seconds?... sure why not!

Upon receiving Need For Speed ProStreet in the mail I could hardly wait to crack it open and dive into it. Seriously, I've been a long time fan of the NFS series and with the jump to next gen I've been even more intrigued, (not to mention.... achievements!) So in the disc goes and and wait what's this? Where's the cops? What's this "warming up my tires" ish? Where's Wolf, Nikki, Sal, Officer Cross and the rest of the crew from the NFS Carbon game? What's this race day arrangement? And most importantly, where's the car customization (gotta get a black on black rolling around somehow)?

So needless to say after a short, disappointing stint, NFSPS was on it's way back to gamefly (guess I'll finish DiRT and COD4). But i couldn't just let it go, after years of loving the NFS games I knew EA wouldn't let me down that bad. So back into my gamefly Q it goes for another round. This time I decided to look beyond all the previous listed disappointments and just play for the heck of it. I can say now that I'm happy that I decided on the seconds, I'm back on board! Forget the arcade-style titles before with almost comically inaccurate physics and surreally tough cars. NFSPS has taken it to the next level with a new physics and graphic engine. Race on the deserts of Nevada or the Autobahn (I think there's even a race through Colorado back woods). Also new to PS is allocating cars for specific race types, i.e. buying an RSX I now have to decide if this will be my speed, drag or drift car. Once selected this allocation can be changed, but does away with the single car for all types of races method.

A lot of NFS regulars will be disappointed to hear that there isn't any illegal street racing -- the line's staple thus far -- and therefore no police chases. Apparently this has caused the game to take a couple of major hits from various reviewers. The AI at times is dopey and amateurish driving (not shifting gears or using the hand brake, for example) doesn't hinder your performance that much. But brace yourself, the word is that the difficulty level ramps up very quickly. The AIs are ready to pounce on any mistake you make, and going so fast that you can't make turns results in a smashed whip(achievement unlocked!) While driving aggressively isn't exactly punished, you just have to gauge whether that bump is going to knock the AI out of position or send you careening into a wall.

I'm sure we've all seen the promo shots with all the different cars all done up looking somewhat grunge/underground. Now that I've have located the high detailed car customizer, buried under the blueprints, I am happy to report that it's all possible! The car editor rivals that of Forza2! Which is a BIG statement. Big but true, you can now add hundreds of layers and scale, rotate, skew all of em! So possibilities are pretty much endless, black on black is back!

Verdict: Need For Speed: ProStreet: Fun and easy to play casually, yet has the complexity and challenge that more demanding players expect. I do miss the story even though is consisted of bad voice acting and cheesy characters, it was a story!