Project Gotham Racing 2 First Look

Microsoft’s X02 press event (held in NY) was full of pleasant surprises this year. Millions of Xbox devotees have been waiting months for this and now MS finally made the announcement for Project Gotham Racing 2 and Halo 2. The sales for both games have shattered the 1 million mark, so you can imagine what the sequels are going to do. The announcement for Project Gotham Racing 2 also featured nifty new screenshots. For the moment, all we can do is look at them and drool.

The previous Project Gotham game was successful for several obvious reasons. Mainly because it was one of the first games that clearly showed how practical and easy-to-use the Xbox controller can be. Not to mention the game’s outstanding in-game car models, excellent reflections, and generally quite impressive visuals. When the Xbox console was initially brought to our office, Project Gotham and Halo were the first titles we tried out. Almost instantly, Project Gotham revealed the console’s great potential. Fancy cars and realistically represented tracks caught the eye of every ActionTrip staff member - except maybe our tech dude Dex, who took one pessimistic peek at the TV set, after which he went back to his WinCommander and Visual Basic delights. Anyways, it was clear to the rest of us that Bizzare Creations made a racing game that was going to uphold the attention of Xbox gamers for months to come.

Yellow porsche!

Yellow is not my color.

Almost a year has passed and now MS and Bizzare Creations plan to treat us to a long-anticipated sequel. As you can see, the ‘shots unveil the stunning new Prosche model (so far the Prosche and Ferrari were the only models revealed) as it races through the streets of a lavish metropolis. The current buzz is that the game is going to offer you a choice of 50 licensed and fully damageable vehicles. At last! This was one of the reasons I really enjoyed those Project Gotham races - you could scratch, bash, and smash those expensive cars around and observe some delicious real-time damage effects.

As for the new locations, the developers haven’t uncovered the full number of cites you’ll be driving through. Although, they did confirm that Hong Kong and Edinburgh (Scotland) tracks were added to the list of cities we remember from the previous game; such as London, Tokyo, New York, and San Francisco. All of the racing tracks are going to be lengthier and will have a photo-realistic ambiance. Personally, I think that the variety of tracks is a game aspect which the developers should seriously take into consideration. The first game offered a wide range of urban settings and players could race in an environment that was noticeably diverse. However, most of these tracks were somewhat claustrophobic and narrow. Granted if you’re racing through vastly populated cities like Tokyo, London, or New York, this is just the sort of atmosphere you’d expect. Still, it seems to me that some of the tracks could be a bit wider and more open. Well, I think maybe that the new Edinburgh track is likely to have such an environment. So, that’s a temperate consolation prize I guess.

The rather original gameplay concept that kept the first game extremely popular is back once again. I’m referring of course to the famed Kudos points, which players receive during the race. The amount of Kudos points is set in accordance with the driver’s skill and performance on the road (the way he handles the vehicle at tough turns, general performance, etc.). This aspect of gameplay was also a great addition to multiplayer duels. In Project Gotham Racing 2, players are going to get more different ways to gain these points; this new facet is going to improve the gameplay and enhance the overall experience. The game will also feature an innovative driver rating system that advances the old Kudos point categorization.

The creators of this sequel have revealed that the visual effects are going to surpass those we’ve seen in the original game. Well, well, here we are again. We faced another announcement and again the developers claim that the game is going to improve visually; which brings us to that same question once more: can the graphics be any more superior in actuality? If we face the up to certain realities, the whole principal is more than obvious. Using Project Gotham Racing 2, Microsoft goes for another milking-the-cash-cow scheme. So, will we just witness the birth of another typical follow-up with the same visuals and general features, supplemented with a few new tracks and vehicle models? Or are MS and Bizzare planning to bring a truly perfected racing game? Only time will tell I guess.

Like most Xbox games that are currently in development, Project Gotham Racing 2 will include Xbox Live support and let you experience the entire ride online. In addition to that you’ll also be treated to the usual SystemLink option which features the ol’ head-to-head challenge (Well, 2lions’ you kicked my butt once, now I’m ready for a rematch - VADAR). To be honest, when I remember the fun I had while playing the previous game, it was largely due to the multiplayer experience. But, that’s just me though. I noticed however that many players have regarded the single-player mode as being too easy. For example, on certain Xbox fan site forums gamers have complained about some AI glitches, which kinda spoiled the whole game for them. I must admit that this is something we didn’t notice ourselves. We were pretty satisfied with the overall AI performance and we thought the whole game was more than a decent challenge. Besides, the difficulty level was implemented so as to befit both skilled and rookie drivers.

All in all, if we disregard all of the "if’s" and "maybe’s," we are aware that Bizzare Creations’ reputation counts for something at least. They are a capable development team and we can hope that their upcoming sequel will match the success of the first Project Gotham game.