Project Gotham Racing Preview

At an E3 where many of Microsoft's big games were overshadowed by the more polished competition of rivals, the GameCube and the PlayStation 2, Project Gotham Racing was not expected to turn many heads. To explain, the title had just been made official a few weeks before, and developer Bizarre Creations said that the game was in a ridiculously early state. Thus, there was some surprise when Gotham not only made an appearance, but also came out swinging with solid gameplay and already impressive graphics. Sure, racing games are a dime a dozen, but every console needs a few good ones. An awesome racing game, if marketed right, can appeal to a big audience and can help move a lot of consoles. At least that's what Microsoft banked on when it signed with Bizarre to produce Project Gotham Racing for the Xbox later this year. The game intends to refine the innovative gameplay that Metropolis Street Racer pioneered on the Dreamcast.

You may be curious about what will be different in Metropolis Street Racing's sequel. Compared with the overhaul that the graphics engine is getting, Project Gotham Racing's gameplay changes are comparatively subtle. For instance, Bizarre notes that most fans enjoy wheel-to-wheel racing (races that pit you against several different cars) more than the time trials against a ghost. So, Project Gotham Racing will feature much more competitive racing than empty time trials this time around. The 30 cars you can choose from are also slightly different; influenced by fan response, Gotham's autos will be fully deformable--from busted fenders all the way to smoking chassis--and will generally be more expensive and perform better than the cars featured in MSR. Other options Bizarre plans to include is the ability to assemble your own music tracks by ripping them from CDs (using the Xbox's hard drive), as well as a split-screen four-player mode.

The biggest complaint that Project Gotham Racing hopes to address is MSR's obtuse kudos system. While many gamers enjoy the idea of racing for "style points," which you can use to open up new cars and options, a vocal majority deride the inelegant manner with which kudos are distributed. Besides one "good" and "bad" message you receive while driving the tracks, you have no idea if spinning in a wide arc is better than keeping your car tight to the corner. Bizarre is changing this by making the system "real time." Your kudos are now shown on the top-right corner of the screen, and you'll see immediately how your driving impacts the overall point score. PGR will also allow for a greater variety of driving styles; you can gain equal numbers of kudos by being a technically proficient precision racer or a hotdogging speed demon.

New locations and tracks are a given for any racing sequel; to this end, Project Gotham Racing features a new city (New York), in addition to its array of new tracks built around the preexisting photos and geographical information used for San Francisco, Tokyo, and London in the original Metropolis Street Racer. Essentially, you'll race in many of the same areas as in MSR, though the tracks are all new. The courses themselves, while realistically modeled and constructed from photographs, still remain devoid of any life (pedestrians, cross traffic, and so on); and, also like the original, the time of day in the city you're racing in depends on the time of PGR's clock.

When we played the game at E3, we noticed that Bizarre Creations is already refining MSR's gameplay. Control feels slightly sluggish, and the game still relies on powersliding over breaking for most turns; however, these MSR trademarks have been toned down and aren't so excessive. Proper breaking is more important now; on the tight corners of the new Times Square track, you can't get away with trying to powerslide your way through the course, as you often can in MSR. Also, the new kudos system of "real time" style points (à la the Tony Hawk series) makes it much easier to figure out how far you can pull a powerslide for maximum points and how badly a bump into a wall can affect your score.

Of course, the most impressive aspect of Project Gotham is its graphics. We were surprised to find that even in PGR's early state, the frame rate holds at a solid 30 frames per second. A Microsoft representative pointed out that, as with all the Xbox games shown at E3, Project Gotham was running on a development kit and claimed that the visuals will be even smoother once the game is moved to the final hardware. Though the frame rate still needs to be optimized, we were pleased to see that most of the game's graphical effects are already in place. On the two playable tracks, Gotham's superb lighting and reflective effects are seamlessly integrated into the surrounding windows, signs, and lights. The trial New York course is an excellent technical example of the Xbox's abilities; the rain-soaked streets of Times Square literally glisten with the gleam of lighted puddles on the street. Reflections on both the street and your car accurately mirror the textures of surrounding buildings and light sources. Upon close inspection, we noticed that, in terms of pure polygons, the game's environmental architecture hasn't really improved much from MSR on the DC; however, the subtle use of lighting effects and crisp high-resolution textures make it appear otherwise.

Whether or not Project Gotham Racing will meet the lofty standards of a GT3 or F355 is impossible to determine at this point--it's simply too early in the development process to draw any conclusions. Bizarre has already stated, though, that it's still refining the kudos system, tweaking cars' handling, and improving the frame rate. Bizarre's series may not have the renown of a Gran Turismo, but PGR's graphical display at E3 serves notice that this franchise is a legitimate up-and-comer. Look for it to arrive just before the holidays.