Project Gotham Racing (2001)

 Game: Project Gotham Racing. Released for the Original Xbox on 11/15/2001. Developed by Bizarre Creations. Published by Microsoft Game Studios. Box includes game disc and 32 page full color instruction manual.

Introduction: One of the recurring themes you will find with the Original Xbox is that the system, in a lot of ways, picked up where the Sega Dreamcast left off. Many of the hardware innovations seen on the Dreamcast are reflected on the Original Xbox such as built in internet functionality and the design of the controller. Additionally many game series that were originally on Dreamcast were moved over to the Xbox. The first game to do so was Project Gotham Racing. PGR is the follow up to Metropolis Street Racer for the Sega Dreamcast. What makes this series different than other racing games is that it strives to strike a balance between pure sim and arcade racer by using whats called "Kudos" points to reward you for things like drifting, passing other racers and getting through a chunk of the circuit without hitting any walls.

 

Story: Project Gotham is a racing game with no real narrative. The progression in the game comes from winning more races and challenges to unlock progressively faster vehicles.

Visuals: Project Gotham Racing is presented in 480P resolution at a 4:3 aspect ratio. The graphics in this game are absolutely phenomenal for the time and they have aged extremely well. Certain details on cars are a little low polygon by today's standards but that shouldn't be too noticeable during actual gameplay. At the beginning of each there is a quick tour of the city you'll be racing and I was always impressed by how crisp and detailed the cityscapes were. The cars visually deteriorate as you receive damage and that was a pretty unusual and impressive feature at the time.

Sound: In a racing game that tries to be a simulation sound is very important and pgr nails it. Each of the vehicles have specific engine sounds and getting used to the sound of a car's engine and knowing exactly when to shift goes a long way to getting the feel right.

The soundtrack is an awesome time capsule of 2001 with a mix of alt rock, nu metal, drum and bass and hip hop. If the game's tracks don't do it  for you there is also the option to rip songs from your cd collection and store them on the xbox and use them in game. There's even a playlist editor that lets you choose exactly what songs you are hearing.

Gameplay: This game has 5 single player modes as well multiplayer mode for up to 4 player split screen. The races take place in San Fransisco, Tokyo, NYC and London and each map gets chopped up and turned around to give a ridiculous number of possible circuits. Throughout my playtime I rarely did the same circuit for more than one event.

Quick Race Mode is the most straight forward. You vs 5 bots, get 3rd place or higher to get a medal in each city to unlock the next difficulty level.

Arcade Race Mode is structured like Quick race mode but instead of racing other cars it is just you alone and in addition to finishing on time you must score a certain amount of kudos to win medals.

Time Attack Mode is pretty self-explanatory. Try to get the best time at each circuit. As you progress through the game you will unlock more tracks available for this mode.

Medal Challenge: This is a special mode that does not appear until you have made enough progress. Get the different medals in the event to unlock more paint colors.

Finally, there is Kudos Challenge Mode which is the bulk of the game. In this mode there are levels. Each level has multiple events ranging from hot lap, street race, average time challenge, overtake challenge and more. Once you get a medal in each event you unlock the next level up.

Throughout all of these modes you will gain playtime and kudos which will eventually unlock new cars, new driver helmets and new circuits for time attack mode.

Controls: Project Gotham is all about getting the balance between simulation and arcade style racer. What this means is that each car tries to be somewhat accurate in how it handles with also allowing drifting to be both easy and a fundamental building block for getting kudos points. 

Personal Memories: Project Gotham was my first ever xbox game!! In fall 2001 there was a Taco Bell sweepsteakes where one of the prizes was an xbox with game. My uncle won the contest and figured since he had already purchased a Ps2 he had no need for a second console and gifted it to me.

 I remember playing that game as much as possible. I was pretty bad it and could barely even get a handle on manual transmission let alone drifting but playing a 3d racer with such impressive, realistic graphics is an experience I will never forget.

Versions and Other Releases: I have the Platinum Hits version of the game. There is also the standard Greenbox edition.

Project Gotham Racing is backwards compatible on the Xbox 360.

A sequel was released for the Original Xbox called Project Gotham Racing 2 in 2003.

Conclusion: I think Project Gotham Racing did a lot for the launch of the xbox. Having a game out of the gate that had better graphics than Gran Turismo 2 showed that the Playstation 2 was not going to win the generation in terms of sheer power. PGR is a fun and challenging racer that will really have you practicing getting those drifts just perfect. The presentation is best in class for a 2001 racing game but I think most people would sooner recommend the sequel which further refined everything that makes this game fun.