Trigger

Anyone pick this up yet?

I did... for xbox.

Pretty disappointed so far.

+ more modifications possible
+ more detailed options for modifications
+ seems less glitchy than the first
+ new race types
+ more car types

- PS2 graphics - looks like shit
- cutscenes are half-assed comic book style - look like shit
- Brooke Burke - looks like shit and only appears as a drawing
- opponent AI is weak - game is far too easy
- no sense of speed - not even as much as the previous Xbox version had (which was less than the PS2 version of the same game)
- open-ended driving allows you to get used to the tracks, but is ultimately a huge time waster and I'd rather just get to the races without having to drive everywhere. stupid with a capital Dumb.
- too much advertising (cingular wireless, best buy, etc...) as if Sparco, AEM, Toyo, etc... aren't bringing in enough extra dough.
- it rains alot, and although they say it has an effect on handling, it really doesn't.

? they didn't take advantage of the Xbox music library - boo
? why would I want to pimp out an escalade and race some behemoth SUV? very stupid

fumanstan

I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I finished the "story" with about 70% of the game completed on PC. I thought the graphics looked great, but maybe that's because i can turn enable antialiasing on my PC. The story was pretty terrible, but considering the first one had none to speak of, it was nice just having something this time around. Brooke Burke... was negligable. Didn't really care either way about her. I thought the AI was fine... i played through the game on Medium difficulty. It was a little on the easy side, but much more enjoyable then replaying 7-9 minute races over and over again. I never completed the first one because there was one track i couldn't pass about 80 races in. The open endedness alleviates this a bit, letting you play the other racing types if you're not particularly fond of one (hated circuits), although i agree that its a rather tedious. Advertising was a little annoying, but negligable to me.

MasterofDVD

I was going to start a thread about this a week or so ago cause I was amazed that nobody was talking about it....then I feared people would fuss about the new Race Breaker feature so I passed on making the thread.

I'm not a car buff by any stretch but I did enjoy the first one when my friend let me borrow the first one. I had a bunch of store credit so I picked the new one up on release day.

I really thought the graphics would be a step up from the previous one. I was very upset about the lack of custom soundtracks. The majority of the songs were ok but I'm so sick of them now. I'm tired of driving to events and would like to go back to the old way of doing events. I have yet to play on Live. I want to but I just haven't had the time. The city is huge and at times it makes getting around a real pain. The shop system is cool but I'd be just as happy if you could go into a menu and look around in the shops instead of driving from one to another.

I would pass on a third one because I don't see much else being added and I can't imagine them making a city much bigger than the one now.

Jam Master Jay

I've been playing this on PC for a few days now. I got a really nice suped up Celica that I've already dumped a shitload of cash into so I haven't bothered trading it in yet, it is kind of cool that you're able to keep more then 1 car at a time though.

I think it's a great game though, I'm still trying to figure out what the Escalade, Navigator and Hummer are for; becuase they can't possibly be for racing, I thought about buying one and setting it up with some spinnners and stuff just for the hell of hit, but would rather spend my money upgrading my current car.

MasterofDVD

I bought an SUV and took it around a bit to do the SUV races. I won my first but driving was so tough that I traded the car in for something that look like it'll stay on four wheels when I make a turn.

Later on I might buy one just to tweak it a bit but for now I'm spending the cash on my other cars.

Trigger

I suppose I should've tried the PC version instead of the Xbox. There's just so much else wrong with the game beyond the ugly graphics. I don't hate it - I just like it less than the first one.

edit: This game has no personality compared to the first one. Maybe I haven't unlocked everything yet, but there's no big bridge jump like there was in the other game. Not looking for the exact same thing, but something equally fun would be nice. The city looks like some generic LA/Vegas city like so many other games - Midnight Club was crappy (imo) and I don't get why NFS needed to copy them.

The more I play, the more annoyed I get with the small stuff...

I'd like Brooke Burke to shut the hell up. She's boring and all she does is repeat the stupid emails I get or say the same things over and over when I'm in a parts shop.

I'm also getting really effing sick of the trash talk - it just sounds like 13 year olds telling me what a dork I am like I'm driving my mom's car. Once in awhile is okay to make it seem more authentic (according to the movies?), but how about having some people who talk to you in a cool way like it is in real life...

The online component is a cool idea, but so far I haven't been able to find a good match-up. They should make drag races at least evenly matched... They put me up against cars that were on 3rd level parts and I was on first. Lame.

Again on the dorky cutscenes and crap - the story is really lame and the images of the people I'm racing against who are telling me that my pimped out car is actually my mom's and I'm a loser and should just give them my money and lick their asses are really fruity - they look like Wham back-up singers or maybe those guys who would clap behind Shiela E when she would be drumming for Prince.

The deeper I get into this game, the more I see how weak and half-assed they made it. They must've spent all their efforts making it like Midnight Club and forgot to make a good story and work on the opponent AI. I'm at like 30% or so and most of my time spent with it has been driving around getting from race to race rather than progressing through the game. Part of me really likes being able to free-roam, but the rest of me wishes they had just made my garage a full-service joint that I can jump to from the start menu... also they should've made it so any time a race is available in email, I can have the option of going there from the email rather than having to drive there. Then those 50 bucks and hidden races and outrun random races and crap would be the reason to cruise around and the rest of the time just let me progress through the game. The fact that I have to drive all over the place any time I want to change a part and then see it in different colors or whatever takes away any fun I could've gotten out of making my car cool.

Oh - also just noticed that if you upgrade a second car and trade it for something else, you don't get to keep your upgrades for the next car. Lame.