Project Gotham Racing 3
| Project Gotham Racing 3 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bizarre Creations |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 |
| Release |  November 22, 2005 December 2, 2005 January 12, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3 for short) is an arcade-style racing game that was released with the launch of the Xbox 360 on November 22 2005 for the US market and December 2 2005 in Europe, and was released on January 12 2006 in Japan. Developed by Bizarre Creations, it is the third installment in the Project Gotham Racing franchise, a highly popular series on the Xbox console. Project Gotham Racing 3 was recently rated by Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) to be Xbox 360 "Game Of The Year" (2005). OXM also recently rated it "Best 1st Person (Not Shooter) of the Year", because of its realistic inside-car view.
This game was featured on the Xbox 360 demo in stores.
A sequel has been confirmed, under the working title Project Gotham Racing 4.[1]
Cities
PGR3 offers players five cities to race through:
These cities were created with details using photographs taken months before the game was released. Some landscapes changed between the time of research and game's release. Not all details were replicated and there is one easily noticeable difference in Tokyo as all of its numerous utility poles are missing.
Cars
PGR3 features 80 licensed cars from 30+ manufacturers such as Ferrari, Dodge and Lamborghini.
In PGR2 the car models were comprised of 10,000 polygons, but with the next generation hardware's power Bizarre's modellers have been able to put as many as 105,000 polygons worth of detail into the cars, although most cars comprise of 80,000- with 40,000 of those being spent on the exterior and the remaining 40,000 on the interior. The increased polygon count allows for smoother, less jagged-shaped cars than in earlier games. Of the 80 cars in the game, 71 are unlocked and available for play at the start of a new game, while the remaining 9 (prototypes, one-offs, and concept) cars are left for the player to unlock after attaining a new rank in their career count of earned Kudos.
On April 14 2006 Bizarre made the PGR3 Speed Pack containing 12 new cars available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. On May 22 2006 Bizarre and Microsoft formed an advertising deal with Cadillac to feature four of Cadillac's cars in PGR3, all available on Live Marketplace for free (three were also available in-game for free). On July 12 2006, the third downloadable car pack for PGR3, the Style Pack was released with a total of twelve cars and made available for a small number of points. Players cannot use cars from these packs in online play, to prevent those who have purchased them gaining an unfair advantage.
Unlike PGR2, where new cars were bought using Kudos Tokens (gained by reaching accumulated Kudos milestones known as Kudos Ranks), new cars are bought with virtual cash (credits) in PGR3. Credits are gained by winning online races, earning Kudos, which are like style points and winning offline tournaments. The cars in the game retail for their rough real-world showroom value.
Also unlike PGR2, there are no Porsches to be found. Instead, Porsche-based RUF is used, originally reserved for Gran Turismo. This is interesting, as Porsche has been an Xbox exclusive for years.
Car Classes
Similar to its prequels, each car in PGR3 is allocated to a specific class. There are five classes, A through E, the better performing cars being Class A, and the poorer performing cars in Class E.
Multiplayer
PGR3 allows multiplayer offline with up to two players on one Xbox 360 console or more players via system link. PGR3 offers online integrated scoreboards for single player career events as well as Time Trials and test track times.
Gamers with Xbox Live gold are able to race with up to seven other competitors in races online. Online career (ranked) and playtime (unranked) are both offered as online multiplayer modes. Scoreboards also track standings for online career.
PGR3 also allows for online tournaments, the first of which was the PGR3 Global Tournament, won by a Swedish player.
GothamTV
PGR3 has a new feature known as GothamTV. With this, gamers connected to the Xbox Live service are able to watch selected online career races. Live ticker-tape information is also available providing information on when top racers are on GothamTV or when a gamer breaks track records. Up to 30,000 Xbox Live spectators are able to watch a selected race.
Kudos
Kudos once again play an important part in Project Gotham. Kudos points are given for stylish driving, for example sliding around a corner, taking a good line around that corner, or getting all four wheels off the ground. Different sets of points can be linked using a combo (short for combination), by performing more stylish manoeuvres before the Kudos become 'banked' (in PGR2 this cut-off time was 2 seconds). When combos are linked up, you are given a bonus for keeping them linked together, and this builds up to huge amounts if the combo is held for a substantial length of time. This bonus is however lost if the player crashes into any barriers, though the base Kudos (all but the combo bonus) are kept.
Soundtrack
Criticisms
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Unlike the last two installments in the Project Gotham Racing series, Project Gotham Racing 3 does not have a four-player split-screen function that allows four gamers to play one game on the same videogame console.
While many have praised the graphics in Project Gotham Racing 3, errors such as texture-build and items in the distance popping-up are very noticeable on a few tracks (for example, it is clear to see trees appearing and disappearing on screen during the Nürburgring course).
The damage physics for when a car crashes have also been noticeably toned down in Project Gotham Racing 3. While the first two games did not use emphasis on car-damage, they did display a satisfying image of wreck; therefore, in comparison, Project Gotham Racing 3 looks significantly less impressive.
Project Gotham Racing 3 only allows players to race in supercars, while in the first two games there were a much wider range of drivable cars. However, recent content downloads allow users to purchase cars such as the Mini Cooper.
The game has a smaller number of single-player challenges than in previous installments but does have more game modes.
The game still has numerous glitches such as the shift glitch and a time trial glitch which is performed on the Half F1 Circuit.[citation needed].
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
PGR2 featured a well known Easter egg, a player could play an old arcade machine type game named Geometry Wars. The game has been revamped by Bizarre Creations for inclusion in PGR3. It is similar to the classic games Asteroids and Robotron: 2084, though far more advanced graphically whilst keeping the same basic gameplay aesthetic. This hidden mini-game even features its very own Xbox Live scoreboard. It is also downloadable on Xbox Live Arcade.
References
- ^ "Bizarre Says Project Gotham 4 Will Go Even Faster". Official Xbox Magazine (UK). Retrieved 2006-11-29.