advertisement

The original Project Gotham Racing (PGR) was one of the successful launch titles for Microsoft's Xbox and was also unofficially a sequel to Metropolis Street Racer (MSR) on the now defunct Sega Dreamcast. MSR added something new to the mix with actual cities recreated for closed circuit racing as well as rewarding players for style by way of Kudos points. As the games have been updated, so has the depth in terms of lastability and variety. PGR added one additional city over MSR, and now those four cities have been scrapped with a whole new batch added. This time there are a total of ten new cities (as well as a bonus racing track) all faithfully recreated from shop fronts with specific shop names (Starbucks anyone?), intersections and even bin locations. Cities include Edinbrough, Moscow, Hong Kong and even Sydney. The bonus track mentioned is the fantastic Nurburgring, a 14mile long track that takes even the best drivers over 6mins to complete a lap. This is one of the most challenging tracks in the game and makes for fantastic racing, especially with friends.

Getting started in PGR is easy as pie with you creating your ingame profile such as name, license plate style and button config. Once all this is done you can either sign into Xbox Live (more on this feature later) or by pass the login process. From here is where the fun begins with your choice of Time Trails, Arcade Mode or the massive Kudos World Series. Arcade mode has three choices of races to choose from, each one having a certain amount of races to complete, and each one having your car chosen for you. The modes in Arcade are Street Race, Cone Challenge and Timed Run. These races are also in the Kudos World Series along with a couple of others, only you can actually choose your vehicle depending on the specific race class.

Each group of races are divided up by the race class, from the early levels of the Compact Sports Series of cars such as the Ford Focus, Mini Cooper S and Renault Clio V6 all the way up to the Ultimate Series that contains vehicles such as the Ferrari Enzo, Ford GT and even the TVR V12. Each of these race classes has specific types of races such as the previously mentioned Arcade ones as well as One on One, Overtake, Hot Lap and a new addition, the Speed Camera. Within these races there are now five difficulty levels to choose from, much to the relief of people who complained the previous PGR was too hard. These are split into medals from the Steel medal (Easy), up to Platinum (Expert) and we can tell you, the Platinum's are very difficult to earn and will test the best of us.

The Street Race is pretty much self-explanatory putting you against other cars of which there can be up to seven opponents. Depending on your selected skill level you have to reach a certain position in order to pass. One on One will see who is the better driver between you and one opponent and to pass you must come first. The Timed Runs will have you trying to achieve a set amount of laps in the required time again, determined by your skill level chosen. Overtake will give you a specific amount of drone cars to overtake in the given time period, while Speed Camera you must achieve a set speed. Hot Lap gives you the chance to try and complete one lap in the fastest time possible within the time limit and last but not least, the Cone Challenge. This is one of the most difficult, yet fun challenges in the game that puts you on a track navigating through a series of cones while trying not to hit the walls or the cones. For each consecutive cone you drive through within two seconds gives you a combo bonus that adds to your Kudos total at the end of the race.

As you complete any of these races your Kudos are then added to your total, which are accumulated through out the game, whether you are playing the Kudos World Series or the Arcade Mode. Kudos are earned from winning races, drifting the car, taking the best lines through the corners, as well as newly added drafting and the occasional 360 degree turns.

As your total builds you will go up the ranks, and with each rank reached you will get Kudos Tokens to spend on the purchase of the cars. These cars can either be bought in each racing series, or you can go to the showroom and see almost every car available. We say almost every car as there are five that are covered up. What they are you will not know till you complete certain aspects of the game. Of course, with the other 100 cars ready to be unlocked you won't have any trouble choosing a performance car. As well as the showroom you can also view your cars by class in your garage in which you can also move around in first person mode to admire them in detail. Venture over to the corner of the garage and there is a very cool arcade machine with a game you can play called Geometry Wars.

