Project Gotham Racing 3 – Review

Bizarre Creations have essentially been crafting the Project Gotham series for many years—albeit with a host of different names and across differing formats. Because of this valuable product definition they’ve subsequently honed their development skills to the point where they now have one of the best racing collections to appear on any format. Project Gotham Racing is synonymous with high-end graphical clout and breakneck top-speed playability.

With Project Gotham Racing 3 occupying a position as one of 3 racing titles available at the Xbox 360’s launch (Ridge Racer 6 and Need for Speed Most Wanted), it really needs to be something special to edge out the high-profile competition. Whether it duly stalls with an ominous clunk or proudly hurtles first past the finish line is something we’re about to find out. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

There is no story written within the PGR series, it’s essentially a race-and-collect franchise. Winning races earns you credits, these can then be used to purchase/collect various cars. However, PGR differs from most racing titles in that it also utilizes a ‘Kudos’ system. You gain Kudos (essentially meaning commendation) points for each special maneuver you perform whilst racing. These maneuvers range from the very basic, such as drafting other cars or power sliding around corners, to the more difficult moves, like 2-wheels, air, or 360s, etc. The more Kudos you amass, the more the title really opens up to the player, giving more choice in car selection. The gameplay is somewhat strange because it’s arcade-esque but also part simulation in structure, which makes it appealing to the visceral arcade gamer, yet also of interest to the simulation junkie. It’s also not overtly forgiving in terms of control, but the learning curve isn’t so harsh that you’re immediately put off. This brings us to ‘damage control’—and controlled it is. You can smash your car into a railing at over 100mph and it will simply bounce off fairly unscathed (ah, there’s that authentic arcade feeling—Ed.); however, this doesn’t detract from the game, but in fact makes it far less frustrating. Yes, your vehicle will still be left in a damaged state, but certainly not to the same degree as if it were to suffer realistic collisions. On the negative side, although PGR3 is fairly arcade-inspired stylistically, there are points where a fair bit of extreme driving precision is needed—and then it can become frustrating—but, all in all, it’s very nice indeed.

“One hundred million combinations”, that’s the blurb that accompanies a new feature for PGR3: the ‘route creator’. With this you can create your own custom tracks to drive on. And if the initial blurb is in any way true, then that’s one heck of a lot of replay value.

Visually speaking, PGR3 really is something else. Cityscapes, environmental details, skylines, roads, and vehicles are all produced superbly well. The individual car models are absolutely gob-smacking, with their shiny paintjobs and glossy windscreens. You can play in or out of the cockpit view, see the drivers hands and steering wheel, or just the speedometer and the road ahead. Lighting is sublime throughout and reflections are truly amazing—when you’re able to snatch the time to appreciate them. Zooming across a bridge at high speed, watching its stanchions flickering across the rear window, bending in perfect unison to the curve of the glass—it’s truly a sight to behold. Now, about those aforementioned cityscapes… where to begin? Simply put, they are astounding. Having been to a few of the game’s locations in reality, I can safely say that the detail is almost photo-realistic; the only thing missing is busy traffic. Seeing some of the game’s famous roadways free of parked cars or everyday traffic is somehow odd, but then that’s how it is when a grand prix is run, and this is no different. If you want cross-town traffic, buy Burnout, if you want frightening realism in closed street racing, you’ve found it with PGR3.

Soundtracks are all-important when it comes to adding atmospheric immersion, and PGR3 doesn’t disappoint; but there’s something strange here, something you’d think would never work in this type of game, but it does…and wonderfully. Classical music. I’d been playing for quite a few hours and had heard the usual allocation of grunge or skate rock songs you expect from a hard-core driving title—they fit the scene and certainly don’t detract from the whole, so that’s fine—but when I heard a classical piece emanating from my speakers I actually did a double take. Was this truly placed in an Xbox videogame? It was, and furthermore it was working! It’s nothing short of absolutely breathtaking to have classical music surrounding you while hurtling headlong through city streets and gleefully admiring the gorgeous visuals. I may never have gained a huge amount of Kudos during the game, but I got something else, something better: gaming nirvana. The mix of songs on the in-game soundtrack is highly eclectic, there’s something there for everyone, but if you’re not happy with the default selection, there’s always the custom soundtrack. This aspect of the game is brilliant: play songs from the HD or from a USB music device (I utilised the trusty iPod Shuffle), and not only does your custom soundtrack play seamlessly during the game, you can also glean song information (track title and artist) from a little popup box as each song begins. For deaf gamers, all the menus are simple to navigate and the game is always playable despite the lack of sound. In essence this title is great for all gamers.

Where PGR3 excels (as did its little sister PGR2) is in the multiplayer and online arenas. Xbox Live brings an entire new level to the gameplay, even more so with this PGR iteration than with its predecessor, as offline records are now recorded to your gamertag. You can even watch Gotham TV, where the best players in the world are recorded for prosperity. PGR2 was brilliant on Live, and PGR3 takes it all a step further, the online/offline connection is seamless. You can bring up the Live blade at any point whilst racing offline and check if any of your friends are on. Again, brilliant! For those players who don’t have Xbox Live (What? Why don’t you? Do you live in a cave?—Ed.) there is also the choice of system link for 2–8 players or split-screen mode for 2 players.

To all girl and women gamers—you are in control. Despite no obvious gender overtones, since it’s essentially you ‘the faceless player’ in the cockpit of the car, you can still clearly see the assumption of a male driver (choose cockpit view, no girly gloves on that steering wheel). Given there is no actual driver, the female gamer is at no real disadvantage with this title overall. Shocking though the thought may be to some, there are many girls who like their fast cars. And if you’re one of them, then PGR3 is your tarmac-destroying baby.

What we have with PGR3 is a must-buy launch title for the Xbox 360, be that to mindlessly dribble at the graphics, show-off the console to friends, or to genuinely enjoy playing the game. In terms of gameplay, there’s not a huge amount on display when compared to PGR2, but the sheer beauty of this title lies not in it being a completely different game, but rather that Bizarre Creations has taken what was already great about the last title and built upon it, adding some wonderful Live features along the way. Those graphics—ah, there I go again—we could truly get bogged down in ‘billing and cooing’ over them, or even the sound options for that matter. And let’s not forget the absolute ease with which PGR3 and Live meld together, and the route creation tool, or listening to classical music whilst driving at breakneck speeds. But, despite all that, I’m still not telling you what want to know: is it worth the asking price? The short answer is, of course, yes. The slightly longer answer is that the game’s not without a couple of problems, but, as driving titles go, these little niggles (very similar to PGR2 and graphically resplendent whilst being fairly empty in terms of other vehicles) should not prevent you from purchasing it. This is still a great racing title. Bearing that in mind, what are you waiting for? If you like driving games and you don’t own PGR3, then you must have been in some sort of daydream whilst perusing the gaming shelves of your local games store. Go now! Purchase!

Review by Angela

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