At last we have a sequel to one of the launch titles that made us spend so many hours with our beloved box of wonders. The sequel to Project Gotham Racing and technically the third in the series with Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast being the first game, PGR2 is set to break every limit and every possibility that you never thought was possible in the series and with an Xbox too.

Gameplay:
Upon playing the game for the first time you’ll find that the game has retained a lot of it’s original features – the Kudos system, the world series and customizable sound tracks to name a few. But more importantly the changes that have been made are significant ones and improve the way the game plays greatly. First off the Kudos system has returned but has changed in a few ways – you earn Kudos to earn driving respect these Kudos points build up and eventually gain a Kudos rank.

Each time you are given a Kudos rank you are given Kudos tokens which can be exchanged for cars, not only that but the way Kudos is earned in game is different and for the better. This time round Kudos isn’t lost by crashing into cars and with barriers you only lose your multipliers (When you perform more than one Kudos trick), you can earn Kudos in more ways too now you can start drafting behind cars to gain a bit of extra speed and style too. So as you can see the Kudos system has had many ideas implemented to make it that little bit better and it shows when you’re playing.

The single player mode has grown even more and gives you access to 3 modes - the same as last time but are slightly different, you can play the World Series and drive around 92 tracks, in comparison to PGR’s 3 cities leaving many tracks repeated in they eye of the average gamer, these can be driven around in 14 car classes to earn your Kudos starting off with smaller cars such as Mini Coopers and VW Beetle RSI’s. Once you start to build up your Kudos you earn your Kudos class and tokens then you can buy cars from each class. It’s a clever little system but not all cars can be unlocked easily by just playing through the World Series, it requires extensive play online and through arcade mode to raise your Kudos and your class higher, although if you save up enough tokens you can buy any car you want from the start.

A medal system consisting of platinum, gold, silver, bronze and steel medals allow different difficulties to test your ability depending on how good you are you may get lots of Kudos on a steel medal but not much of a medal bonus, so it may be advisable to take a silver medal challenge to raise your score which also saves the trouble of using jokers from the last game and everything is preset to save you time. Arcade mode has a wealth of tracks for street racing as does the time trial modes testing each individual circuit and car to be the best in the world. The Kudos system in the game really makes you work hard to earn your style this time and gives the game that extra bit of quality that makes it a joy to play day after day.

A different range of cars has been shuffled in with some from the last game and some new models, a lot of people take to the Enzo straight away once earned but can be challenged to a good level with other cars but its still seen as the number one car in the game. Every car is modelled in high detailed to their real life counterparts and can even be viewed in a FPS style car showroom. The tracks and indeed cities are modelled down to the last paving slab, this time round the game has 11, yes 11 cities to rip-roar your way around in your favourite car and no repeats from last time these are all brand new cities with multiple routes and there are some truly fantastic circuits to race around considering these are slap-bang in the middle of a city.

Multiplayer is good fun and gathering 4 of you or even 8 in the same room is great fun, but if you have Xbox Live this is THE game you need to buy this year or for Christmas as it a breakthrough in online gaming as scoreboards, whether online and offline integrate with each other seamlessly. Along with the great fun of 8 of you all playing together at once from all over the world is great, plus you also have an online Kudos system which helps you out in the single player game as much as the single player game helps you out online.

Graphics:
PGR2’s graphics are looking simply superb and you won’t find many games in the world today that can match those of PGR2’S graphics as everything – the cars, the cities and even the birds flying aimlessly in the sky look so life like and present an incredible world to immerse yourself into when driving around. The use of damage on the cars has been used wisely I would say, you can dent panels, break windows and lose your number plates quite easily but that’s it as I wouldn’t want to see the cars in cubes by the end of the race anyhow, overall the graphics just set a wow factor on your face and leave you thinking how much better can graphics get on Xbox?

Sound:
Previously the PGR games had a custom soundtrack ability and no change here allowing you to create your own radio station by mixing in house music with your own. You can also listen to your own music or the games very own in house music made by many new and already known artists with lots of different types of music available to listen to. However the music as you play through the game rarely becomes an issue as the gameplay takes you in so much, but a fine effort for in game music. The sound effects presented in the game are all very nicely implemented, say if your car has a rear engine you won’t notice it when driving normally but take a look behind you and you can hear you engine roaring away, the game doesn’t include any annoying sounds that would want to make you just turn the volume off whilst racing and provides good listening in or out of the drivers seat.

Longevity:
However you look at it this game is going to last a very long time – weeks even months to completely finish the game. There’s just so much to it the single player mode boasts an army of gameplay to get through with the world Kudos series to get through along with arcade and time attack mode both of which are fully worth playing through also to earn your Kudos. The multiplayer mode also supports split screen for 4 player mode or a system link for a big 8 player race, and then there’s always the biggie – Xbox Live simply having this just makes the game twice as big and fun as you also have Xbox Live Kudos to build up too helping you towards your single player goals too. Literally this game has so much they should charge more for it because it’s brimming full of features.

Round Up:
Racing fan or not this is a must buy as this is the Xboxes greatest racing game to date – it’s simply pukka and whether you have Xbox Live or not this game is great to play but is marvellous online. My advise is buy, buy, buy or at least rent it as it is superb and this is coming from a guy who’s played all 3 games inside out, there really are no flaws except not having Xbox Live as that leaves a lot of fun out but whether you have it or not you must own this game absolutely superb!

Pros:

• Fantastically improved gameplay which leaves you wanting more
  
• Getting near life like graphics
  
• Online and Offline play integrate seamlessly and are a joy to
  
• Loads of cities and circuits to play through
  
• Great range of cars and all handle different yet all feel so right
  
  

  Cons:
  

  • You’ll need Xbox Live if you want to fully reap the benefits of the game