Project Gotham Racing 3

From the very first time I played Metropolitan Street Racer on the Sega Dreamcast, I knew the team at Bizarre Creations was onto something special. The ideal blend of real world locals with speed and style made the title clearly stand out from the pack of Ridge Racer clones that flooded the market in late 2000. Unfortunately the Dreamcast was on its last legs and it looked like Bizarre might never find a substantial market for the distinct racer. Well luckily for us, Microsoft took note of MSR, and with the launch of the Xbox came a repackaged (and renamed) racer from the independent British developer. Project Gotham Racing went on to sell over 1.2 million copies on the original Xbox, trumped by only Halo in terms of launch titles sold. The company followed with a critically acclaimed sequel in late 2003, complete with a brand new graphics engine, Xbox live play, and a host of other improvements.

With the great success Microsoft has reaped from the series, it’s really no surprise to see the popular "PGR" franchise race onto the 360. The new installment not only expands on many of the signature features fans have become accustom to but also introduces a slew of significant additions. All of those car nuts out there who would rather ogle the centerfold of a Car and Driver magazine then a Playboy, will definitely value the stable of cars included this time around. No, you definitely won’t find your nana’s K-car taking up space in your virtual garage. PGR3 places you right behind the wheel of more then 80 licensed supercars from manufacturers such as Ferrari, McLaren and Lamborghini. The car fanatics aren’t the only ones going to be impressed either, graphics aficionados will also have plenty to drool over. Sure we’ve heard the term photorealistic thrown around last generation but just wait till the first time you see this baby running in HD, from the interior car view, simply stunning! The game is not without a few minor problems, but when you take into play the shear depth of modes and seamless integration of online play, you’ve got a monster of a racer that any true fan will appreciate.

PGR3 is a game that, like its predecessors, nests snugly between the simulation orientated Gran Turismo’s and the arcadey Burnout’s of the world. It’s definitely a game that rewards hard braking and clean cornering, but it also has a substantial drifting system that, once mastered, will have you pulling off all kinds of slick and stylistic maneuvers. The tagline “it’s not how fast you drive, but how you drive fast” still holds true as you must balance precision and style to be successful. Your style is once again measured in Kudos, a point system based on pulling off a plethora of glossy moves. You can earn Kudos from drafting your opponent, catching air, sliding around corners and much more. The key to earning massive kudos is linking the moves together for killer Kudos combos, say that five times fast! The Kudos system has undergone some minor tweaks and refinements that will definitely open the series up to a broader market.  The only real problem I have with the new system is that it seems as if the developers have increased the value of Kudos rewarded per move, and since Kudos are used as currency to unlock cars, the overall reward seems slightly tarnished. On the other-hand, it does fit into the games (and systems) philosophy of play what you want, where you want, and how you want.

The game features four cities for your racing pleasure, Tokyo, New York, London and Las Vegas. The cities are once again faithfully recreated complete with instantly recognizable landmarks like the Brookland Bridge, Vegas strip, and Times Square.  The tracks are full of break neck turns and corners that require hard breaking and smooth driving. The tracks are all well designed and offer up some serious challenges, especially on the higher difficulties. Four cities is a little light for a next generation racer, but there are plenty of different routes and race types that help balance things out.  You can even map out your own routes using the Route Creator, and with more then a 100 million possible creations, there should be enough variety to keep things fresh till PGR4 arrives!

Anyone who’s played PGR2 will quickly recognize the mode list this time around. At the Main Menu, you’ll find Gotham Career, Playtime, Gotham TV, and Achievements. Career Mode is made up of 23 events which are divided into timed events, racing events, and style challenges. You’ll find everything from point to point races to Kudos challenges, to test your driving and Kudos grubbing skills. The opponent A.I is normally very solid, and with 5 difficulty settings, newcomers and veterans alike should find a solid challenge. Overall the game-play is very solid in PGR3, and although it may feel somewhat familiar to fans of the series, the small refinements and additions add a lot to an already stellar series.

The developers at Bizarre Creations have created the most well rounded multiplayer experiences ever to grace a videogame. All of the bases are covered with Xbox Live, split-screen, and system link play. The impressive list of multiplayer modes include online career, street races, team street races, team eliminator, and a host of others that would put most online first person shooters to shame. The fact that you could complete the entire career without ever racing against a single A.I controlled opponent makes this ole Pole Position fan giddy. Microsoft has been quick to throw the “always online” phrase around regarding the 360, and nowhere is it more prevalent then with PGR3. Xbox Live subscribers can not only keep track of their online rankings, but can also see how they measure up to the entire online community in the offline races. The leader boards are some of the best to grace Xbox Live and definitely help fuel that community image. You can also measure your greatness by earning any of the 40+ achievements available, scattered nicely between online and offline racing. Also returning is the ability to download ghosts of your friends or other top rated racers to race against. It really injects motivation when you can see a transparent “ghost” of the world’s top racer barreling down in your rear view mirror.

Gotham TV takes it one step further by allowing you to jump into the friends channel to keep an eye on your buddies, or The Heroes Channel to check out the best racers in the world. The Heroes Channel not only proves a great classroom for learning, it’s also one hell of a goal for the reality star in all of us!  If you get bored, or just need a break from the racing you can even play full versions of Geometry Wars I&II, which are fast pace retro shooters found in any of the virtual garages. Overall the multiplayer modes in PGR3 are phenomenally absorbing, providing a ton of replay-ability and depth to an already beefy single player experience.