I was quite impressed with the previous incarnation of Need for Speed, so a new version for my new PlayStation 3 was something I was attracted to. Alas, it's a game with a sting in its tail. EA has taken a complete u-turn with this game, and gone are the storyline and street racing and in is organized track racing.

Unfortunately, EA has not made this transition smoothly, and the game has an unfortunate way of getting rather boring rather quickly. For those less skilled at one of the disciplines than the rest, there is the problem of getting stuck and unable to advance.

You find yourself returning to the same tracks over and over to eek out a few more points to try to get around something that you aren't that great at. In my case, it's drift; which I can't seem to wrap my head around. It gets quite frustrating to feel the need to squeeze a few more seconds out of a race or a place so that you can get some extra cash to improve your car to advance. Of course; you need cash to fix your car, which seems to get damaged as easily as if it were made of balsa wood. You might feel convinced that the other cars on the track deliberately bang into you as often as possible.

There are events called "Challenges" in which you use cars provided by the host. These races are made up of one or two makes or models that are all pretty equal, which makes it rather hard to win big. It can be bit of a nuisance to go all the way back to cars without all the goodies you have invested in. The "Challenges" are a major part of what begins to wear rather quickly after a few sessions of playing.

Another problem with NFS for the PS3 is that it does not even come close to taking advantage of the PS3 power or graphics. It does not give one a sense of wow that you would expect on this next-generation platform, especially a year after its release. PS2 users will not really see that much difference from their version — which might be rather frustrating if they have just spent a few hundred dollars on a new uber-machine. PS3 games are supposed to impress the hell out of us and assure us of all the money we have invested.

Unlike past games, there is no storyline. It's just you trying to beat the best at the various types, five in total of racing, to beat the king of street racing. One amusing addition is drag racing, which is quite fun if you know anything about the sport. It's fairly easy to dominate pretty quickly. Needless to say, go for American iron with a stonking great engine, and you will be dominating in no time.

Pro Street is not a bad game per se; it just gets old rather fast, even if you are someone with a fairly long game attention span. It becomes very samey rather quickly, which leaves one feeling a bit had. This is a case of leaving you wanting more being a very bad thing indeed. There are other games for the platform in the racing genre which have far more longevity to keep you busy long after you first crack open the box.

There are plenty of racing titles for the PS3; it's a tough and competitive field. Alas NFS falls way short in the racing field on this next-generation console. So it's a case of caveat emptor really.