Need for Speed: ProStreet

Need for Speed: ProStreet
Cover art for Need for Speed: ProStreet
Developer(s)	EA Black Box
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Series	Need for Speed
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Mobile
Release	NA: November 14, 2007 EU: November 23, 2007
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Need for Speed: ProStreet is the 11th installment of Electronic Arts' popular racing game series Need for Speed. On May 21, 2007, Electronic Arts published a teaser trailer of ProStreet, and was then officially announced ten days later on May 31, 2007. It was released worldwide in November 2007.

The demo, featuring two races, one speed challenge and one grip race, appeared on Xbox Live on October 26, 2007, on PlayStation Store on November 1, 2007, and on PC on November 2, 2007.

Gameplay

Need for Speed: ProStreet has taken the Need for Speed series in a different direction of gameplay from the previous installments. Unlike previous versions of Need for Speed franchises, where racing scenes are set around streets with moving traffic, all racing in ProStreet take place solely on closed tracks, thus making it the first game since The Need For Speed 2 not animating illegal racing behavior, which in turn features no police as a result. Performance tuning feature is enhanced, compared to previous versions, especially Autosculpt. Unlike Carbon, where only certain body kits can be autosculpted, this can now be applied to all body kits, including stock bumpers and wide body kits. Furthermore, every adjustment through autosculpt impacts the cars' aerodynamics.

In ProStreet there are four different game modes: Drag (a race in a drag strip, point to point), Grip (similar to Circuit races but with four different types of Grip races available), Speed (similar to a Sprint race) and Drift.

• Drag race is simply a 1/4-mile, 1/2-mile drag, or a wheelie competition race, where the fastest time or the longest wheelie, out of three runs, wins.
• In Grip races, there are four different modes (normal Grip, Grip Class, Sector Shootout and Time Attack), the player has a choice to race rough, such as ramming, smashing, or blocking the opponent in order to win the race, or race cleanly and follow the given racing lines.
• Normal Grip races feature 2 to 4 laps around a circuit track with up to 7 other racers. First driver to cross the finish line wins.
• Grip Class races take 8 racers and divide them into two even groups. The racers are placed into the groups based on their vehicles performance potential. Group A starts about 10 seconds ahead of group B, both groups race on the same course but are only competing against the 3 drivers in their group.
• In Time Attack the driver with the fastest overall single lap time wins the event
• In Speed Challenge races, players must cross the finish line first to win the race (in a similar fashion to how a Sprint race works). The courses are normally fairly straight and braking is not usually required, but the races are high risk and the slightest mistake could send you off the track, and most likely out of the race.
• In Top Speed Run races, the course is divided into 3-6 sections (just like that of Sector Shootout in Grip races) and at the instance a player crosses a checkpoint their speed is clocked and added to that players score, the player the highest cumulative speed wins(similar to how a Speedtrap race in Carbon and Most Wanted works).
• In drift, players drift to emerge as the driver with the most points scored in the event.

Other than gameplay itself, ProStreet features detailed damage modeling, unlike previous Need for Speed games (except NFS High Stakes and Porsche Unleashed) where damage is relatively little or non-existent altogether. The new damage system introduces more depth of damage (except on the PlayStation 2 version, where the damage modeling has been scaled down due to the PS2's limited processing power, so the damage is similar to the previous two games) where any object in the game world has the potential to inflict cosmetic damage, light damage, or heavy damage on a car, and even has the potential to total a car immediately after impact. Damage must be repaired before tuning or upgrades can be added to a car. Damage can also be repaired before starting a new race or restarting the current race. Damage can be repaired in one of three methods; using cash earned from racing (this is normally used for any damage under $5,000), using a "Repair Marker" that can be purchased for $5,000 before entering a "Race Day" or awarded for winning events, or by using a "Total Marker"(a "Total Marker" is the only method allowed to repair a totalled car, damage cost for a totalled car typical range from $50,000 to upwards of $200,000+) which can be purchased for $10,000 before entering a "Race Day" or awarded for winning an event.

ProStreet features customization of cars. The changes will affect the aerodynamics of the cars, and players can test them in an enclosed chamber called the "Wind Tunnel" (not available in the PlayStation 2 version).

The Speedbreaker does not return for ProStreet (as the game lacks a police presence; the Speedbreaker was mostly intended for police evasion, however it returns for the Nintendo DS version of the game).

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Development

The official title was leaked several months before the official announcement. Soft Club, the Russian distributor of the game, unveiled the name and release date of the game in February 2007. EA had not until the official announcement on May 31, 2007, given any clue about the game's title.

Features

Cars

There are a total of 55 cars (46 on PS2) from around 26 manufacturers originally included in ProStreet. Only eight of these are supercars making them relatively rare, as in real life. A Collector's Edition upgrade is available at the EA Store, unlocking among others 5 more cars.

EA has also released a Booster Pack for Windows and PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 pack has been delayed for further testing in order to make the pack more stable. The pack itself includes several new tracks for racing and two new cars.

