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GC '07: Need for Speed ProStreet Hands-On Preview

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  • Xbox 360
  • PS3
By Guy Cocker, GameSpot UK, Posted Aug 23, 2007 5:48 am GMT

Where next for the series that defined the street racing genre? For EA, it's in preempting the sport's real-life move to more organised track racing. We played the game at this year's Leipzig to find out more.

LEIPZIG, Germany--According to EA, the risk of street racing has recently forced racers to become more organised in order to make their sport more legitimate. With fines of $10,000 in the US, even the most financially secure racers are banding together and moving on to dedicated racing tracks. With its latest Need for Speed game, Electronic Arts says it's preempting this move and interpreting where it thinks street racing will be in a few years' time. The result is ProStreet, and with the game set for release at the beginning of November, we managed to get a hands-on with an advanced build at this year's Leipzig Games Convention.

The general theme for the game this year is "cars as weapons," meaning that you'll have to buy many different vehicles for all the various race styles. Whereas before you could buy car parts to adapt to various racing styles, now you will have to utilise entirely different vehicles to perform the same task. Entering a variety of straight races, drag races, speed challenges, and other races will allow you to complete the main task of becoming the street king. This alone is set to take most players around 15-20 hours to complete, while completists will find 30 hours of gameplay in beating the kings of the individual disciplines. A 100 percent complete level should take around 50 hours according to EA.

One of the most impressive parts of the game on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is the particle system, and particularly how it affects gameplay. At the beginning of the race you can perform wheel-spins that will produce vast plumes of smoke from the rear of your car. These clouds will remain for several seconds, ruining the view of any poor racer who happens to be behind you. The beginning of the drag races is actually dependent on your ability to wheel-spin, because you have to heat your tyres up as part of a new minigame.

Real-time damage also makes a welcome return in ProStreet, with scratches to the paintwork leading up to dented and broken panels. You can adapt your car as always with cosmetic and performance-related enhancements, and then take it into a wind tunnel to see how it copes with the demands of aerodynamics. After you've finished tuning your vehicle, you'll be able to take it racing on one of the 14 different locations, which include Japan, North America, and Europe. These tracks will include some of the more notable ones from previous games, as well as some officially-licensed ones such as Willow Springs in Los Angeles.

Need for Speed ProStreet looks like it will offer all the thrills that we've come to expect from the series, and although it looks to have shaken off its underground edge somewhat, there are plenty of technological advancements in the game that take advantage of new hardware. The game is set for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo DS at the beginning of November, with a PlayStation Portable release following in February 2008. We'll bring you more details as soon as we can.

32 Comments

  • magic_khan

    Posted Nov 12, 2007 2:11 am GMT

    i can't wait to get this game...........november is good for playing the games

  • rycr

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 7:22 pm GMT

    Hmm...reminds me of the older Need For Speed titles before Underground moved the series into underground street racing. This should definitely be interesting and I want to see how it turns out. I hope there's still a free-roam mode or whatever they're calling it. I like being able to drive around the city.

  • sdkingsht

    Posted Oct 18, 2007 1:01 pm GMT

    but will there be police chases? most wanted was the best need for speed ever. due in large part to the police chases and black list achievements. i had more fun on police chases than in the racing.

  • jushoops16

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 8:06 pm GMT

    Dis game looks like it's going to be a challenge. Can't wait until october tha 31st and ya'll will see me on xbox live beating people asses. My gamer tag is youngsta 007. See ya there.

  • Hybridos

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 10:12 am GMT

    I will pass on this one and wait till they release a new Need for Speed with police chases, I blow it when I got NFS Underground and then when I got the Must Wanted, that Underground game was completely obsolete cause the Must Wanted has all plus the police chases, that for my taste is the best on the NFS series, I remember the Hot Pursuit and the Hot Pursuit 2 as the racing games that I enjoyed the must.

  • Twinturbo120

    Posted Oct 1, 2007 5:01 pm GMT

    NFSU2 is the best one...with the ability to dyno tune it and make it handle different it was awesome. Also online was and still is great

  • darkpoet25

    Posted Sep 26, 2007 9:26 pm GMT

    I can't wait to get this. It's about time this series got more realistic.

