Project Gotham Racing 2
 

Oh man.. is anybody else REALLY excited for this game? I really LOVED the first one, and this one looks to improve in all aspects plus ONLINE PLAY!!!!!

Any good deals on this game?

I am too, probably my most anticipated XBox game of the holidays. I have a game to return from the TRU 3 for 2 deal just waiting for PGR2 to arrive.

Yo I picked it up last night - it's not supposed to come out until next Tuesday but the game store by my work broke the street date. It even had a big orange sticker on the top that said "DO NOT SELL BEFORE 11/18/03". They guy at the store just said, "we gotta give the people what they want!" I love New York...

Anyway, I never played the first PGR, only MSR on the Dreamcast, but I can say PGR2 completely rocks. First of all I only played the first two stages, Florence and Sydney, but I was completely astounded by the graphics. The detail in these levels was amazing! The cars themselves look great. The damage models are completely realistic - from little touch dents to head-on collisions. The winshield will crack according to the wreck, not the same all the time. And the frame rate is a consistent 30 fps, very nice.

But what makes this game rock is the controls. I have to say, my favorite racing game of all time was Tokyo Extreme Racing for the Dreamcast before this, because I liked the arcade-with-a-touch-of-sim controls it implemented. PGR2 plays even better. It's challenging enough but also easy enough to pull drifts and power slides. I haven't done any 360s yet so I don't know how hard that is, but the challenge is to pull a drift and not hit a wall, and link it with another drift to create some combos. As with Tokyo Extreme Racing's "health" meter, the Kudos aspect is a completely different way to play a racing game, and it adds so much more than to just finish first. The cars all feel like they have weight, which is also really important in a driving game.

The presentation of the game is great. If you've ever seen a Rally program or other racing program from the UK you'll know what to expect. And the integration with XBL is completely innovative. Now XBL is an essential part of a game, not just another game mode to select. It will automatically try to connect to XBL upon starting up the game, and at every race it will download a ranking board to show where you stand. It adds an extra layer of competitiveness to the game that other racing games just don't have. It encourages players to revisit courses, not only to increase their Kudos points with new cars but also to move up on the internet rankings. I haven't downloaded top ghosts yet, but that's another option.

So I'll have to say this is one of the best racing games I've ever played. The controls are excellent (the only thing I find difficult is controling the radio while driving, but that's just like in real life!), the graphics are stellar, and the gameplay is really fun!

For ANYONE interested in driving games, either arcade or sim, get this. You won't be disappointed. In terms of the best for the Xbox, it blows Midnight Club 2 out of the water. The driving in that one can't hold a candle to PGR2, and the graphics are so much better. I really do think this could be a system seller like Gran Tourismo was for the PSOne. It's that good.

Jeremy

Man I was excited as hell for this game before but reading your mini-review has made me 10x moreso. I absolutely loved the first one. This (and Tetris Worlds to an extent) will be the reason I renew my XBL membership for another year.

Yeah, this will really revolutionize the way developers will integrate XBL into their games in the future, and makes it well worth being a XBL subscriber again!

I was afraid XBL wouldn't meet its potential, but I can say this holiday season PGR2 and Rainbow Six 3 totally exceeded my expectations for the service.

Jeremy

You can even go into the stats and download a 'ghost car' of the person who got whatever score, to see how they did it, and race against it!

Dang It! Another Title to add to my growing List of Holiday Games that I must get!!!! Dang you Rutz!!!! :)

Wow that sounds really cool. So you could go up against the top ranking player's ghost on any given track and see how you stack up?

So what happens if the person just goofs off and drives the wrong way, hits stuff, etc. Does the ghost do that as well?

:D

Yeah Azel! And I <b>expect</b> to see you online with it next week! :wave:

Jeremy

The ghost does everything the driver does, just like when you would save a ghost lap on other racing games in the past.

There was someone on the ranking board with a Kudos score of over 6,000. To give you some comparision I got an 800 or something like that. I want to download their ghost laps to see how that person did it.

Jeremy

Man oh man.. getting all excited. I can' WAIT to pick this up. I've been looking for something to use my Live account for as it's been being wasted since I dropped PSO once the monthly fee kicked in.

The cusomt soundtrack option of the first game rocked, espically with the DJ yapping between YOUR songs.

<B>jrutz</B> can you post a scan of your reciept for PGR2? A local store said they'll break street if they have proof of someone else doing it.

4

PGR2? But I've had Midnight Club2 on my Xbox since release & haven't had time to even touch that game yet. (sigh) Too many good driving games, not enuf time.

I'm getting it :D

I'll take a snapshot of it when I get home and try to post it here. Just don't get the store in trouble, then I won't be able to get any other games before the street date!

Jeremy

Can't wait for PGR2 either....most anticipated game ever,for me at least. jrutz,get the first PGR too...you won't be dissapointed :)

I'm so weak -- can't even beat 1/2 the Tokyo levels, much less most of the quick runs and arcade runs. Just too tough -- hard to get in front and harder to stay there.

Yes, but you get every game that comes out so it wasn't such a surprise :D

Actually I'm not buying any more games. I might switch a few more TRU and then return the rest. I'm going to start renting. For $240 you get a whole year of rentals. It also helps with clutter because I was running out of room for games and DVDs.

Sure you're not, lol. I'll believe it when I see it :D

I'm foaming at the mouth for this one. IMO, PGR has the best control scheme of any racer (manual transmission, of course) EVER. Midnight Club 2 was decent--but it paled in comparison to the original PGR. I can't wait for PGR2.

Well I tried to take a picture of the receipt, since I don't have a scanner, but I couldn't get a picture good enough to read. I could mail it to you, but you probably would just get it in time for the release date. Sorry!

Jeremy

BTW the DVD Bargains forum lists "Dark Day-After-Thanksgiving" prices, and PGR2 is $39.99 that Friday only at Circuit City. You can probably buy it next week and get a price adjustment then.

And Halo is only $19.99...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=329740

Jeremy