Put away any thoughts of Batman
as the follow-up to the Sega Dreamcast's racer MSR arrives in the form
of Project Gotham Racing.
Don't expect huge leaps in originality either, but do expect a high degree
of class and polish as you race around San Francisco, Tokyo, London and
New York, to name but four locations, not only beating your lap times, but
gaining Kudos points along the way.
Kudos are obtained, not only by driving faster than before and winning a race,
but also by the way you drive. Negotiate an S-bend - for example - and the way
in which you swerve round and exit it will depend on the extra points received.
The more points you get, the more levels will be unlocked, as well as the
chance to drive round in more cars, which get better and faster cars as you
progess, starting with the Mini Cooper S, Toyota MR2 Spyder and the VW Beetle
RSi, but leading to a Corvette ZO6, the Carrera GT and an F50, with 30 cars
in total.
You know the way this type of game plays, so let's see how it handles.
While the best-looking racer on the PS2 is easily
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec,
this one easily matches that for appearance on the Xbox. Smooth, flawless
cars - which don't appear to get dented though, sadly, realistic locations
and good physics as you experience a jump or two round the streets of San
Francisco. It's also impressive to see that the hard drive remembers where you
knocked cones over so everything's just as you left it when you come round
for the next lap.
Soundwise, car games often leave a lot to be desired, but that's mainly because
all you hear most of the time is the noise of an engine, however realistic
they may have made it sound compared to the real beasts. A nice inclusion is
the ability to choose your own music, as described in the
Xbox console review, so
your favourite tunes can play alongside those already programmed in such as
Gorillaz' 19-2000 and Doves' Catch the Sun.
It takes a while to get used to the controls, but once you have they become
second nature and the excitement increases greatly as you find you have greater
control over each vehicle.
Alternatives to the arcade mode are a multiplayer option, in which you can
race against up to three other people, a time-attack mode where you'll race
against a ghost car to improve upon your lap time for your chosen track, a
quick race against five opponents and the Kudos challenge, unlocking
new levels and rewards as you race through 12 levels and 9 different challenge
types.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Put away any thoughts of Batman
as the follow-up to the Sega Dreamcast's racer MSR arrives in the form
of Project Gotham Racing.
While the best-looking racer on the PS2 is easily
It takes a while to get used to the controls, but once you have they become
second nature and the excitement increases greatly as you find you have greater
control over each vehicle.
