Project Gotham Racing 2
It turned up on Friday. We haven't done much else since.
Kristan says...
Having also spent hours in the company of Gotham 2, I share most of Tom's joys and concerns. It's a pleasure to play, with excellent handling, a great gaming structure that will last you months, and a superb replay value. Sure, it feels a lot easier at times, but whack up the difficulty level and you'll soon be sweating as hard as you were in the original.
Preview code is rarely 100 per cent stable, and we're genuinely grateful to have the chance to play what is largely the finished article 10 weeks ahead of the release. But while PGR2 is unquestionably a fine achievement already, a few key questions remain. First and most importantly is whether Bizarre Creations can cure the frame rate issues that occasionally blight the experience, and whether it can sort some of the hideously dark tracks. This inability to light the tracks correctly was a major issue in PGR and rears its ugly head once again every now and then, rendering some tracks almost unplayably dim even with brightness and contrast turned up to the max.
Another question is how the Live experience will shape up. I must admit that in single player mode, the feeling of déjà vu crept in after a few hours, and the novelty of driving around new cities just didn't excite me as much as I thought it would. But throw in some human competition, and suddenly you've got one of the most compelling gameplay prospects ever. With a decent, lag free Live experience I think we're looking at one of the pillar releases. Let me at it!