If you have an Xbox Live account then you can actually sign in and play the single player modes online. Now this is where the game is innovative and possibly utilizing the Xbox Live mode the most out of all the current games. Every single track and challenge in the game has its own independent scoreboard. Add all the tracks and challenges together and there would be well over 250 different scoreboards. Each time you play a track for the first time the top five players in the world will be listed on the right hand side. After you have completed a challenge your score will be uploaded and compared to others. If you have any doubts about anyone's score who is in the top ten you can download their ghost to either view as a replay, or race against in game. This certainly extends the life of the game, and then of course you can add the online play into the mix as well. All the cars you have unlocked in the single player game will be available to race online depending on the hosts settings.

With all the modes out of the way its time to dig deeper into the mechanics of the game. The handling has been given some tweaks with the cars now handling a lot more realistically as opposed to the previous games. Sure its no Gran Turismo, as no doubt a few people will compare, but it still handles in a decent manner. Every single car has its own distinct feel to it, from comparing the F40 Ferrari to its brother the F50, or the Mini Cooper to the Volkswagen Beetle. With the more powerful cars you really need to be a bit more careful with the throttle on the bends as fishtailing the car would not be uncommon under pressure from the opposition. All the cars damage as well should they collide with anything solid at a speed, and even travelling slowly can result in visible scratches on the sides. Of course the damage is all cosmetic and does not make any difference to the handling, but it is a welcome feature as opposed to most racers out on the market.

As well as the feel of the cars the actual ingame models look almost identical to the real things. From the outside curves, to being able to see inside the cars as well. There is a fantastic amount of detail including reflections from the scenery that is now in sync with the gameplay, unlike PGR where the reflections ran at half the speed and was, unfortunately, very noticable. Not this time. Everything about the graphics oozes quality. The shadows on the roads, the skid marks left behind from braking or losing traction, down to leaves falling from trees on certain tracks. The road tectures are also of very high calibre and really give you a feeling of being there, even if you have never been there before. We could go on about how good the game looks with nothing, and we mean nothing out of place. The only gripe we have heard is that the cities lack everyday life, but then this is closed circuit racing and to us there is nothing to complain about.

The cars also each have their own independent sounds and although most of us have never been in a majority of these cars, the engines sound believable. Also the tyre screeching is nowhere near as annoying as it once was and gives you the impression you are laying down rubber whether you are braking from high speeds or accelerating out of the corners while losing traction. With the music off there are no real ambience effects; the closest you would get would be the other vehicles. However, with the music on you have the choice of different authentic radio stations in each city. Real DJ's from their real life radio stations hosts these. There is a variety of music to suit most people, and if that doesn't please then there is always the custom soundtrack option.

The only thing in the game that has not been changed would be the control method. The throttle, brake and accelerator are where you expect them to be with the buttons used for gears and view, while the right analog stick is used for looking around to see where the location of the opponents are. However, a nice feature that has been added is the ability to change the songs on your custom soundtrack or adjust the volume of the music by clicking the right stick. This brings up your radio with the up and down doing the volume and the left and right for changing audio tracks. There is also a decent variety of preset control methods to choose from which should cater for everyone.

Last, but not least are the multiplayer modes. PGR2 has some extensive multiplayer options that can please everyone. Don't have the chance to link up? Four player split screen is there at your disposal and the game does not suffer. If you have mates with Xbox's then you can link up to eight players with eight machines, or split the screens amongst consoles. Then of course there is Xbox Live, again with up to eight players. Its good to see Microsoft really pushing all modes of multiplayer in their games, especially with system link and split screen. Sure Xbox Live is a big feature in a lot of games nowadays, but it's a pleasant surprise to see that none of the other modes are being ignored. These are all important factors as they can extend the life of any game, and when a game is as big as this you want to share it with your friends.

On top of everything mentioned there will be added content for download should Xbox Live be available to you. There is the promise of cars that is evident from the three Xbox Live rooms in the showroom, each one housing up to eight cars and then the possibility of future cities added as well. It's a big call, but PGR 2 really is one of the best racers ever created. With a game as large as this you will be striving to improve all of your skills on each track, trying to unlock everything in the game, or even just trying to get the highest accolades per track. If racing games appeal to you then this has to be at the top of your most wanted list this holiday season.