My sister put a punt on the ponies for the Melbourne Cup today in the office draw, and watched in glee as Efficient streaked past the finish line for first.

I was at home sick, sleeping off my malaise, but I’m sure it would have been engrossing to watch.

And is it just me, or do The Veronicas look really offputting with all the makeup? 

I’ve read a few people’s impressions on the PC demo for this title, and the general consensus was: It Sucks Don’t Bother Wasting Your Life On This.

As much as I love to join in with a chorus of naysayers and badmouth something I’ve never tried, I thought I’d buck the trend and actually try it out for myself.

I downloaded the demo which weighed in at about 650mb, and fired her up to discover that it only included two game modes: a Speed race, which is much like the Speed Camera races of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and a Grip race, which is just a standard track race with a new funky name.

Now, the thing about the Need for Speed line of games of late is that they don’t differ much from one another (with the exception of Most Wanted). So, rather than go into repeating every single little detail, I’ll make a note of the new features:

• One thing I noticed about the game was the graphics. Full detail in Most Wanted and Carbon looks good. On the 360, ProStreet actually looks quite nice. Smoke effects are a bit plastic (much like everything else in this game) but it still looks great. Nothing too glossy, nothing overstated - just nice, clean models and artwork. The only thing that made me wince was the shameless advertising that was strewn everywhere. Somehow, Energiser batteries are related to racing. Somehow.
• Leading on from that, the new damage modelling system looks great as well. It reminds me of the damage model in Forza 2, except when you drive your car off the track it’s far more spectacular thanks to the addition of flips, somersaults, and flying bumpers and hoods. The damage model reminds me of the style used in Richard Burns’ Rally.
• Judging from the additional stability options on the HUD, such as ABS, STM and whatnot, it looks like that there is a lot more room for tweaking and modifying your ride.
• The handling of the cars is different. I don’t know if it’s just due to the lack of modifications improving the handling of your ride, or if it is actually a complete overhaul of the driving mechanic. I’ve read that people found the steering “too heavy” – I thought that when I was steering with the analog stick, it could have been a bit more sensitive so I could actually turn into the corners. I don’t know how easy / hard it was on the keyboard, but it sounded like people were struggling.
• There’s a clutch! It makes for some interesting manual driving. And the gear shifts have changed – you now have to flick the right analog stick up or down to change gears. It’s a bit awkward at first but I like how it’s executed.
• According to the official site, there are some new cars available.

On the flip side, the gameplay was…well…the same. Exactly the same formula.

It’s hard to innovate in a market like this. I think they were really struggling to come up with something unique by playing on the whole "professional racing circuit" angle. There is nothing new or unique here except for some new fangled grunge art on the title screen and some models dancing suggestively in hamster wheels and on raised platforms.

For someone who has played every Underground-style game up until now, it’s getting a bit old. If you’re a fan of street racing culture and think that better graphics painted over recycled ideas make a whole new game, then this will suit you.