05.18.08
Review – Need for Speed Pro Street
HI!
So I sufaced long enough to gather my thoughts about the latest from the Need For Speed franchise. Now, while I can (from a very moral perspective) understand the position they took in moving the racing away from illegal street races and high-speed pursuits with the cops, this only works if you take one of two paths.
1) produce an ‘arcade’ racing game with the qualities of the original Need For Speed series liberally applied and hope the PGR fans like it too
or
2) produce a top notch racing sim which can hold it’s head up in the company of FORZA and make sure every peice is flawless
Unfortunately what we have is a not-so-happy marriage between the two. The racing is too arcade-like without having arcade fun and not close enough to match my expectations from a sim (if I’m on a grid with a bunch of other cars, I’d like to be able to start from any other position than last please!).
I’m pleased the autosculpt features have remained and been more integrated into the game dynamic through their apparent impact on the performance of the car on the road. And the paint and graphic customisation gave me the simple pleasure of having a garage full of cars with my ‘look’ applied in a pain-free and pretty enjoyable way. But the menu structures, both the vertical main and garage and the horizontal/2D chalk-on-the ground game menu, leave a lot to be desired both in terms of navigability (for the chalk one) and speed of access for the rest.
In-game I found the controls a little clumsy. Now I’m not the most dexterous and have even been know to be a little ham-fisted but I know that I can make a car dance sideways in PGR and control a high-speed 4-wheel drift in FORZA but in this game I felt like I was somehow disconnected, especially in the Drift and Speed races. The Grip races seemed a little more manageable but maybe that down to my more extensive on-track experience, who knows.
I also very much dislike that I can’t progress through the game without having to re-visit events to earn enough money to buy the cars I need to even compete in the later ones. I don’t like that I can’t concentrate on one type of racing but have to split myself, and my resources, over multiple disciplines. I don’t understand why there’s a differential between ‘winning’ an event and ‘dominating’ it. OK, of course I do.. but why then is winning not enough to get you through to the next round?
So what DO I like?… Well I actually like the structure of the game. I like the concept of these highly illegal street racers being brought together in a semi-controlled environment and being allowed to simply go-for-it. I like it that the old ‘crews’ have been retained and turned into teams and I did get a feeling when listening to the drivellings of the MC at the events that this was part of a larger world.
In conclusion, my measure of a game’s apeall and worth is how far I get through it before decide to finish it or give it up. Transformers reached this tipping point early and failed, PGR4 reached it early and succeeded. With NFS Pro Street I’ve reached my tipping point after about 2/3 distance and it’s REALLY annoying! I’ve made the investment in time to get this far but I’m going to have to cut my losses and move away from the table. MESSAGE TO NFS: give me back my neon, my tuners, my chases and my free roaming. FORZA is my race sim and you don’t match up!
Silesti
