Project Gotham 2

Project Gotham Racing 2 comes roaring into view with its eyes on the Gran Turismo series. But Bizarre Creations has developed a stunning racing franchise that deserves to be praised on its own merit. Get ready to put the pedal to the very expensive metal.

Two years on from the launch of Xbox and the sequels for those first great launch titles are beginning to appear. Halo 2 has gamers salivating at the prospect of another Covenant onslaught. The great launch racing title was of course Project Gotham Racing, a near port of the Dreamcast game Metropolis Street Racer. In the two years that have followed since the appearance of PGR, Bizarre Creations has beefed up its racing franchise into a game that will give Gran Turismo 4 a serious run for its money.

For the third game in this series, Bizarre Creations has tweaked the kudos model to favour traditional racing fans somewhat. The game is still about earning points for powersliding but players are now rewarded for taking the racing line. It's also a little easier as all points aren't lost when hitting another barrier. PGR veterans may find it a little easy, as it's possible to earn enough kudos tokens to buy the best car in each class when moving up. Yet, this was something that occurred in MSR, where good players would find themselves unlocking much later sections of the game before even visiting the next chapter.

The graphics are fantastic. Each of the 11 cities is presented in glorious detail. They do feel a little empty of life; it would have been nice to see some spectators or more animation in the backgrounds. Perhaps the jewel in the crown, especially for fans of Papyrus' epic Grand Prix Legends, is the inclusion of the full Nurburgring circuit. The Ring is the ultimate driving experience. 13 miles and at least 73 bends add up to an amazing challenging racing location. This is already becoming the venue of choice for online racing fans. If you hear PGR2 players swapping lap times – it's the 'Ring they are talking about.

The car models look exceptional though some hardcore petrol heads have stated there are some inaccuracies with the real vehicles. For those who do not worship regularly at the temple of Ferrari you won't notice, and instead be awed by the beautifully lit motors on offer. PGR2 features a unique first person garage section where the player can wander around looking at these astonishing cars, nestled in the corner of one garage is Geometry Wars, one of the most addictive little 2D arcade games you will ever play.

The localised radio stations are great too. I've no idea what the Russian DJs are talking about but it's all very entertaining and helps the player feel like they're in the country where the event is being held. All the music tracks in the game can be listened to without radio banter and of course, there's the option to use custom soundtracks. The control of the radio is a bit fiddly though and it's often better to use the pause menu to make soundtrack choices. Sadly the humorous musical pastiches from MSR/PGR have gone – so no more comedy country songs or sly digs at Oasis.

If there's one thing you can bet money on – this game is going to be responsible for a huge growth in Xbox Live subscriptions. The online components of the game are simply sublime. So intrinsic to the whole design of the game is Xbox Live that it feels like only half a game without making use of it. Even in single player mode time and ghost, runs are uploaded to Xbox Live and players can see how their best times rank against the rest of the world. Xbox Live functionality also helps players unlock items that it may tack much longer to see in the single player game. Xbox Live hosts can create a race on any track they've unlocked, players who win the race will then be able to uses that track in their single player game.

There is just so much to do in the game. There's the single player championship with many different difficulty levels to try to crack, the time trial sections, and the street race. Within championship events there are street races, hot laps, time trials, speed camera events and cone challenges. It's most definitely a game that will keep the average player busy for quite a while even without going online.

Problems? Well there are a few. Sometimes the difficulty level can vary somewhat. With Platinum races being at times easy and others maddeningly difficult. Some players have also complained of a control problem that makes the cars under steer too much, though I've not come across this in my own experience. There's no replay for time trials, which is a little annoying as many of us like to look at our own hot laps. The locations do look great but they also appear a little sterile, some crowds and crowd noises would have rectified that. The cities aren't as large as those of the previous game – where there were effectively three different areas of each city reproduced.

This is the best racing game I've played on Xbox since Mercedes Benz World Racing. The widescreen graphics are gorgeous. The environmental mapping on the cars is tasteful and the cars do not look as over-shiny as they do on many racing games. The lighting of the roads at night is not as good as the daylight lighting – but looks good none-the-less.