions, they need to die in a fire along with this series if this keeps on up.

Ok, that’s enough of my jaded gamer bitching for now. Seriously though, this kind of thing really is only for the ELITE gamer and not all of us can be bothered with that kind of rubbish. It’s time to think of more gameplay ideas and revitalise the genre before it’s buried under a pile of trash so large you’ll be able to see if from space whilst standing on the Moon.

You have four new game modes; stop me if this reminds you of something. Drag, Drift, Grip and the new Speed Challenge.

Drag has been redesigned so you must heat your tires, boost a lot, change gear and this time you can actually steer the car.

Drift has been redesigned so it’s a bit more dynamic.

Grip is pretty much your standard kind of race, with some extra bits thrown in.

Speed Challenge sees you trying to go as fast as you can through checkpoints and praying you don’t lose control of the car, because if you trash the car you have to pay for it.

All damage has to be paid for, and in some events you can take along a backup car to the various race days. My problem with all this is there’s no casual side to the game, again, it’s very much in the name Pro Street – where’s the toggle to turn off the damage system, isn’t gaming supposed to be about choice?

The online races fare a little better, there’s a nice competitive spirit when you can find a match hosted by someone who’s not a retard. There’s some good fun to be had there and having the custom race day’s setup by decent gamers can actually lead to an enjoyable game. There I said it, it’s enjoyable, and it’s just not the amazing game we were led to believe it would be.

It keeps a fairly steady frame-rate for most of the time, until it dips occasionally, it’s not a bad stutter but it’s enough to put you off when it happens on a particularly tricky part. The voice acting isn’t bad, the dialogue is typical of the kind of game it is and overall the race AI doesn’t seem to use the infamous rubber-band trick most racing AI does to keep them in the game.

It’s possible to psyche-out your opponents and cause them to wipe-out in the Speed Challenges and this results in a dramatic crash. It’s a pity there’s no way to record this as once again EA have left out any kind of useful replay feature and way to save your most dramatic moments and wins for eternity. This is an Xbox360; it has a hard-drive for a reason.

So in conclusion: It’s a pretty game; it’s also fairly repetitive and tends to be aimed more at Pro gamers than the casual gamer. A lack of open world gameplay brings the series back towards its roots, but in the end hampers it more than helps - Perhaps next time?