Project Gotham Racing

Here we go with Project Gotham Racing. The super sequel to the DC hit is heading to an Xbox near you in less than 3 days. Ok, ok, the game is out now, but the console isn't yet, so, you hash out the technicalities. This is how a sequel should be. Retaining all the greatness of the original, but adding some new goodies, not to mention looking a ton better than before. Confused yet? No fear, allow me to elaborate.

First off, the locales. This isn't like so many racers out there where you just drive around a track out in the middle of nowhere. These are real cities, with real areas mapped straight from their real-life counterparts. Everything, even down to the last street sign, was in this game. All 3 areas from the Dreamcast are here, and just for the Xbox, the addition of a fourth area, New York City.

As if visuals weren't enough, the music reflected the locales too. For instance, in San Francisco, the music is your typical rock/rap affair, with DJ's talking in between, just like on a real radio. In London or Tokyo, you get that laid back jazz/techno treat, with the DJ's actually speaking with an English accent or even in Japanese, respectively. Oh, and here is a couple cool features that have УattentionФ to detail oozing from it. Whenever you drive under a tunnel, the radio stations fade to static just as in life. Also, the use of time is apparent. By using the internal clock, the game actually adjusts for the different time zones, so when you race, it is actually that time in the game and it proceeds to change as you are racing. Now is that cool or what?

As I stated before, gameplay here isn't about getting to from point A to point B ahead of everyone else, it's not when, but how you get there. For instance, you get points, called Kudos, for power sliding, and taking chances. You lose kudos points by slamming into cars and biting the walls. A fairly simple concept really. Walls BAAAAAD. However, it adds a new dimension to gameplay. Do you play it safe? Or do you take a risk and be rewarded for your aggressive style? The choice is yours. Believe me, it will be a lot harder than it sounds, as rain and other cars on the road are going test your skill at collision avoidance. But, perhaps the best thing about PGR, is that it does the one thing that other УrealФ racers haven't done, real-time damage on the cars. That's right, if you smack the wall, your car will look like it. Bent fenders, missing side view mirrors, and other bashings will all be visible.

I mentioned the music earlier. Actually, that was just using my experience from the DC version of MSR, however, that will also be true for PG as well. But don't be disconcerted if you don't like the music on offer, as PGR will be one of the titles where you can use your own. Using the CD-ripping feature on Xbox, you can listen to your favorite racing tunes while you take that power slide. Just don't go and do that for real when you hear that song on the radio, ok? And if you do, and get caught, I never existed, capuche?

Now for the bad parts. Uhh, well I don't know if you would consider this bad, but there are only about 25 cars in this game. Good? Bad? You decide. However, I would rather have fewer cars, with more depth, than a shallow game with just a bunch of the same car.