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Retro|Spective 067: Project Gotham Racing

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    Retro|Spective 067: Project Gotham Racing

    The first of this weeks double whammy instalments races forward with a pretty straightforward thread due to the mostly iterative nature of the franchise that Microsoft let power drift away...




    Mainline Entry 01 - Metropolis Street Racer
    Formats:
    Dreamcast
    A poster child for the Dreamcast, the city based racer was delayed heavily until it eventually made it to market delivering real life cars in a recreation of London. Stylishly racing round the courses awarded Kudos points and boosted your level and race ratings as you progressed through the game. The ambitious title was a visual benchmark for the system and utilised multiple other tricks to impress such as time of day effects based on the actual time. Despite the strong reviews the game received it's sales were abysmal and Sega refused to port the game to the PS2 after the systems demise which led to the end of this incarnation.



    Mainline Entry 02 - Project Gotham Racing
    Formats:
    Xbox
    In the wake of yet another 00's era stupid decision by Sega, an eager to bump it's line up Microsoft saw and opportunity and swept in to talk Bizarre into making a follow up under a new moniker. They happily obliged and with the first game used as a basis to build on the new entry received the usual updates you'd expect. The difference this time was some decent business decision making being behind it and straight away Microsoft had one of its first AAA franchises.



    Mainline Entry 03 - Project Gotham Racing 2
    Formats:
    Xbox
    After the success of the previous game this sequel followed up two years later and blew people away... by including Geometry Wars. The main game itself though followed in the previous entries footsteps, expanding the world focus away further away from London.



    Mainline Entry 04 - Project Gotham Racing 3
    Formats:
    Xbox 360
    Following Microsofts usual love of alternating year releases, another two years brought the next entry though this time as a launch title for the 360. Four cities and the Nurburgring made up the new game in addition to a greater focus on high end super cars. The game became another solid hitter for the series, some issues though being raised about how familiar it was.



    Mainline Entry 05 - Project Gotham Racing 4
    Formats:
    Xbox 360
    The end of the road, Bizarre announced it was moving over to Activision and that this would be Microsoft's final entry in the series. They went out swinging though as the final release added advanced weather effects that affected the vehicle physics and included all the cities and tracks from the last game but doubled the volume with new ones. Another introduction was that of motorcycles and a follow up to Geometry Wars meaning the final release was a massive, visual feast.




    Share your thoughts and memories of Project Gotham Racing

    #2
    Still think it was a weird title. I know it was because the internal project was informally called "Project Gotham" because MSR's had been called "Project Metropolis", but it was still a bad name.

    Also I had no idea that MSR sold poorly. That's news to me.

    Comment


      #3
      Yeah, I had no idea about that either and it's really surprising given how well it was received and how many people were talking about it. I can't remember when it was released but I guess the DC wasn't doing all that well at the time.

      MSR was superb. That's the only one I have played so that's all I know but I have great memories of playing that game. It absolutely delivered on all those good reviews.

      Comment


        #4
        I really liked MSR -- it felt like a massive game with an incredible amount of detail and content. Maybe a sequel could have refined things more to deliver something truly 10/10 worthy. It's a shame the Dreamcast died early so that wasn't an option.

        I remember thinking PGR was OK -- but it didn't grab me. I thought it was a bit drab.

        PGR2, though, was utterly brilliant. I was obsessed with online races for a good 18 months or so. It got to the point where I was easily one of the best players, so I used to have really gripping races against the top guys. I really wish I could play it online again.

        PGR3 looked quite nice and shiny, but the frame-rate was clunky. So it's not a game I had much enjoyment with.

        PGR4 was a return to form with great graphics and a solid frame-rate that made it a pleasure to play. Easily my second favourite game in the series.

        Comment


          #5
          I liked MSR but that's as far as it went, I could never really get into it.

          PGR2 though I absolutely adored, the Porsche's were great, in particular the top spec one GT1?, the engine sounded like a kettle going off.
          I also played a lot online with a group I was with at the time, used to play the non standard games - Cat & Mouse and one other I can't remember.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Anpanman View Post
            Cat & Mouse and one other I can't remember.
            Yeah, that was really fun. It was cool how people came up with another way to enjoy the game.

            Whenever I go back to PGR2, I can still see why it was so special. I'd love an HD remaster with online play.

            Comment


              #7
              It was two or three years ago that I last saw PGR4 running and it still looks visually strong, expanding it out was the right move and it's a shame Bizarre let itself get wooed and predictably butchered by Activision.

              Comment


                #8
                I liked the DC game the best and then PGR . I loved the 60 fps of the OG and being able to listen to your own tunes was so amazing back in the day and loved the environment mapping and 5.1 sound too which were big steps ups. I felt the 30 fps of PGR 2 to be a huge step backwards, but it was incredible over LIVE. Still remember laughing when Hartley Hare went flying over a wire, while playing the game (I think while he was trying to get a drink) and all one could hear was Hartley in pain, before his connection dropped. Great time .

                ME really should have bought Bizzare back in the day. Such a brilliant studio with great staff

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                  I felt the 30 fps of PGR 2 to be a huge step backwards,
                  But it's definitely a good 30fps. The graphics in Edinburgh and Florence were stunning. I still enjoy going back to it.

                  It's a shame we'll never see a HD 60fps remaster.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                    I liked the DC game the best and then PGR . I loved the 60 fps of the OG and being able to listen to your own tunes was so amazing back in the day and loved the environment mapping and 5.1 sound too which were big steps ups. I felt the 30 fps of PGR 2 to be a huge step backwards, but it was incredible over LIVE. Still remember laughing when Hartley Hare went flying over a wire, while playing the game (I think while he was trying to get a drink) and all one could hear was Hartley in pain, before his connection dropped. Great time .

                    ME really should have bought Bizzare back in the day. Such a brilliant studio with great staff
                    We had great times racing with all the slow cars and loads of ace racers on the original xbox.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I must've told the story on here a few times of how I had to drive all over Fife trying to find a shop that actually had a single copy of MSR, DC new releases were getting really tough to find around my way at that point. Was worth every bit of effort though, I absolutely adored that game. Myself, my brother and my mate would sit having big sessions on it, and when one of us failed to win a race, we'd take it in turns trying to get the win, really helping progress and a real team effort!

                      I remember buying the OG Xbox one and not being as taken with it, though I was impressed by the shiny of the first 360 one and put a fair bit of time in to it.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Colin View Post
                        though I was impressed by the shiny of the first 360 one and put a fair bit of time in to it.
                        Yeah, it had a nice HD sheen about it. I also remember it feeling quite clunky to play, but maybe I was too demanding back then. I do know that PGR4 plays really well.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by vanpeebles View Post
                          We had great times racing with all the slow cars and loads of ace racers on the original xbox.
                          Yeah, used to love playing Splinter Cell UK 2 and 3 with you, over Christmas period too. The Vietcong days were just the best too

                          Comment


                            #14
                            We had some ace times, miss all that

                            Comment


                              #15
                              I think one year we were playing online while waiting for our xmas lunches

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