As mentioned time and time again, the island of Oahu is awesome. I often found myself going off-road exploring the entire island just to see the amazing scenery that’s out there. Aside from this feature however, the game isn’t all that polished graphically; especially when it comes to the player models. It seems that all of the women have the same haircut and every NPC is a soulless entity, like there is some empty void there. The crash animations are a dime a dozen reflecting the lack of physics that is integrated into the game, and despite being hard to control the motorcycle doesn’t have a crash animation… not one. Cut scenes are done terribly, not to mention that they’re not needed in the first place. The biggest problem with me is that the cars don’t seem to be proportioned right with the street or any other object for that matter.
The game overall controls OK. The cars are always a little loose but each one does drive a little differently. The motorcycle is extremely hard to control especially when maneuvering turns. In terms of camera options there are several available, including the first-person in car view that was first created by the developers of PGR3. The GPS system is great guiding you everywhere by voice although the voice does get a tad annoying but is easily turned off. Even without the voice you still have a green light to show you the proper route to your destination.
Not a lot of effort was put into the sound effects and every car has the same horrible sound that rarely reflects that of a car. Apart from that there are 30 soundtracks that accompany you while you drive. I don’t really have an opinion of these as they’re not horrible, but they aren’t that great at the same time.
Even though the game really needs to be polished a bit more it still provides a solid playing experience due its MMO racing feel that has never been accomplished in any game like it before. Sadly this can only truly be enjoyed by those with a Gold Live account, and if you don’t happen to have one I do suggest that you choose another racing title if you're looking for a strong single player experience. In the end some will love it, some will hate it, but the truly great thing about this game is that the developers took a chance on creating a great, new concept; one that will hopefully be improved upon for the next installment!