There is additional content available for Windows and the PlayStation 3 (available in the future for the Xbox 360). The additional content includes 14 new cars which have to be bought seperatly. Among these 14 cars is the Bugatti Veyron which is making its video game debut in Need for Speed Pro Street. Car list 1999 Nissan Skyline R34 2006 Lexus IS350 1989 Nissan 240 SX (S13) 2006 Acura RSX 2006 Porsche 911 (997 Gen) Turbo 2006 Lotus Elise 1998 Toyota Supra 2006 Volkswagen R32 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS 2006 Porsche Cayman S 2006 Nissan 350 Z 1969 Dodge Charger 2006 Honda Civic Si 2003 Infiniti G35 2007 Audi TT 2008 Chevrolet Camaro Concept 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 1996 Ford Escort RS Cosworth 2003 Ford Mustang GT 2006 Ford Shelby GT 500 2006 Pagini Zonda F 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 2006 Volkswagen Golf GTI 2006 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 2006 Mazda RX-8 1999 Honda Civic 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 2006 Pontiac GTO 1999 Nissan Sylvia (s15) 1965 Pontiac GTO 2008 Porsche 997 GT2 2007 Audi S3 2006 Ford GT 2006 Cadillac CTS-V 1999 Acura Integra Type R 2006 Dodge Viper Coupe 1971 Dodge Challenger 2007 BMW Z4-M Ford Focus ST Nissan GT-R Proto Mazda RX-7 BMW M3 (E92) 2006 Ford Mustang GT Infiniti G35 Mazda Speed 3 Mitsubishi Eclipse (2nd Gen) Toyota Corolla GTS Audi S4 BMW M3 (E46) Mitsubishi Evo X

Characters

In Prostreet, you play as Ryan Cooper, a former illegal street racer and a newcomer to the legal side of racing.

ProStreet features some girls cast as characters in the game. Krystal Forscutt, a former Big Brother Australia contestant, and Sayoko Ohashi are starting girls.

All three voice actors heard throughout ProStreet's career mode are professional race event announcers: Jarod DeAnda (Big-J/Battle Machine) announces live at all Formula-D drift events; John Hindhaugh (Roger Evans/React Team Sessions) travels around the globe hosting Radio Le Mans, and JBird (J-Mac/Super Promotion) is the official voice of NOPI.

Customization

The Autosculpt feature, which was first introduced in Carbon, is featured in ProStreet and plays a significant role in terms of car performance. Although there are more parts to autosculpt in the car, the autosculpting method is relatively the same. The hood, roof scoop, front bumper and spoiler can all change how a car performs in a race. Autosculpt can affect everything, from your cars handling to downforce. ProStreet now allows you to modify stock and wide bodykits as well as hoods, roof scoops, wheels, spoilers etc. A new feature called the Windtunnel is introduced on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. It is not available on Wii and PS2 versions. The windtunnel, along with Autosculpt, can help you alter and change your cars performance and look greater than previous versions.

Locations

Many of the races take place on well-known roads. Locations include Chicago (Meigs Field Airport; now disused), Nevada, Europe, Tokyo Docklands (Daikoku Futo parking area), and the Autobahn (A100 Berlin ring road). Also EA makes a clear reference to its NASCAR series by including an oval track known as Texas World Speedway, a real track in Texas used by the SCCA, and also Infineon is available in the NASCAR configuration, called GP Circuit. The game also includes many other real world tracks such as Portland International Raceway and Willow Springs Raceway in the USA, Autopolis and Ebisuin Japan, and Mondello Park in Ireland. The tracks are the same in all versions of ProStreet.

Reception

While NFS ProStreet has been given a rating of 7.0 (good) by Gamespot for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and 6.5 (fair) for Windows, PlayStation 2 and Wii, as well as a 7.0 rating by Game Informer for all platforms; Both reviews have cited the lack of police in the game, the handling of cars being non-similar to their real life counter parts, and the fact that ProStreet strays away from its traditional roots of street racing as reasons for the ratings, as well "an overload of in-game advertising and a higher hardware requirement." The IGN.com review of the PC version seems a bit more realistic as far as the list of complaints goes. The rating was a 6.9 (passable) but it mentioned the common (at least among people who bought and played the game) complaint was that all of the cars had shoddy performance and terribly unrealistic handling. videoGaiden lambasted the game in its 2007 Christmas special, having harshly criticised its predecessors in the previous two years. The main criticism was that the game was as lacking in substance as the previous installments, but also lacked the high production values of those titles.

Controversy

The advertisement of the game has recently come under critical fire for featuring topless models in certain ads. UK promotional material for the game featured in The Sun advertised the game with two topless models. Electronic Arts claims that the ads "slipped through the proper EA approval process." As a result, the ads have been removed.

References

wp:sandbox

External links

• Official NFS:PS website
• Official NFS franchise website
• SAAM007's tools