Yet despite all of these complaints, the game doesn't suck. Car junkies will enjoy unlocking real world parts and tinkering with their rides to produce the ultimate speed machine, as well as uploading the blueprints online for other gamers to enjoy. You can even see how your adjustments improve or hurt the car in real time. Furthermore, EA did masterful work on the car modeling and damage. Smack into a wall and you'll scrape the paint and lose a side mirror. Hit someone from behind and you'll dent the grill. Collide with something at ludicrous speeds and wheels fly off, the hood pops up and other pieces shoot through the air. A busted car results in your losing the event, but the eye candy justifies it, especially since you can always restart.

In addition, the cars move really fast. Switch into first person mode and you can imagine the wind zipping through your hair and bugs splattering against the windshield. And while we're not going to be dramatic and tell you that all of the cars handle like their real world counterparts (hard to tell using two analog sticks to steer), they handle exceptionally well and grip the road. Of course, if you find yourself sloppily bumping into things, you have three driver assist options, two of which aid you in breaking around corners. Even better, you can change them in between races.

We also like the variety of courses. EA ditched street racing, but the numerous locations, including North America and Europe feature varied scenery and fun things to improve the atmosphere, such as sexy girls and giant balloons. The smoke that billows from tires and tailpipes looks very realistic, and for whatever reason, sometimes those aforementioned jagged edges don't seem nearly as bad as in other scenes. At times, the game looks pretty damn impressive.

It's not that Need for Speed: ProStreet is a bad game per se. We just expected more, especially since EA hyped it up as a new direction for the franchise. That, however, is a partial truth. Sure, the developers took a different path, but at the end of the day, you still go through the same motions as in previous Need for Speeds. Until we see a dramatic shift, this series is stuck in first gear.