The first thing you will notice when you begin the game is that the slow cars from PGR2 are gone and almost immediately you will find yourself behind the wheel of a Jaguar or a Honda CRX. There are a total of eighty cars in the game and none of the vehicles are slow, all of the cars are high performance vehicles that can be stored in your many garages. So how do you earn these vehicles? Well, you’re going to need credits, which are earned mainly in career mode.
Blur works really well without feeling overdone.
The main single player mode in PGR3 is once again the career mode. There is an online career mode and an offline career mode. The solo career mode is very similar to the one found in PGR2. There are numerous events in the career mode and the objective is to meet the target in each of these events. Before attempting an event you can select a difficult level, which means you can lower the difficulty for events you normally have trouble with, or increase the difficulty level for events that are normally easy to pass, this system works well because there is always something to work for and it’s always possible to improve, although it does result in a lot of back tracking.
There is a wider range of events than there were in PGR2. Some of the newer modes include time vs kudos, where you perform kudos combos to stop the clock and checkpoint, which plays out like an arcade racer, so if you don’t reach the checkpoint in time you will run out of time. Familiar modes like the cone races and the time trials are back as well though and they definitely become a little repetitive towards the end of the career mode. It would have been good if Bizarre Creations took a few more risks and added some more gameplay options as well, just to stop the events from becoming too familiar. There are also only twenty three trophies to play through, which may make the single player experience a little shorter than more people would expect.
A lot of effort has been put into the online mode as well though, which isn’t entirely surprising. Gotham TV is the real highlight of the online package though. From Gotham TV you can watch other people race and you can see what other people are doing online. Apparently as many as 30,000 people can simultaneously watch a race on Gotham TV, which is just awe inspiring. The heroes channel allows you to watch the greatest players in PGR3, whilst the friends channel lets you watch your friends as they try to beat your times. A little ticker runs down the bottom of the screen as well, which informs you if your friends actually do manage to beat your time on the track. The online career mode is never ending, and the game matches you up with an opponent who is at the same skill level as you, online races support up to eight players and we never encountered any lag issues. There is also an online mode called ‘capture the track’. The objective of this mode is to hold more of the track than your opponents. The track is broken up into different sections and you have to set the fastest time for each section of the track. It’s a great online multiplayer mode that encourages team based races.
The game also contains a photo editor mode and a create-a-route mode. During a replay, (or a race) you can grab screenshots and then edit the image using a custom paint tool box. It’s possible to change the contrast, fix the brightness and even edit the focus. Whilst the mode isn’t exactly deep, it can be quite addictive just editing your images to make sure your vehicle is looking stunning. The create-a-route option presents each of the five cities, Las Vegas, Nurburgring, Tokyo, London and New York as birds eye view maps with pre-laid city streets. It’s then possible to set the course as you like, which can make for some entertaining multiplayer races.
Wanna ride?
The game play hasn’t really changed that much from the previous title. As you’re controlling fast vehicles the kudos seems to add up quite quickly. Kudos is still very important in the game, and as you collect kudos you will rank up in the career mode. Initially you start off as a rank ten racer and work your way up to number one, although the rank doesn’t appear to make much of an actual difference. There is no real damage model in the game and if you slam into a corner at 200KPH you’re only likely to get a cracked windscreen. The actual tracks are entertaining to drive on, but given the preference I preferred driving the PGR2 tracks over these courses, although this could all come down to personal preference.
Visually the game is very impressive. A new dashboard view has been included in the game and it is PGR3’s best feature. Each of the eighty cars in the game has a different dashboard that looks amazing. When racing in the game from this viewpoint the game feels incredibly realistic and it feels even more rewarding to win. All the car models look superb (although sometimes they look a little too shiny) and the frame-rate is smooth. A blur effect kicks in when you speed up and this makes the game feel even faster. The environments themselves look amazing and some of the landmarks are instantly recognizable. I also had the opportunity to see this game on a high definition television as well as on a standard television and even though the high definition display is definitely better, the game still looks great on a standard television set, so those who haven’t upgraded don’t need to worry about missing out.
The sound is extremely impressive as well. All the cars sound great and the soundtrack is extremely varied and includes rock, hip hop and even classical music. Hearing classical music for the first time was a bit of a surprise but it actually fits in well with the game. The game includes custom soundtrack support as well, so if you want to listen to your own tunes you can. When listening to your own tunes the game will even display the track name and artist at the bottom of the screen.
The detail in the environments is amazing.
The offline single player mode doesn’t last too long as there are only twenty three trophies to beat. After this there is always the option to increase the difficulty level to obtain a better trophy. If you have Xbox Live then this game will last longer because the online career mode just keeps on going. Even if you wander around the garage you will find a playable demo of Geometry Wars. The photo editor and create-a-route mode options are appreciated additions, but they don’t really extend the lifespan that much.
Project Gotham Racing 3 is an amazing launch title. It doesn’t feel like a launch title as we didn’t find any bugs and it doesn’t seem like any shortcuts were taken during development. It isn’t as much of an upgrade from Project Gotham Racing 2 as we’d hoped, but if you’re a fan of the series or if you’re after a game that looks like a next generation title then you simply cannot go wrong with PGR3.
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