Project Gotham Racing 3

[Wild_Cat]

Ah, the original NFS... What a game. So far, the MSR/PGR series has to be the closest to it I've played, experience-wise (i.e. it's a great racing game that actually makes you feel like you're filthy rich and own the cars).

Now, is it true that PGR3 Geometry Wars (the actual reason why we are buying the game) is only a shareware-ish, limited to 5 minutes of playtime version?

[TommyG]

I'm contracturally limited in what I can say until tomorrow , but I can say this:

Framerate problem? What framerate problem?!

This is truly next gen.

[and I'll never dis UPS ever again ]

Neil.

You can spill the beans now Neil

[Duddyroar]

Can you try and keep your comments on-topic please guys.

[NeilMcRae]

The feel on steering is much more intuitive, although some of you may not like the changes. It feels a little more Ridge like interms of control and the cars do tend to exhibit their own characteristics more. If you like split screen mode then wait until you see it on HD. You get a superb playing area with both cars ( we only had 2 pads). It feels like you are playing the game rather than a cut down version. As I said above whilst I don't know what the frame rate is, my eyes are telling me its more than PGR2 as, like Moto GP, it feels like you are moving. Slight Motion blur is apparent and works really well. The scenery has an added level of detail that again just adds to the simulation aspect. What is slightly disappointing is that interms of gameplay its pretty much the same as the old game.

I've had a good play of two games on the 360 that quite easily could have been released as Xbox titles. The gameplay wouldn't be different. Yes its more pretty, and the HD is a bonus on the split screen aspects, but overall we're still not feeling the "next gen" factor.

Neil.

[mid]

Are you using the internal view or bumpercam Neil? I've heard that you can't use internal on splitscreen, which is a bit of a pity but understandable from a framerate point of view.

[NeilMcRae]

what ever it defaulted too, which I think is bumper cam.

Regards,
Neil.

[Azelpds]

Now, is it true that PGR3 Geometry Wars (the actual reason why we are buying the game) is only a shareware-ish, limited to 5 minutes of playtime version?

it's a trial version of 4 minutes, and good luck surviving that time lol. It's actually pretty fun even in that version. Nothing like trying to get the best score in 4 minutes. You kill enemies and with time you start to get the points multipliers like x2, x3 etc, that multiplies the score each enemy gives you. You have 3 lifes and everytime you lose a life you lose the multipliers you may have.

hope that helps and that you love the picture (i had to resize it though, it was too big originally). ^_~

PS: Any question some people may have shoot, working on 3 reviews for it +_+

PS2: Geometry Wars 1 is included in the game too, fully unlocked.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Got it, spent the last hour playing it. Early impressions...

Well... the frame rate. Sorry to start on a negative but it's just painful to look at. Any idea that motion blurring is going to magically make 30fps acceptable is such nonsense. It's jerky just as PGR2 was and it's hard on the eyes, especially at 720p.

Anyway, that aside the game plays well enough, just like PGR 2. The in car view looks great and adds a lot to the game, so much so that playing it from any other view really feels like you're missing out. I haven't tried it on Live yet, but will do tonight.

Also, in terms of initial 'wow' impact, I didn't see anything beyond that in car view that looked particularly 'next-gen'. Sometimes it forms a nice scene with spectactors and bloom, but by large it's pretty standard stuff. That said I haven't seen anything beyond the London daytime tracks yet.

[Akira]

Got it, spent the last hour playing it. Early impressions...

Well... the frame rate. Sorry to start on a negative but it's just painful to look at. Any idea that motion blurring is going to magically make 30fps acceptable is such nonsense. It's jerky just as PGR2 was and it's hard on the eyes, especially at 720p.

PGR2 jerky!? since when?

[Kotatsu Neko]

PGR2 jerky!? since when?

If you think PGR2 is smooth then you'll be happy with PGR3, as they run at pretty much the same speed -30fps mostly with drops to 20fps when things get too busy.

[Akira]

yea,but pgr2's sense of speed is very impressive and pgr3's looks insane.Much faster than RR6,which is funny to say the least!

[Matt KB]

Anyone with the game - are the scoreboards limited to Kudos again. Are there any time based ones ? There were in PGR2 but idiots were using the barriers to get round turns so does it offer time penalties?

Also what's the Live lobby system like? Can the host transfer hosting ala Halo (at will or when he leaves) to keep the room going?

[Akira]

Also what's the Live lobby system like? Can the host transfer hosting ala Halo (at will or when he leaves) to keep the room going?

thats a definite no,no.Read it in the gamespy review i think.

I'm pretty dissapointed as a whole that developer's have'nt adopted bungies matchmaking system,while still having the standard optimatch there as an option.I thought matchmaking was the way forward for Live games.Being able to jump into a game within minutes and not having to worry bout the host chatting for 20 mins before starting,is a thing of beauty.Shame

[Toast]

Yeah but at the same time, Halo 2 hasn't really created a community. On Rainbow 6 you knew what severs had a good range of peeps without adding them all to your friends list. So the best option would be for a game to offer both.

Not that I expected that in the systems initial batch of titles.

[Matt KB]

Hmmm well since PGR 2 was the benchmark for most online multiplayer games on Xbox 1 (IMO) and the Halo 2 hosting system is over a year old now I would of hoped they'd include it in PGR3. Oh well.

What about the online rankings? Have they changed from Kudos based to ability based as opposed to time spent playing it.

And the starts? Big thing for me, I hated just holding gas and going. Don't suppose they're now skill dependent a little bit? I also would like "reverse of last race finishing, in order of rank, order of race finishing or random" for the starting grid but I fear that won't be in there.