As with any EA title these days, EA Nation is integrated almost seamlessly into the fabric of Pro Street. Upon completion of each event in the career mode, an option is given to upload a ghost car of your performance to the servers and it is very simple to check out how you measure up to the competition by perusing the various leaderboards from the event menu. The only area that is slightly lacking is the online play itself. It is not possible to jump straight into a single race and instead players must take part in an entire event. Whilst the event system does ensure players stay together for a number of races, it can be difficult to find one which consists solely of one discipline, with many also including drag races or drift challenge events. For someone who just wants to jump in and take part in a standard race this can be a pretty frustrating experience.

However, the split-screen multiplayer makes online look like some sort of gaming nirvana. It is equally as difficult to just jump into a race, as an event has to be created first before this can be done. It also suffers from the same frame-rate issues that befall the single player game, just multiplied by a factor of ten. To put it bluntly, it is about as tempting as a passenger ride with Nick Hogan.

Pro Street feels like a rushed effort designed to cash in on the Need for Speed name in time for the holiday season. By moving away from the more sandbox nature of recent titles, EA have artificially created a gap in the market for Burnout Paradise to exploit come January, but unfortunately this has left Need for Speed without many of the features that previously made it a fun series. There is certainly a long career mode and some decent online options, but when the gameplay itself is so lacking it is unlikely many will stick it out until the end. Unless you are a complete Need for Speed nut, this is definitely one to avoid this holiday season.

7.0 Graphics Textures and trackside details are excellent, but it struggles to run at a constant 30fps, sometimes even coming to a complete halt 8.0 Sound Engine noises are satisfying and there is a decent range of music on offer in the menus and during races. 4.0 Gameplay Handling model is vague and lacks a feeling of weight shift when cornering. Coupled with no real sense of speed, this makes the gameplay decidedly boring. 6.5 Replay Value A lot to get your teeth into, but whether the gameplay stands up enough to see your way to the end is another matter. 5.0 Overall Lacks anything that would make the game even vaguely interesting and is a chore to play at times. You are much better off waiting for Burnout Paradise.