Project Gotham Racing 4 (X360) – PGR4

Racing game fans expect a lot out of Project Gotham Racing 4. It’s predecessor was one of the first, and still is one of the best racers available for the Xbox 360. That means Microsoft has a lot to live up to with this latest release, and they manage nicely. All the familiar elements Project Gotham Racing 3 fans will expect are still there, but the latest iteration features improved vehicle models and scenery, weather effects that look great and affect vehicle handling, motorcycles to buy and race, and a greatly improved single player experience with the new career mode.

In Project Gotham Racing 4′s single player game you will find all the types of racing events players have seen in previous versions, but wrapped into a package that takes you on a journey to become the #1 ranked racer in the world. On the way you will earn kudos, purchase new vehicles, and customize existing ones. Customization options are limited but you can choose from a number different paint jobs to personalize your ride.

PGR fans won’t be let down by the tracks either. The series’ signature tracks are back, as well as some new ones. Every one of them offers a fantastic variety in both the layout of the course and the environmental graphics that really make you feel you’re driving through the locale each track is based on. This is a core strength of the series and this latest release in particular, the courses always keep things interesting from a driving perspective and the environments are so well done you feel like you’re really there.

The new weather effects look great. From the snow-turned-slush on the road to the water beading up on your windshield, you’ll like what you see but visuals are just the half of it. Vehicles in PGR4 handle different in bad weather and you’ll need to adjust your driving accordingly, or find yourself hydroplaning into a concrete barrier. There are a number of different camera angles you can race with as well, so if you prefer to drop your overhead view for a more realistic seat behind the wheel you can enjoy the added distraction of windshield wipers. I say that without mirth because if ever there was a racing game that made you want to just sit behind the wheel and take in the scenery on a relaxing drive, this is it.

Motorcycles are less impressive in this game. They have most standard characteristics you might expect: better acceleration, lower top speed, more maneuverable, but what they are not is tricky to handle. It almost seems as if the developers designed the bikes perfectly and then someone came along and said, “No, this is too hard. Make it easier,” and they went ahead and made that change without reducing any of the benefits you get from choosing a bike over a car. Ultimately this means you’re almost always better off choosing a bike.

Online play is as good or better than it was in PGR3. There are single or team races, and five different modes of competition. You’ll be hooked long before you finish the single-player career mode but the multiplayer game will ensure Project Gotham Racing 4 never gets old.

Review Based On Xbox 360 Version – Also available on the PS3 and Wii

Nearly twenty years after Nintendo sent some of their most famous characters onto the racetrack, Sega has decided it’s their turn. Granted a good chunk of Sega’s popular icons come directly from the Sonic franchise itself, which the title of this kart racer makes no secret of, and you may not even recognize or remember half the other racers Sega decided to include but don’t let that fool you. Cartoon celebrities do not a-great-kart-racer make. At least not not on their own. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing has strong gameplay and excellent visuals that will quickly win you over.

The game offers 24 exquisitely animated race courses that include everything you’d expect from a kart racer, from power ups to shortcuts. They range in difficulty from challenging enough to keep your interest, to challenging enough to demand your full attention and some serious kart racing skills. Every detail of the tracks seems to have been considered by the design team. Brilliantly re-conceived, yet familiar landscapes based on your favorite Sega games fly by at high speed as you speed through the tracks. Twists and turns keep you barely able to maintain control on courses narrow enough to make the other racers a serious hazard to anyone trying to get to the front of the pack. From form to function this game doesn’t disappoint.

Where the game fails to impress is in the power-ups and character specific abilities. In short, there’s nothing new. You can snag missiles to fire at drivers ahead of you and bombs to drop in the path of karts coming up behind, and that’s certainly fun but it’s standard fare for a kart racer and almost requisite to the genre. Each character does have their own unique power that can be used once per race but while the animations are creative, relevant to the character (Sonic turns into Super-Sonic, etc), and fun to watch, the actual in-game effect each character’s power has is identical: you get to go really, really fast for a few seconds.

It would have been nice if Sega made these different abilities actually DO different things, like one character can get a super-weapon, but another creates an earthquake that knocks all the other drivers off the course briefly. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure how they might have really knocked it out of the park with these unique (looking) powers each character has. Thankfully, it doesn’t detract from the game at all, it’s just a sore point because it could have made this excellent kart racer something altogether magnificent.

The single player missions are well done and break up the the action nicely. You’re not always competing against a fleet of other racers for first place, much of the time you are tasked to collect certain items or perform specific maneuvers on course, which helps keep the game from getting monotonous. A plethora of unlockables also keeps the gameplay fresh and players will want to keep coming back for more. There is also a very strong multiplayer component that offers standard racing online, and a few more advanced options (such as battle mode) in split-screen. The split-screen mode with some friends is likely to be this game’s most popular because it is a straight-up blast.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing has smooth controls, great courses, beautiful graphics, and all wrapped in a shell that is stylistically and unmistakeably Sega. As a kart racer it doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the table, but it is definitely a game worth playing for both kart racing fanatics weary of continually replaying their classics, and also new players who have never jumped behind the wheel of a kart racer before.

The latest entry in the Forza Motorsport series from Turn 10 Studios is about as close to a masterpiece as any racing car sim has come in years. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a novice racer, this game has everything you want. Cars can be painted and even tuned, but only if you feel like it. If you’re the sort who would rather just get in and drive, you can do that too.

A number of driving assists are available to help keep newcomers steady on the road, and seasoned veterans can turn them off for greater control and challenge. And more money. There is also a rewind feature that purists will likely loathe, but if you don’t use it your times will post higher on the leaderboard than drivers who do. Incidentally, the leaderboard also clearly shows what assists each driver had turned on when they posted their time, so players don’t have to be super-skilled to really enjoy this game, but those who are reap a number of rewards.

As you might expect, starting off in career mode you’re stuck with mostly cars straight off the lot at your local dealership but as you win races and championships your bankroll will grow and you’ll be able to pick up sick new rides. Available events are largely dependent on what cars you have, so if you when you get hold of an Enzo Ferrari you (usually) won’t be able to drive it against cars that it severely outperforms but new races will become available, with better rewards.

There is a strong multiplayer mode, but the AI is largely brilliant and doesn’t ever exhibit the poor sportsmanship that can occasionally ruin the online gameplay experience. The computer driven vehicles can sometimes do silly things but most of the time you will find them challenging opponents who drive smart and even capitalize on the mistakes of other drivers (or you).

The Auction House is still a part of the game, and in what is likely going to be hailed as one of the biggest improvement on the multiplayer experience you can now create and sell vinyl designs, tuning setups and paint jobs independent of cars. Many hardcore players are going to be earning a lot of credits doing this, and less hardcore players will have access to an enormous variety of player-made customization as long as they have credits to spare.

For budding designers, the design tool has not changed much from Forza 2 but one notable improvement is you are no longer required to create your designs ON a car. Forza 3 lets you lay your designs out BEFORE applying them to a vehicle, which eliminates at least one eye-rolling frustration for veteran players. The design process is still difficult and somewhat limited, but while some players will huff that there’s still no option to import image files they created on their computer, others will enjoy the challenge knowing that everyone is on equal footing.

Multiplayer is often where games suffer most technically, stressing the graphics capability of the system and slowing framerates but Forza 3 showed no glitches or hangups at all. Pre-race load times can be a bit slow from time to time but that’s about the worst of it. On every single level, whether you are a huge fan of video racing games or barely play any games at all, this game will appeal to you and I highly recommend trying it out.

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