Project Gotham Racing 3

I feel pretty, oh so pretty...

Four years ago saw the release of Microsoft's first venture into the console market with the original Xbox. One of its main launch titles to promote the console was the original Project Gotham Racing, a game that successfully combined arcade-sim handling physics with a unique 'Kudos' scoring system which didn't just reward speed but style also. Two years later in November 2003 Project Gotham Racing 2 hit the shelves redefining the possibilities of online competition via Xbox Live, as well as boasting a massive single player career featuring an expansive array of 100+ cars. It's no surprise that the third instalment of the Project Gotham Racing series comes with such high expectation and anticipation, especially since once again it's showcasing Microsoft's cutting-edge console, the Xbox 360.

Project Gotham has always been about driving fast cars stylishly through exotic cities from all around the world. PGR3 is certainly no exception, the five locations featured in PGR3 are London, Tokyo, Las Vegas, New York and Nurburbgring. They each come with there own varying tracks with unique challenges and distinctive landmarks. As with any PGR game you expect fast cars, and PGR3 certainly delivers. There are around 80 in total but unlike PGR2 where you where forced to start off with Mini coopers, Ford Focuses and Renault Clios, PGR3 will chuck you straight into the action with a car that can do at least 170mph. There are no slow cars in the game. In fact to put things in perspective there a 5 car classes in total, group E, the 'slowest' class, consists of beauties such as the Nissan Skyline and the Bentley continental GT while class B is formed from cars such as the Ferrari Enzo, Pagani Zonda and the Koenigsegg CC8s. You only need to imagine the wonders waiting to be discovered in class A, and yes the legendary Mclaren F1 GTR does make an appearance in the game.

Many things stand out when you first start up the game, the intense sensation of speed, the awesome engine sounds and of course the level of detail in which the cities have been amazingly recreated. However what's perhaps most significant and sets this apart from any other recently released console racing game is the in car view. It's not just any old in car view, it features working dials on accurately modelled dashboards unique to every ride. You can even see the drivers hands steer and shift gears as you do. This may only sound like a clever new view but it goes a long way towards putting the player in the driver's seat into a totally immersive racing experience, it's something that really needs to be seen to be believed. Despite the genius of the in car view there are four further standard views included in the game.

The handling physics have seen very little change since PGR2. It feels a little more realistic and each car tends to have its own unique traits well emphasized, however it's still not difficult to pull off an impressive slide and rack up those kudos points. The Kudos scoring system itself has seen very little change from PGR2, it once again rewards fast driving but also promotes driving with style and being clean doing it. Most of PGR2s game modes make a welcome return in PGR3. Street Races, Cone Challenges, Timed Runs, Hot Laps, Speed Cameras, Overtake Challenges and One on One races all play an integral part in the Gotham experience. However PGR3 brings a few original game modes to the table in the form of 'Drift Challenges' where your target is to pull a stylish drift within a tight time limit and 'Time vs Kudos' which gives you a lap to complete against the clock, the timer pauses while you are earning Kudos points your aim being to find the right balance between speed and style. The final new game mode is named 'Breakthrough' where your objective is to make it through as many checkpoints as possible against a timer, time is added every time you pass a checkpoint so this is a speed exercise more than anything. With a diverse range of game modes PGR3 remains a varying and exciting experience throughout the entire 'Gotham Career' which is the game's main single player campaign.

The progression structure of the Gotham Career is very open. Unlike PGR2 where you had 14 different car classes to progress through in turn you can actually compete in any event with any car, provided you can afford to buy it. This works in PGR3 because the competition level auto adjusts depending on the car you use. If you were to enter a race with a class A car you would be racing against class A opponents, whereas if you decided to pick a class E car you would be racing against class E cars. This occurs in most of the events across the entire Gotham Career, such as Speed Camera events for example. A speed that you could get with a class A car would be unattainable with a class E car so the game automatically chooses appropriate target speeds. Like in PGR2 there are 5 difficultly levels to choose from, Steel is the easiest and it's not likely to cause even your granny any problems, whereas Platinum is the most challenging level and will prove a worthy competition for even the most competitive of players. In between this there is Bronze, Sliver and Gold. The higher the difficulty level, the higher the amount of credits you will earn for each event, meaning more and faster cars. All the cars (with the exception of the 10 or so concept cars the game includes) are unlocked ready to be purchased, each car has a different price depending on its real life worth and performance. Money is easy to acquire in the Gotham Career, if you decide to save up all your money you can find yourself driving the quickest cars the game offers within around 2-3 hours of starting.

PGR2 set new standards with its online functionality two-years ago and PGR3 adds something new once again to the online scene. Gotham TV allows you to watch any of the top players do their thing in ranked games, meaning endless possibilities for learning new racing lines and general player improvement. As well as watching these players live you can also download recorded ghosts of the best scores in 'Race against the clock' time trail events and even the single player Gotham Career Kudos events. While you are signed into Xbox Live you get reports at the bottom of your screen telling you about your friend's latest achievements and any new achievements on the 400+ scoreboards from the rest of the world's players, making you feel a connected part of a constant worldwide gaming competition.

As well as the competitive side of PGR3 there are plenty of things to do unranked for fun. The lobby set up has a number of cool functions such as forcing everyone in the game to use manual gears or even in car view. You can even play your own unique race tracks which you can make in PGR3's comprehensive and easy to use track creator. Being a next-gen title PGR3 is expected to mark a huge leap over its predecessor graphically, and it most certainly is. PGR3 is the best looking racer out there and does well to represent the power of the Xbox 360. Each car is made from around 80,000 polygons including the interior and the damage modelling, and such passionate attention to detail results in cars that look almost indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts. The sensation of speed is simply amazing as is the detail level of all five cities. In fact the game looks so good Bizarre Creations decided to include a 'Photo Mode' similar to the one seen on Gran Turismo 4 on PS2. PGR3 has so many clever little details which make the aesthetics look even more stunning, such as the way the cars steadily get dirtier towards the end of races and the way any close opponent's headlights are gently reflected on your cars windscreen in night races. While the game does look awesome on a standard TV to get the most out of PGR3's spectacular eye-candy a HDTV is highly recommended.

Despite the impressive quality of the graphics the sound is almost equally as impressive. Each cars engine sound has been recorded and recreated perfectly for the game. The environment noise is highly believable as is the road noise which helps add more depth to the sensation of speed. Perhaps the most unusual thing about PGR3 is its soundtrack, it features a vast mixture of Rock, Hip-Hop, Japanese Pop and even Classical. While the expansive soundtrack caters to a wide variety of tastes the Xbox 360 console features custom soundtracks now in all games meaning you can listen to whatever you like while playing PGR3, providing you can get it to your Xbox 360 Hard drive.

Simply put, PGR3 is just about the most involving and exciting arcade-sim racing experience yet. Its amazing graphics and sound show off the true power of the Xbox 360. So is it perfect? Not quite. The one problem with PGR3 is the length of its single player Gotham Career. While online it has endless potential, players without Xbox Live may feel the 90 events in the Gotham Career don't last quite as long as they might want, especially compared the 172 single player events in PGR2. However the 5 difficulty levels give the game extra lifespan and you will want to do your very best to unlock the achievement badges. Despite its one major shortcoming PGR3 is easily the best racing game, nay any genre, in the Xbox 360 launch range. A 'must buy' game for any early Xbox 360 player.

91%

By Steven Embling