25-40 hours is pretty long, actually. That's around the time it takes to complete a typical Japanese RPG. Although it's nowhere near as long as Test Drive: Unlimited.

I sincerely hope that this new NFS installment will mark an end to the crapiness of the past games. After all, shelling out RM150+ for a game that only looks promising in trailers (again) isn't going to go down well with some of us.

I'm actually rather concerned with the fact that nothing seems to have changed considerably from it's predecessors. The car list is still very mediocre at a time when games like Forza MS 2 and TDU are churning out at least 100+ cars in one sitting. The graphics are quite impressive, although the 'real-life' smoke effects are starting to sound gimmicky. The interface is exactly the same as Carbon (one tiny tachometre at the bottom right side of the screen), which is quite a pisser. If Autosculpt comes back as it was in Carbon (which it probably will be), that's one reason for me not to buy this game. Oh well, let's just wait for the demo to come out and we'll see what happens.

NOTE: I'm quite impressed with the Speed Challenge trailer featuring the RX-7. Really love the way the car interacts with the objects it comes into contact with.

If Forza, Gran Turismo and TDU can pull it off very easily, I don't see any reason why Pro Street can't do it. Plus, Forza also has unbelievably detailed customization options that are near limitless. Maybe it's because we're speculating based solely on the PC version, which will definitely occupy close to 10 or 15 GB (a real, real hassle). But still, I can't accept the fact that a next-gen racing game packs less than 50 cars or so, when everyone else is cramming ungodly amounts of vehicles into their games. And they're mostly customizable! Variety is the spice of life, like they say. Pro Street has nearly nothing to set itself apart from it's competitors, and I was counting on the fact that it would feature a decent car list as it's saving grace. Looks like it's not gonna happen this time.

After watching the latest Race Organizations trailer, I'm starting to reconsider my earlier view of Pro Street. I've more or less seen the direction PS is heading towards, and that's a good thing, obviously. It looks like it has a certain sense of fulfillment for each organization that you'll encounter in the game. I won't hold my breath yet, cause we've yet to play the demo.

BTW, looks like the LanEvo X will make an appearance as well, judging from the latest trailer.

Just tried it, and as far as first impressions are concerned, it honestly doesn't look too bad. The handling is less arcadey compared to it's predecessors. Plus, it is even far less forgiving as well. Just one slip up in the middle of a speed event will end the race right away if you total out.

The only thing that's gotten me sold so far is the atmosphere of each race. It's noisy and full of anticipation and excitement. A massive step up compared to the sedated feel of Carbon or Most Wanted. This is what I call a proper street racing environment.

I've played this game from day 1 since it came out, and I am very pleased to say that......

.....my personal speculation of this game was totally right. It just plain stinks.

I've spent many hours on Pro Street, and it almost seems like time wasted. The problem with Pro Street isn't it's deviation from it's arcade roots to a whole new simulation experience, but the fact that playing this game as a whole is a nightmarish experience. Believe me, it took a lot of effort for me to even fool myself into liking it. Let me count the ways:

1. Car customization and gameplay

By far the biggest reason I hate PS for what it is. The process of obtaining a car, tuning it and playing with it's visuals is nothing less than an exercise of frustration. I can't understand why changing the race mode of each car MUST reset the car back to it's original configuration, forcing you to reinstall all purchased parts from scratch. Why can't we just leave the car the way it was before and just change the entry mode? Why? EA must be having a field day torturing it's fans with such deliciously evil repetition.

Not only that, limiting each car to only one particular race is just.....hilarious. Unless you want to go through the aforementioned drill of reconfiguring the car from scratch, you'll have to enter each particular race with a preset vehicle, forcing you to change modes if you have very few cars in your garage. Pure stupidity. Oh, and the inability to tune your ride during a race day is equally as stupid. Do real life racers not tune their machines during a race day, even if sudden changes in weather or conditions forces them to do so? I think not.

Oh, and BTW, why must we Autoculpt our cars when we install a new bodykit by default? What ever happened to the good old days when you just slapped on a body kit and start racing? Do we not have a choice now?

2. User interface (AGAIN!)

The interface of PS is yet another major turn off. Just like before, you get one tiny tachometre at the lower right side of the screen that looks bloody ugly and hard to view. Plus, navigation is also another repetitive exercise you have to endure just to get to a certain area of the game. Some things will never change, and this is a fine example. The leaderboard can also hinder your view at certain race points, which is damn inconvenient when you're in the middle of a tense rush.

3. Poor selection (more like mash up) of vehicles

At a time when other stellar racing games cram in healthy choices of cars for your driving pleasure, it's unbelievable that PS only sports 50 or so machines to toy with. I find it quite odd that there are so many vehicles of one particular marque, but only one Lamborghini Murcielago without the ubiquitious Gallardo. And not only that, there is a certain twinge of fan service to their selection. Crap.

At the end of the day, I thought Pro Street could be a decent prescription for my racing needs. Instead, it has caused pain and frustration from the get-go. To be honest, I like the fact that EA has given it a more sim-like nature and this makes the gameplay more balanced and at the same time, challenging. Plus, the organized nature of it's gameplay gives a good sense of progression. In fact, the gameplay seems to be more enjoyable to me than even MW. However, what makes a good racing game is clearly not present in PS.

I would give this unimaginative piece of work only a just-barely 4.0 out of 10. 2.0 for the fact that some really juicy cars have been featured, and 2.0 for the fact that EA has given it simulation qualities. Everything else can be thrown out the window.

EDIT: typo

This post has been edited by rcky: Nov 22 2007, 03:50 PM