Project Gotham Racing 3

Infobox VG| title = Project Gotham Racing 3


developer = Bizarre Creations
publisher = Microsoft
designer = Martyn Chudley, Ged Talbot,Gareth Wilson
resolution = 600p [ [http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?s=69514bea4f5ec2315ca57580cb618a6b&p=1168976&postcount=63 Beyond3D Forum - View Single Post - Neverending Upscaling/Resolutions/AA etc Thread #3 (Rules Post #1!) ] ]
series = "Project Gotham Racing" series
engine =
released = flagicon|USA November 22, 2005
flagicon|EU December 2, 2005
flagicon|JPN January 12, 2006
genre = Racing
modes = Single player, Multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: 10+
PEGI: 3+
CERO: All ages
platforms = Xbox 360
media =
requirements =
input = Gamepad, Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel

"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" series. "Project Gotham Racing 3" was 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 released under the title "Project Gotham Racing 4". [cite web | url=http://www.oxm.co.uk/news/racing/gotham_4_will_go_even_faster! | title=Bizarre Says Project Gotham 4 Will Go Even Faster | publisher=Official Xbox Magazine (UK) | accessdate=2006-11-29]

Cities

"PGR3" offers players four cities - Las Vegas, London, New York, and Tokyo, as well as the Nürburgring - to race through.

Cars

"PGR3" features 80 licensed cars from over 30 manufacturers such as Ferrari, Dodge and Lamborghini.

In "PGR2" the car models were comprised of 10,000 polygons and damage looks like it was made of clay, but with the next generation hardware's power Bizarre's modelers have been able to put as many as 105,000 polygons worth of detail into the cars, although it was initially stated that most cars comprise of 80,000- with 40,000 of those being spent on the exterior and the remaining 40,000 on the interior, Bizarre issued a statement of apology stating that the average polygons per car is actually closer to 96,000. [http://www.bizarreonline.net/news_article.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=61] 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.

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, apart from one which can be purchased once one has earned 90,000 "Kudos" in career mode.But to make up for the lack of Porsches, Porsche-based RUF is used, originally reserved for "Gran Turismo". This is due to the licensing agreement between Porsche and Electronic Arts games.

Unlike PGR2, which focuses on production vehicles, PGR3 focuses on supercars. The series would, however, return to production cars in the fourth installment.

Car classes

Similar to its prequels, each car in "PGR3" is allocated to a specific class. There are five classes, A through E, the high performance cars being Class A, and the low performance 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 drifting around a corner, drafting, or getting two or four wheels off the ground. Different sets of points can be linked using a combo, by performing more stylish maneuvers 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.

Tournaments

PGR3 was also included in the Championship Gaming Series in 2007 and the World Cyber Games .

oundtrack

In the first two installments, there were radio stations in each city. However "PGR3" does not offer any of the city's radio stations like in the first two games. Songs in the game include Helicopter by Bloc Party, Come To Daddy by Aphex Twin, and Undone by Deadstar Assembly

Reviews

The game scores 88% on Game Rankings based on 92 reviews. The game scored 88% on Metacritic based on 74 reviews (based on 94 votes from metacritic.com users, "Project Gotham Racing" scored 8.2 out of 10). The game also scored 92% from Xbox World 360, with it being one of the only 13 to be rated above 90%.

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 "", 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

External links

* [http://projectgothamracing3.com "PGR3" official site]
* [http://bizarreonline.net Bizarre Creations' consumer site]
* [http://geometrywars.com/ "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved" official site]