Project Gotham Racing 2

"One of the worst racing games it has ever been my displesure to play."

I had very high hopes for this game. When I bought it, I played for more than 30 hours trying to force myself to like it, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't. Here's my review.

Gameplay. Score 5/10
For the first 5 minutes of this game I really enjoyed it. But then I saw how horrible the cars handle and how dull the game really was. The first problem I had with this game was the horrendous handling of the cars. No matter how fast or slow your going or no matter how hard you shove the analog stick over, the cars just don't want to turn. This totally ruins the experience. Picture this, you're flying along at 150 mph, racing neck and neck with another racer. You both come up to the turn. The other racer perfectly maneuvers the turn, while you slam in the guardrail and end up in last place. Another major problem I had was the awful events. The worst being cone challenge, where you have to earn Kudos by drifting between cones. And the cars don't even drift. Kudos is like money in this game. One of the things they do, is for every event they have 5 difficulties, but the higher ones are 100% impossible to do, so there's no point in even trying. My overall say in the gameplay is, well it sucks!

Graphics. Score 7.5/10
The graphics are probably the best part of the whole game, though there is still no reason to hold a parade over them. All the cars are smooth and look nice but they can't hold a match against games like Burnout 3. The environments do look pretty good, but there isn't very much detail and also there isn't too much on the screen at one time. Another problem I had with the graphics was everything seems to just repeat itself over and over in every city you race at. Inside the car all you see is the same exact white racing helmet inside every single car. There isn't really anything wrong with the graphics of PGR2, they're just kind of average, and I know the Xbox can do better than this game provides.

Controls. Score 2/10
There really isn't much to say about the controls of PGR2 because all there really is, is the right trigger for gas, left trigger for brake and the analog stick for steering. You don't get any kind of boost like NoS or anything like that, so the speed of the car is the speed you're stuck with. The handling is the worst ive ever seen in a racing title. No matter what you do, turning is harder than pretending you like that sweater grandma gave you last Christmas. So basically, the controls are the worst you can find in a racing game.

Audio. Score 8/10
Now im not giving the audio an 8 because of what the game has, im giving it an 8 because you can replace all the crappy music the game has and put in your own. The game soundtrack is horrible, with mostly bands and songs you have never heard of. The game does have a radio where you can change the station and it has a DJ sometimes, but it doesn't really matter if the music on the radio sucks. As for the game itself, you can't even hear the cars when you're racing, you don't hear tires when you spin out at 170 mph, and there isn't really any talking in the game. So if for some insane reason you decide to get this game, change all the songs at least.

Replay Value. Score 4/10
Im not going to say much here because I don't see any reason to play this game for more than 20 minutes. All the races are exactly the same so it is constantly repetitive and frustrating. The only good thing about the RV is XBL, but even that has a lot of lag and slowdown. So the replay value of the game is awful.

Final Thought
Do not get this game unless you feel like smashing all your controllers out of frustration from the handling of the cars. It is NOT worth 50 bucks and never will be!

Overall Score: 5.5 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04