Need for Speed: ProStreet review

A lot of us out there just don’t give a shit about how our car looks. If we’re doing our jobs as wheelmen (or wheelwomen), onlookers should never catch more than a fleeting glimpse of our rides. The bigger the blur, the better. We’re not knocking auto-customization, or even Brooke Burke, but the Need For Speed franchise was beginning to get weighed down by bells and whistles. We’re kinda glad that they’ve done away with the LA sandbox, so we can get down to what makes a good racing game: The races, durr.

No longer teetering on the edge of becoming My Little Ferrari: Dress-up Edition, ProStreet may look a little stripped down compared to previous Need for Speeds. Because who wants to cruise around a celebrity-infused openworld environment with a superfluous backstory during commutes with a portable? We just wanna race, dammit! Quickly selectable events are just what the doctor ordered. You’ll glide easily from event, to event, to event, with only a painless amount of load time standing in your way.

You can still trick out until your car to your heart’s content, although in a far more understated capacity, this time around lacking vinyls and body kits. Still, take care to modify your vehicle’s performance appropriately. On the track, cars get dinged up pretty easily at first. A single scrape can dramatically affect the performance of your vehicle, or not. It all depends where the damage occurs and how fast you’re going.

Don’t be intimidated, dear reader. ProStreet’s got visible assist guides called Driver Intuition, a la Forza 2, to gently wade you into those perfect lines. Though, you are enticed with cash and point incentives to rely on onscreen assistance as little as possible. Luckily, there’s varying degrees of noobishness, with selectable Driver Personas ranging from “Weekend Warrior” to “Speed King” so you don’t have to commit to a difficulty setting. Of course, greater difficulties reap higher rewards, and that’s something to keep in mind when you’ve got your eyes on a new chariot or modification part.