Every year the gaming monopoly known as EA releases a new racing installment in their flagship series of Need For Speed. This year’s rendition, known as “Prostreet,” is a hybrid of racing mechanics barrowed from earlier titles with one or two additions, and sadly, one or two subtractions. 

Many aspects of NFS have changed within its ever-evolving formula, but one thing has remained the same… impeccable racing mechanics. I’m happy to say that aspect of the game is still top-notch…for the most part. When you boot-up Prostreet for the first time you watch a handful of un-skippable intro videos (do they pay somebody full time to come up with new ways to flash EA in every release?), and are greeted with the same urban-graffiti style menu as in Carbon.  

As the game begins, you assume the character of Ryan Cooper in his journey to regain status and popularity after being insulted by the king of racing, Ryo. But this time around it’s not evading the police and watching your back because of your “heat.”  No, this time it’s (sadly) all legal. You gain status back by “dominating” race day events. These events include grip, drift, drag, and a couple different checkpoint races. You start out with some pretty crappy cars but eventually make your way up to the blazingly fast exotics and tricked-out imports. Until then though, you’re stuck with something like a busted up Civic P.O.S.  

Speaking of busted up, the biggest addition to this most recent release of NFS is damage. Yes, now your car can be torn into pieces, so bashing away at your opponents down the stretch will cost you some extra dollars in the end (usually around $1,600). The races are pretty straight-forward except drag. Just to clarify, the actual racing part of this event is pretty fun. What is not fun is the horrible mini game at the beginning which consists of “heating up your tires.”  Here the player tries to rev their engine within an ever shrinking meter.  And since you race three drags in a single event, you are forced to play along in this un-skippable mini game three separate times. So by the later parts of the game you pretty much loath drag events. 

The rest of the events though are varied enough to keep things moderately interesting although not aesthetically pleasing. Almost every race is on flat land in closed off spaces so you won’t see much variety from one race day to the next.

What does see a vast amount a variety are the car designs and customizations for the cars. You can add a plethora of knick-knack items that really make your car stand out from the crowd. And with auto-sculpt, there are literally limitless variations you can add to your ride. One really neat improvement that was introduced in last year’s Carbon is the auto-sculpt feature. Here you can manually shape different aspects of your car, only this time around it actually affects the aerodynamics of your vehicle. You can even go to a wind-tunnel to test them out. 

And last but not least is the online racing. Not only can you race live, but you can also set up your own customized race day events, in which people can freely enter and try their hand at the race. Afterwards, they leave their times posted for others to try their hand at beating. 

Ultimately, ProStreet is a let down in the series. This is not completely unexpected with a franchise that churns out a new variation every year. It’s hard to keep things fresh with new features without alienating veteran fans at the same time. It’s a fine line a lot of companies face when creating sequels. ProStreet isn’t necessarily a bad racing game, it’s just not shining as brightly as it has in the past. Here’s to next year’s… 

Gameplay: 7.5
Closed-in races aren’t as exciting as last year’s open city, but offer a fair challenge with a variety of racing events.

Graphics: 8
Not much improvement over last year’s Carbon, with the exception of damage modeling.

Sound: 9.3
As usual, top notch sound effects and a good soundtrack, all praises here.

Difficulty: Medium
The earlier races are super easy while the ones later in the game offer up some pretty good competition.

Concept: 7
It feels like EA took a little too much away when compared to last year’s release while not adding as much back. The lack of an open city and all racing now being on a legal, closed track just doesn’t offer the same rush.

Multiplayer: 7.5
The multiplayer is fun and your friends bash your car up a lot more than the computer does but the customizations are a big plus and the racing is a lot more challenging.

Overall: 7.3
Need For Speed ProStreet is barely a worthy sequel to the last 3 strong releases from EA. Mediocrity bleeds through the edges in almost every aspect of this release.