Another yuletide, another sequel for EA’s Need For Speed racing series vying for the Christmas Number One slot. Like clockwork these titles arrive on cue each year, treading the difficult line between mixing things up a bit in the way of new features while remaining true to tradition and pandering to fans’ expectations.

This year sees the series take a slightly different tangent, exploring the world of legal street-racing, incorporating various special racing, timed, drag and style events to wow the assembled crowds with. The presentation is more akin to a skateboarding title than a racing one basing each set of challenges at a ‘race day’ where passers by take your picture while DJs spin records and MCs trash talk the drivers. It all feels a bit like a weekend day out to a Southend boy-racer event – a proposition that will either set fear or wonder into your heart.

The game starts with a straightforward start to finish race against a set of rival drivers. The race is watched by street racing legend, Ryo, who takes to the stage when you finish in first place to publicly deride your efforts, thus setting in motion a bitter rivalry between you both. The overarching ‘quest’ of the game, then, is to visit various events, work your way up the leaderboards to fame and fortune before taking on Ryo in a head-to-head battle. While storylines are a common and welcome feature of Need For Speed games, this one fails to lift the game in any meaningful way, primarily because all of the characters are so completely dislikeable.

While the handling of the cars is certainly stylised (and in early levels they feel quite treacly and slow to corner) the varied events that make up the meat of the game are mostly enjoyable. There are grip races, time trial challenges, drift races and lots of drag races (which feature a boring minigame before each race where you races as possible and, by dominating sets of race days, you unlock more events on your path to the final showdown.

The track design is quite pedestrian and there’s little variety as the game progresses. Additionally, the game majors on street-style cars and it will be a while before you get your hands on any sort of supercar. This may well be realistic but it doesn’t necessarily make for an exciting or varied videogame racing experience.

Despite the game’s successes it’s difficult to recommend over rivals Colin McRae Dirt, Forza 2 and, especially, the recent Project Gotham 4 – a game that does many similar things in a more compelling way. The emphasis on street racing and the community that surrounds such events will appeal to a certain niche, but for most other players there are other racing games on the shelves this Christmas that are simply more enjoyable.

Originally from Games.Yahoo