When PRG or Project Gotham Racing was first released, the game introduced a new angle for the racing genre. It took the thrill of high speed racing and also threw in the style angle or what we now refer to as “Kudos” to everyone who owned an Xbox at the time. I really liked the first game and San Francisco has to be my all time favorite set of tracks to race on. For many owners of an Xbox, PGR 2 was the game to play online for race fans.

PGR 3 featured some great new things and was a success, but they also changed the way the Kudos where earned and made it so playing with friends meant free play only. While this move was not popular by many, the series still was a huge successful.
So now PGR 4 has been out for awhile and has a few new twists including weather and motorcycles. For die-hard fans the two may seem not to work at first. So read on and see what I thought of the latest installment in my full review.

Gameplay

The basic formula of the series remains intact. You have a solo mode and an online mode. Kudos remains important and the main events are back. I like the idea of adding bikes and the new weather options. Most gamers will find the solo career a little shorter than expected perhaps. It only takes about 15-20 hours to finish the solo mode. Of course to get all the achievements and unlock everything, it will take more time. PGR 4 attempts to try and set new standards and succeeds in most of them. I just wish they would have balanced the solo mode a little more. When PGR 2 came out, I would sit and play online for hours and I was always going back to the solo mode to try and beat something.

The selection of cars and bikes are fantastic and there is something for everyone’s taste. At first I thought driving a bike against cars would be insane and hard to control. Bizarre Creations managed to make the two works just fine, although a little practice is needed to get used to the bikes. I also liked the fact you could earn more things than just cars and bikes with your Kudos. PGR 4 certainly has plenty to offer and racing fans are going to enjoy it. I still wish that the San Fran tracks were brought back, but maybe they will bring them out as a download later down the road.

I think when any series reaches the point of the 4th installment, they need to introduce and test new things. This time we got the new bikes and weather options. I would hope they add more to the next one and a longer single-player mode would be great. Again, this is not saying you can whip though everything and be done with it all. I am just saying those who are long time fans will probably find the single career ends quickly. It almost seems to me and others I have talked to that more focus is on the online mode. They need to balance the new features a little more evenly next time.

It’s still a great looking game and the thing I have always liked about the PGR series is it does not lock you into a sim or an arcade racing game. It takes the two and mixes them in a unique way. Overall the single-player mode is cool and you’ll have fun collecting the cars and bikes as you add to your garage collection.

Control

Driving a car in Project Gotham Racing has always been fun. I think this is due to the many angles players can pick from. Also the controls have always seemed just right and PGR 4 is made the same exact way. Even someone who has never touched the series before will find the controls easy to learn. I also like that you can challenge yourself by adding the manual transmission option. Overall, the controls are near perfect and fit the Xbox 360 controller just fine.

Xbox Live

I mentioned the changes in PGR 3 online creating the Free Play mode with just friends. I still don’t like this change and wish we could open a room and invite who we want and earn the Kudos. I know there are people who racked up kudos this way and leveled up online, but it takes away some of the fun factor. Now that I got this out of my system PGR 4 offers a great online mode. Lobbies are easy to create and join. Bizarre Creations made a great set-up for online. The host has several options and it’s easy to change courses and game types.

Racing online is always a challenge in an open room. Scratch someone’s paint and get negative feedback. Now toss in motorcycles and its certainly going to happen even in a private room. For me personally, I like joining a room of friends and racing and joking, that’s why I play. I understand some enjoy ranking up and that’s fine. I just thing that there should be a change so people can do both without losing the fun factor of the game. I am amazed with the new bikes and weather options. Races are lag free and graphics are great. I will admit that I can’t play in a room for hours each night like I used to, but it is still a great online mode.

Graphics

PGR 4 Screenshot 

The amount of details added is simply stunning and PGR 4 looks great. The course look good and it never seems to suffer from any slow down issues. Camera angles are good and the only tricky part is when racing with bikes in a room.

PGR 4 Screenshot

They can ride into a blind spot without you seeing them and wind up getting hit. Although it’s funny to see, there should be a way to work around this issue. Other than that one minor problem the graphics are great.

PGR 4 Screenshot

Audio

The soundtrack can be a little annoying and this is why I always race to my own songs. As far as the actual in game sound effects, they all sound great and realistic. It’s hard to talk about different sounds in any racing title since your main focus is on the road not the sounds.

Replay Value

PGR 4 offers some new things and with new things comes more replay value. If you want to unlock and earn everything, the replay value is high when compared to other racing games out there. If you’re just into the game to beat it and then race online every now and then, of course the replay value will be less for you. They made a solid game and added new features. I expected a little more than what I saw, but overall the replay value is still high.

Bottom Line

Overall Score: 8.5/10.0

Additional Comments

The real bottom line here is PGR 4 is a good title and a solid racer. I still think it was a little short in the single-player area. Keeping in mind that there are new online modes and the overall game, I enjoyed it but I personally think PGR 2 had more to offer. I would like to see more of that added in the next game.

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Filed under: Reviews • Xbox 360

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