Project Gotham Racing 3

Nothing really prepares you for Project Gotham Racing 3. It's awe inspiring, but not perfect - yet it very nearly is.

	Version Xbox 360	Developer Bizarre Creations	Publisher Microsoft	Genre Racing

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PGR3's sound is likewise a religiously faithful development; you can fine tune the balance of your music (which can be anything stored in the game or anything on your Xbox 360) against your engine noise, opponent noise, atmospheric noise such as crowds of spectators, and sound effects. You can fine tune audio further to fit the size of your room and speaker set up and dozens of other details like that. If you're also after one of the best sounding games ever then look no further: this is how audio should be done in all games in the next generation; treated as integral to the experience as visuals and gameplay modes.

The wide selection of cars available are faithfully recreated on the Xbox 360, and whilst there's no Enzo in Kikizo's office car park [chortle...] just yet, the weight and handling of the vehicles feels sufficiently authentic without realism overkill. The vehicle stats are sparse and many, however, PGR3 is not about endless vehicle tweaking, it's not about the reality and the complexity of driving supercars at high speed through the city; it's about the emotion of it, and it's about doing so in a selection of 70 of the world's best supercars, each rendered to a meticulous level of authenticity, both inside and out.

P L E A S E   V I S I T   O U R   S P O N S O R :

We've always found that the key to Project Gotham's appeal has been its diverse and unique gameplay modes. Whilst there is an enjoyable, straightforward racing experience here, it is padded between the many Race, Cone, Drift challenges and so forth that spice up the game's Career Mode affairs. PGR3 presents these modes to the player in a compelling manner, in conjunction with a slick interface, which is guaranteed to keep you awake into the small hours as you have "just one last race."

And those races are cream of the crop, when it comes to racing games. The beautiful courses, excellent vehicle handling and some superb and well balanced opponent AI combine - much like the Megazord from Power Rangers - to make one hell of a racing experience. The AI in particular is impressive; if you mess up on the higher difficulties, it's nigh on impossible to catch up with your fleeting opponents.

Kudos is still lingering around like an elderly relative, but not the kind of relative you only see at Christmas and avoid on the telephone, but a cool, satisfying relative who makes really great clicking noises when you drift around a sharp corner. Because of course, these days, it's not just about coming first - it's about doing it with style. Clean corners and crafty donut spins reward the player with higher rankings, and extra cash to spend on new wheels.

This time around, once again, online functionality is truly taken to the next level. Along with the usual online play and expected leader boards, making its debut in PGR3 is the all-new Gotham TV. This is the game's new spectator mode where you can watch the world's greatest racers beat the pants off other racers. The most astonishing thing about Gotham TV is the huge number of people who can, thanks to Microsoft's server expertise, watch a live online racing game: 30,000 to be precise. That's the equivalent to playing PGR3 on the pitch of a small football stadium.

PGR is a real champion of racing games; the only thing we can bring ourselves to criticise is that the core gameplay is almost unchanged from the last Gotham title. But does this matter? No. There are however a few other small gripes; firstly there's no free roaming mode which was always fun in the first PGR, allowing you to just explore the city without restriction at free will. This is compensated by the new inclusion of Photo Mode though, which frankly we've spent hours in just admiring the view, playing with settings and just exploring by flying around the city. You can see car detail (inside and out) in ways that you won't manage in the actual game here and sometimes it just looks frighteningly real.

Secondly some of the best parts of the three cities, that appeared in PGR1, are not part of PGR3's cities; there's no Leicester Square, no Times Square, no Shibuya. These were some of the best parts of previous instalments and we can't help but miss them a bit, even though the freshness of New York's bridges, for example, is more than worthy compensation - and the sheer variety of stuff on offer in the awesomely crafted Vegas also makes up for it - it even has the Statue of Liberty and the Chrysler building. Thirdly, why can't you bring Richard Jacques music back?

Xbox 360, as well as making Project Gotham more beautiful than ever before, brings the series' tried and tested formula to new levels of enjoyment and realism. If you manage to pick up an Xbox 360, put extra effort in to finding yourself a copy of Project Gotham Racing 3.

Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL 9.0 9.5 9.4 9.6 9.9 9.2

THE VERDICT: You'll be hard pushed to find a more complete, versatile and impressive racing experience on any other console. PGR3 maintains the well-tuned, in-depth gameplay from previous installments and adds jaw-dropping graphics, excellent course design, and replay value in abundance. It's essential.

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