I have been playing racing games for as long as I can remember. Through my years of playing I have learnt that unless it’s got a fat plumber with a red hat I’m just not interested. Don’t get me wrong, I have tried so many racing games and wasted so much money on them in the need to fulfil my need for speed. I just find that some of the big guns just don’t do anything for me, Need for Speed just lacks game play and excitement and Gran Turismo is such a good simulator it just reminds me that driving is, well, boring.
I got this game as when I purchased my Premium Pack, I had to buy another 3 games with it to get a good deal and to be honest, I wasn’t too thrilled with the selection and this was not my first choice.
After playing this game for just a few hours I was already glad I had forked out £500+ for all this kit. The graphics are simply stunning, light bouncing off all things metallic, you can rip around circuits with no slowdown, there is no fogging to mention so the backgrounds seem to go on forever. Having a look around when on the bridge in New York City or the forests of the Nuremburg is simply breathtaking. There are 5 views to race by, the real feel of speed is the bonnet and bumper view, but you must try a few races with the in car setting. It takes a bit of getting used to but changes the way you play racing games and has that ultra realistic feel. The sound also gives you a great feel of atmosphere, screeching tyres as you go hurtling around corners and the engine noise is quite satisfactory and also a good selection of tracks to listen to whilst on the road from classical to indie and rock to bhangra.
This game is a perfect balance of realism and arcade racing, one of the best parts of this game is that there is no tweaking, unlike Gran Turismo and Underground, you start with a bit of cash, select a car, win a few races, buy another car and so on. There are over 75 cars and you can choose from makes such as Dodge and Lotus. I found comfort in the Ferrari Enzo and played most of the tracks in this car, finding the drift and acceleration a great help on some of the later races. Your collection will soon grow and spill out into other garages where you can have a walk around and view them in all of their glory.
The games main goal is simple enough, achieve the number one driver ranking. To do this you need to compete in the career modes and gain Kudos. Kudos is a system that rewards you points for driving skill, for example drifting around corners at high speeds. The more kudos you earn the higher up the ranking you go. With each race there is a set of medals (difficulty) to choose from, because there are so many medals to choose from it won’t take long to find your perfect challenge, too easy and you will win each race by miles, too hard and you will be eating dust. Each race also has a different requirement, some are tried and tested like win the race, elimination and one on one, but others require more skill and this is where the kudos comes into play. Races like Time vs. Kudos and Cone Challenge require a great deal of skill when you go for gold medals and above. Trying to pull of one of the many cornering techniques to get as much Kudos as possible is a great challenge. The great thing about this game is that it is linked to a league system on Xbox live, this alone makes you want to keep on trying to get the required score and also to see if you can beat any of your friends.
PGR3 also offers a photo option for all you budding David Baileys out there. This will kill a few hours of your time playing with all of the different settings but after a while will be forgotten.
Once you have got used to the tracks and built up your garage you should try what I feel is the crowning glory of this game, online career. There is nothing quite like racing against other racers and tearing around some great courses. Once you have gotten the hang of which car to choose on each of the classes you should be at the front in no time. I had completed the single player career on all middle medals and found online very hard to get the hang off, the fact that you have real people to race against changes the whole game, no more perfect racing lines of the computer. Most drivers respect each other but there are a few who enjoy the little nudge to get them the next position. I found myself a few times in 1st place only to be spun out by some tactical nudging from 2nd place to knock me out of the race. At first this is really annoying to the point of hurling your controller to the other side of the room, which is a plus point for the wireless controller as when you launch it, it does not pull you console from the shelf and smash on the floor like days of old. Persevere with the online racing and you will get that 1st place. You will also be placed on world rankings with a TrueSkill rating, and watching your gamertag go through the ranks so very satisfying, you will want to race online again and again.
PGR3 allows you to also design you own track by altering existing routes, allowing you to put them online and race against your friends.
A nice little touch to this game is the Gotham Heroes, where you can watch some of the best races, and maybe get some racing tips.
This game is a great overall package and bodes well for the future of the 360 and Live. It will keep you going for a very long time and due to the Live features it will keep on luring you back for just one more race.
