Need for Speed

29.11.2007

It was already announced beforehand, but I did not expect such drastic changes to a successful series. Not only is the car nominated on many race-days, so that I can’t do anything with my pimped up bucket, but the whole scenario was thrown out. That doesn’t necessarily have to be wrong, if it only was implemented properly.

So, what has stayed the same? For example the story angle, you have to work yourself all the way up from right at the bottom. This idea can’t be wrong – it has already worked in all the predecessors. Instead of playing the role of a road-rager chased by the police and with a record for money or drugs, you slip on the helmet of the young race driver Ryan Cooper, literally. You never get to see the face of the young driver – a mystery. It looks pretty funny when Cooper gets out of the car after a race, and prefers to stand in the glaring sun with his black helmet on, instead of cooling his sweat-dripping face in the cool breeze. I get a migraine just watching and I prefer the preset characters o the old Need for Speed titles.

Need for Speed: Pro Street completely gets rid of illegal speeding. Instead, you have to build your reputation in a league of official and permitted racetracks. Not a bad idea really, but in some places it falls short. The normal grip-races (classic circuit) in “King” mode (no driving assistance) are easily mastered even by beginners. The drag races, on the other hand, are a really frustrating challenge, also for racing professionals. If you don’t shift gears on the exact spot, your adversary pulls away with a provocative puff of smoke. The burnouts before the drag races are fairly nice at first, but get on the nerves after a while. It is no more than a mini game, which has no influence on the driving behavior of the drag race. The drifting taken from the predecessors, on the other hand, turn out to be pleasantly easy. Although personally I like challenges, I am glad if I can drive a simple drift race to win instead of a drag, since you don’t have to win all contests on a race day,. Race day? Exactly! Different events add up to the campaign. One event is one race day. To go on, you have to collect a certain amount of points on a race day, so other organizers invite you to their event. You earn the points by (who would have thought THAT) winning. In addition to the already mentioned races there are shoutout races, where you have to pass four checkpoints as the fastest and timed races, where you speed only against the time of other race drivers. But careful: the CPU drivers are on the track at the same time. So there’s to way to cruise comfortably. The last discipline is the speed challenge, bombing down the road at maximum speed over long distances.

What’s new apart from the driving modes? Two outstanding things, which bring a change to the NfS series. Firstly: YESS! AT LAST, THERE IS DAMAGE MODELLING. How often did I get upset with the old NfS titles? A spectacular crash and there is not a scratch on your car. This was corrected with decent damage modeling. I don’t give a damn that I have to lay down the coupons or money I have won. It is just too much fun, to go on a little excursion to the side of the track on purpose. Secondly: Driving physics. The cars can be controlled much more realistically than in the arcade-like predecessors. Anyone who enters the corner too fast can count on landing in the virtual sand or slam into the guard-rail (yippee damage modelling). Naturally, Pro Street is a long way of from being a hard core racing simulation, but that’s not what anyone buying Need for Speed is not looking for. I’d rather drive on the podium in the Pro Street campaign. IF I find my way through the confusing menus. They look nice, but they just don’t cut it. It happened to me several times that I started a race day twice, because I got lost in the menu.

The visuals of Need for Speed, on the other hand, are more impressive. The cars look fantastic and the speed comes across well. The smoking tyres not only look cool, they are a good tactical element in online races. Unfortunately, the details of the circuit seem a little thin and the race day menus look the same from one event to the other. Same as the phrases of the announcer, who is already known from SKATE. The engine sounds are done well, as usual. With a surround system, you can really feel the power of your racer.