  • sdkingsht

    Posted Sep 21, 2007 4:43 pm GMT

    need for speed without police chases is just another racing game. not necessarily a bad game or not a good racing game. but that's what set it apart. the greatest game in the series EVER was "most wanted." i'm sure this will still be great but without police chases it's just not the same.

  • HardCor1981

    Posted Sep 20, 2007 11:26 am GMT

    This game sounds pretty short to me...at least as far as a racing game goes. Burnout and Gran Turismo take many many more hours to complete. If it takes around 15 - 20 hours to complete the game (even if you haven't done every single little thing) than I'll be taking my $60 elsewhere.

  • fatafreak

    Posted Sep 15, 2007 7:29 pm GMT

    dude12345678900 its pretty crazy that you cant spell pretty. go read a book. i think you need a break from the tv and computer to get some words in your vocabulary

  • _Samsung_

    Posted Sep 12, 2007 10:33 am GMT

    Dude12345678900 is right, there'll be game like underground 3 exept probaly not with the name and have like 130 cars but with the variety of MC3: DUB Edition Remix but ill get it anyways why have loads money if ye not gonna spend it eh? den again im a collector aswell seein ive got all the others mite aswell get it shudn't i

    NFSC - dissapointin
    NFSMW - quite enjoyable
    NFSU2 - now THATS nfs for ye
    NFSU1 - meh...
    NFSHP2 - no comment
    NFSHP1 - i meen come on...
    NFSPU - dat was good
    NFS2 - overall its like NFS1 but with a different name
    NFS1 - i don't how to start on dat 1, holy sh*t



    other ones just can-not-be-bothered

  • Dude12345678900

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 9:42 pm GMT

    @ cono,

    I agree totally, the upgarding system should be pritty much EVERYTHING, almost like Need for speed underground 2 x]

    They went pritty overboard tho, hydrolics, neons, etc. But hey, it made your car look cool. And that was pritty awesome =D

  • partytimekegs

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 8:16 pm GMT

    Well..right now this is sounding like a NFS spin off of Forza.. but I don't know.. I'll deff miss the underground racing theme of NFS. Although, thats why I'm getting Juiced 2.

  • MoDollars

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 2:55 am GMT

    this game always sounds crazy, can't wait to get it !

  • 43n1m4

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 6:51 am GMT

    NFS: Carbon was a big dissapointment IMO - so this one better improve on the driving model of the last one. Fortunately, it seems like they want to improve that aspect. But with FM 2 on the shelves and PGR 4 on the way, they have to show something spectacular in order to get me to buy this one.

  • wenbin09

    Posted Aug 27, 2007 6:06 pm GMT

    soounds cool

  • Agermemnon

    Posted Aug 26, 2007 4:37 am GMT

    @playstation_wii lol it's a racing game for crying out loud want story read tolkien's lord of the ring's ! hope it's good not played carbon yet but liked most wanted and the other nfs games

  • Cono_2007

    Posted Aug 24, 2007 5:57 am GMT

    How you can get a WHOLE new looks to yours cars, like neons on the outside of your car, but stuff to make your car the best looking

  • boydominican

    Posted Aug 23, 2007 5:00 pm GMT

    This version will be one of the best of NFS because it will challenge you in new track and the track will be long ....well lets see what this game will turn out...

Review Scores

PlatformGameSpotMetacritic / User Score
Xbox 360
Review this game
7.0
PC
Review this game
6.5
PS3
Review this game
7.0
Wii
Review this game
6.5
DS
Review this game
- -
PS2
Review this game
6.5
PSP
Review this game
4.0

Game Info

  • Xbox 360 Release Info

    • Release Date: Nov 15, 2007
    • ESRB: E10+
      Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older.

  • PC PS3 Wii DS PS2 Release Info

    • Release Date: Nov 13, 2007
    • ESRB: E10+
      Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older.

  • PSP Release Info

    • Release Date: Feb 18, 2008
    • ESRB: E
      Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older.

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