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PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 4 XBOX 360 REVIEW |
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Bizarre
Creation has once again set the benchmark in the
pursuit for the most realistic racing with their
release of Project Gotham Racing 4 for the Xbox
360. One of the main highlights in this fourth
installment is the growing sense of unity
between players by faithfully capturing
individual’s nationality to a whole new level.
With this piece of ingenuity, you’ll be able to
determine your fellow countrymen online. You’ll
also see their distinct country of origin
represented by a specific flag next to their
gamertag. That’s not all! The customization
options for Project Gotham Racing 4 are loaded
with the hottest accessories—uniforms, helmets,
visors, leather designs—that guarantee to define
your character to be as unique as possible.
Just like its predecessor, Project Gotham Racing
4 is seriously bent on showcasing some of the
hottest cars known to man. You’ll soon find out
that the lineup of coveted vehicles is no longer
limited to exotic hotrods. You now have access
to a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo, a 1978
Lamborghini Countach LP400, a 2008 Tesla
Roadster, a 2004 Ferrari F430, a 2006 Ferrari
599 GTB Fiorano, a 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR
McLaren, a 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S, a 1969
Chevy Camaro Z28, a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette
Sting Ray, and many more! In addition, pickup
trucks and motorcycles are also part of the
game's library of high-performance vehicles.
Bikes are a big part of the competition with top
manufacturers such as Ducati, Honda, and BMW
taking part in the virtual ride. Whether in
single-player mode or playing with a team, you
can choose to race two motorcycles side by side
or race with a combination of cars and
motorcycles.
You’ll soon discover that some tracks are better
suited to bikes than cars, and in other
competitions it’s sometimes the cars that get
the edge. So you need to choose wisely. The best
feature of Project Gotham Racing 4 is its newly
revamped career mode. You’ll start as an amateur
racer and eventually move through the higher
ranks by competing in a long string of events.
You’ll unlock new cars and other competitions as
you win races. Aside from the traditional
championship races, you’ll also receive
“invitational” notices, where you are given a
set of challenge, anywhere from a time-trial
event in a snowy Nurburgring to a speed event in
Las Vegas, to an overtaking contest in Shanghai,
to running through an obstacle course knocking
down cones in one of Asia’s landmarks.
Successfully completing a challenge is the
fastest way to build up your inventory on cars.
However, the competitions withheld in career
mode are based on a calendar structure. There is
just one event open a day, whether it is
customary or invitational.
What is striking about the career mode is the
rebuilt kudos system. It has been tweaked to
take advantage of the tricks you can do with
motorcycles. You can pull off various techniques
such as popping a wheelie or an endo. You could
do something daring like stand on the seat of
your bike. Riding a motorcycle is practically
the quickest way to raise your kudos, but let’s
not forget those shiny four-wheelers; they are
equally capable of racking up style points, too!
That is if you could pull off one of many
high-risk maneuvers such as drifting in tight
corners at high speed without hitting the wall.
Whatever kudos you earned can be converted into
accessory upgrades, unlocking hidden tracks or
cars, add filtering effects, or even shopping
for gamer pics. Career mode (or Gotham Career as
it is known) is just one of the many
single-player options available in Project
Gotham Racing 4. The other are arcade mode, time
trial, and custom match. |
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PRODUCT
OVERALL RATING: 8.0 OUT OF 10 |
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The arcade
mode has you racing through stages that test
your driving skills from drifting challenges to
speed events. In time trial, you just race
against the clock without any interference from
rival opponents. In custom match, you set
preference for the race you want to organize.
You can almost fine tune anything in this mode,
including weather conditions, class of cars
allowed, number of laps in the race, and skill
difficulty of opponents just to name a few. The
multiplayer aspect of PGR 4 shoots the same
amount of excitement as in any of the other
single-player modes, except that it includes a
few variants to the online content. Playing
online is a thrill and in this installment not
only will you come across game modes like cat
and mouse but also a brand new feature called
bulldog. The lowdown on bulldog is that one
driver tags every other racer in the game. The
longer you can sustain from becoming a bulldog,
the more kudos you’ll rake in.
Another great aspect of the PGR 4’s online
feature is the On Demand service. It allows
players to upload video files and photos of
their favorite vehicles. You can even download
content from other players, and vote on your
favorite pictures and videos as you see fit!
Gameplaywise, both the single-player and
multiplayer experience of the PGR 4 are superb.
The sensitivity of the controls are
realistically conveyed in each class. Each car
or bike has a distinct feel so it might take
some time in getting used to. After all, this is
simulation driving not “Burnout”. Nevertheless,
the overall handling is relatively smooth.
Graphically, Project Gotham Racing 4 is
impressive and showcases a lot of advanced
photo-realistic textures on both vehicle models
and surrounding terrains. Weather effects are
spectacular here, and are not just for display
either. The presence of fog, snow, black ice,
thunder and lightning will have an adverse
affect in your driving.
Bizarre Creations, the powerhouse behind the PGR
series, has done an incredible job of putting
the environment into perspective, with lavish
green trees lining the race tracks where specs
of sunlight bouncing colorfully off the road.
The urban setting such as the race course in
Macau and Quebec is also nicely depicted.
Playing through the first minute of the game
brought back a lot of nostalgia from the last
PGR. As soon as the engines were roaring and
charge of smokes were leaving out of the
exhaust, recollections of the old driving
experience quickly faded away and were
immediately replaced by great suspense and
excitement. Project Gotham Racing 4 is no doubt
an impressive racing simulation to behold. It’s
larger-than-life and provides a good deal of
tantalizing mechanics, thanks to the newly
designed kudos system.
The series continues to dominate the genre in
terms of visual presentation, technical
features, and immersive online experience. With
its coveted licensed cars and bikes, you can’t
help but live in the moment while hurling at
great speed, tearing through famous landmarks.
The controls are as smooth as ever but the
overall handling is mostly geared towards expert
drivers. The customization aspect is robust but
not nearly as in-depth as the you see one in
Forza 2. Needless to say, the real highlights of
Project Gotham Racing 4 are in the career mode.
It is what makes Project Gotham Racing a Project
Gotham Racing. It is still your best bet for the
ultimate driving simulation, despite great
competition from Collin McRae DiRT and Forza 2.
For now, PGR 4 takes the checkered flag in this
year’s racing season. |
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