Project Gotham Racing 3

"Forget about all the losers that we know"

I know lots of you were disappointed that games like Dead or Alive 4 and Oblivion couldn't make it out on time for the Xbox 360 launch. Then you had the rising doubts that Perfect Dark Zero wasn't going to be the killer app, as Halo was for the original Xbox, and that Call of Duty 2 was going to be a watered-down PC port. With all that fuss surrounding the 360 launch, it was very reassuring to know that at least Bizarre's beloved Project Gotham Racing franchise was going to be there. Sure enough, Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3) arrived and it continues the excellence the franchise is known for.

One thing that fans of the series will notice is a somewhat smaller selection of tracks and vehicles for this installment. There are now 80 vehicles to choose from in a series of tracks set in five cities (New York, Las Vegas, London, Tokyo, and Nurburing). That does seem like a bit of a drop when compared to PGR2's 100+ cars, and 11 cities that were available. However, if PGR 2's success at downloadable content proved anything, it is that more vehicles will inevitably be available to download over Xbox Live in due time. 80 cars is still a respectable number of vehicles in any racing game, especially when they are usually the very best from renowned manufacturers like Ferrari, Lotus, Lamborghini, TVR and Mercedes; among other legendary names.

I'll admit right away I am not too big on simulation-heavy racers such as Gran Turismo and Forza, and even though the first two PGR titles weren't strict sim-heavy racers, its unique brand of racing just didn't fly with me. I just couldn't adapt myself to its style of racing. Thankfully Bizarre has toned down the learning curve and I found myself enjoying the racing in PGR3 far more than its predecessors. PGR3 is still all about racing for kudos (points) that are rewarded for performing feats such as drifts and clean passes. Kudos are tougher to come by on the harder difficulty levels, and in some stages of the career mode, your success in passing the stage is imperative on the amount of kudos a race is finished with.

The career mode got changed up a bit in PGR3. It is now divided up into offline and online portions. As the wins pile up, credits follow suit. These are used to keep adding more stellar vehicles to your garages (that come equipped with Bizarre's awesome Geometry Wars game). The offline career is designed like its predecessors and features a variety of race types like standard races and lap-by-lap elimination races. Even if you fully complete the offline portion of the career, the online part never can be completed, as you'll keep racing for better times and placing to further increase your online rank. Xbox Live also attempts an in-depth matchmaking service to make sure it places you against as many equally skilled opponents as possible.

Beyond the impressive online career mode, PGR3 has some other impressive online features. Besides bringing over the regular street races and elimination races on Xbox Live, there is a new and innovative Capture the Track mode. Here, players are split into teams to compete in posting quicker completion time on a section of track so they can “own” it, and whoever owns the most in a specific amount of time wins. After all those modes and a plethora of stat tracking leaderboards, there is Gotham TV. It is a unique twist on a spectator mode that allows you to either watch the actual race your friends are competing in, or the Heroes channel which flips the channel to Gotham TV's game of choice that randomly picks one race that has one of its top ranked racers competing in. It is one fresh concept, and when the rare opportunity arises that your race is being broadcasted on Gotham TV, it gives you a special feeling of accomplishment of how well you are doing online.

Speaking of accomplishments, mad props go out to Bizzare on making one of the most gorgeous racing games my eyes have ever seen. The power of the 360 is readily apparent as all the vehicles just ooze with detail and crisp animations as watching them take a lightning fast drift is a thing of beauty. The many tracks you race in look just as superb. The streets of New York, Las Vegas, and Tokyo have never looked better. I am mildly disappointed by the very minimal damage modeling Bizarre has implemented. Other than tiny specs of noticeable damage to spoilers, it comes nowhere close as representing the amount of damage modeling seen in other racers like Forza and TOCA. All of that is forgiven though by PGR3's insanely good first person camera inside the vehicle.

Sure, we've seen in-car cameras before in racing games, but PGR3 sets a new standard that will probably take years to be matched by other racers. Each vehicle has its own unique perspective, so there will be vehicles that have the driver seated on the left and right hand sides complete with its own unique dashboard. Pay close enough attention, and you can even notice the hand and foot animations for working the brake and shifting! To top it all off, if you end up meeting the wall or dirt a few times, you will notice scratches and a layer of grime building up on the windshield during the course of a race. Simply amazing!

PGR3 also features one amazing soundtrack. As much a fan I am of all the 360 games having custom soundtrack capabilities, I can guarantee that I will never use it in PGR3. Besides featuring all the standard rock, rap, and hip-hop tracks PGR3 features an array of selections of J-Pop and even classical music. I was surprised at how fitting these new tunes were and they only helped but immerse me more into every race. Bizarre did a bang-up job on the sound effects too, especially in first person when there is a noticeable difference on what the engine sounds like while driving inside the vehicle.

To put it simply, PGR3 is a must-buy for any racing game fan. It is a little bit of a bummer given a lesser amount of cities and vehicles available, but the upgrades to the online and first person experiences more than makes up for it. If you have Xbox Live Gold than expect replay value through the roof with Gotham TV and the online career mode. Having two versions of Geometry Wars included is always a nice bonus as well. When it comes down to it, you cannot go wrong with Project Gotham Racing 3.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/06