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Need For Speed ProStreet – Xbox 360
Sun, 1st Mar 2009
FYI, this story is more than a year old

The Need for Speed series by EA has forever been setting the standard for street racing games ever since their breakaway success that was Need for Speed Underground. Underground 2 built on the success of its predecessor and became one of the top selling games of 2004/05 totalling over 9 million copies. Need for Speed’s next two instalments; Carbon and Most Wanted veered away from the customisation market, but were still generally well received. ProStreet marks the return of deep car customisation, this time without the illegal street racing.

ProStreet puts you in the shoes of Ryan Cooper, an ex-illegal street racer looking to make a name for himself racing on the right side of the law. As you work your way through the race days, earning better cars and making a reputation for yourself, you’ll have encounters with the Street Kings, a gang of racers which specialise in a particular discipline of racing. By taking down the Street Kings in each discipline, you can work your way to the top of the racing world.

There are a fair number of types of race, all of which you’ll need to master before you can become top dog. Grip races are stock standard races, you versus 7 other cars with the winner taking all.  Other takes on these have you trying to nail the fastest lap time, the best in your class or reaching the highest speed. A new revamped drift mode is back and is far more enjoyable this time around. Drag racing is here, but the burnout mini-game before each runs makes them tedious and annoying.

Crashing your car has never been so satisfying as it is in ProStreet, with an amazing damage engine causing anything from a minor scrape to completely totalling your ride.

The online and multiplayer facets of ProStreet are fantastic, with players able to create and customise their own race days to battle against their friends or online foes.

ProStreet’s deep customisation, deep single player and satisfying multiplayer, wrapped up with fantastic presentation featuring stunning visuals and decent audio makes for a solid and enjoyable racing game.