Project Gotham: Real-life racing

I'd first like to say that I FINALLY found an Xbox. I wasn't smart like everyone else who pre-ordered it 8 months ago and had it all ready for them when they woke up on November 15th. A positive though is that I've gotten to know every employee at every local video game store because I would call them 18 times a day to see when the next shipment was. Well I found it and immediately bought Project Gotham Racing. Onto the review of the greatest car racing game in history (...yes, better than Gran Turismo)


For the past few months preceeding the Xbox release, I've read just about every review of every game because I wanted to see which I wanted to buy first. I saw PGR on IGN.com and I immediately decided it was for me. By the way, if you're looking for a fun, easy racing game like Mario Cart or Crazy Taxi, this game is not for you. It's as real as it gets and is very tough.

Game Play - 9
PGR has the most realistic driving conditions that I've ever found. In other games, you could drive all around, knock down buildings, and do pretty much whatever you want and still be successful. Well, that's not the case in PGR.

You must handle your car with extreme care - just like in real life. There is an option for automatic vs. manual (personally, I prefer manual because I feel it's easier to turn when you can control the gears) which can be useful for the non-experienced or the more experienced driver.

Turning is probably the hardest thing to do in the game, which is great. You have to be precise in timing and speed of your car in order to make a good turn and stay in competition. One slip and you fall back in the pack very quickly.

Overall, the game play is excellent for the experienced user, but has a learning curve that might not catch the ordinary user's attention.

Controls - 9
The "oversized" controller, as people like to call it, is pretty easy to handle in this game. Shifting when using manual is easily done using the B and X buttons to shift up and down, respectively. A is used for the handbrake while R is acceleration and L is brake. The left analog stick is very easy to use for directing the car.

Sound - 9
Excellent real-life engine sounds with every car. From gear to gear, you can hear the engine reving up.

Also used by the Xbox is the custom soundtrack option. The Xbox allows you to rip a CD onto the hard drive for use in games that allow it. For instance, I ripped NYC Underground Volume 4 onto mine (took about 10-12 minutes) because it's great music to listen to while driving. During play, you can choose your CD's that you want to listen to or just listen to pre-programmed tracks, which are decent.

Each city, (NYC, San Francisco, Tokyo, London) comes with three of their own popular radio stations. Since I live in NJ, I'm used to listening to Hot 97 (NYC) and was amazed that an actual DJ from the radio was present on the game.

Tracks - 10
New York City, San Francisco, Tokyo, and London are the only four cities that you can play on; however, there are several different tracks for each city you can play on as you unlock harder difficulties.

Aside from that, the cities look unbelievably real. Travel through through Wall Street, Central Park, or Times Square in NYC and visit Big Ben in London. The textures and visuals of each city are outstanding.

THE CARS - 10,000
Umm....WOW. How incredible does that Ferrari F50 look on the front cover? It looks even nicer in the game. You won't be able to drive it right off the bat, however. It may take a long time for some to fully unlock every available car (over 25). The way to unlock cars is either win races, beat cars in races, score a lot of Kudos (style) points, etc.

To start with, PGR gives you a Mini Cooper, SLK 320, and a MR2 Spyder. As you progress through the game, more cars become available. Some of my favorites are the 4 Ferrari's, the Aston Martin Vanquish, 'Vette Z06, Impreza WRX, and the TT Roadster to name a few.

Each car looks like it just came off the showroom floor. The lighting hits the cars and produces amazing reflections. Damage to the cars is also very visible, which isn't found in many other games. Several different paint jobs are available for each car as well.

Lasting Appeal - 10
It will take a verrry loooong time to beat this game, but that's what's so great about it (..unless you're like me and find the code that unlocks all the cars...hehe...e-mail me if you want it, I don't want to spoil it for everyone else). The game will be popped back into your console for months and months of quality game play. You will never get tired of playing PGR.


Summary
The most realistic and fun racing game available on the market for any system. PGR will keep anyones attention and attract even the faintest car enthusiasts. It plays very well and is one of the best "launch" games out there for the Xbox console. For $49.99 (like all games), it's a steal and should be in everyone's gaming library. PGR is recommended highly and should be bought right away (that is if you can find it in stock anywhere...)

Stay tuned for many many more Xbox reviews by me because...well, I play it just about all day and love it. For those of you still reading, thank you and enjoy.