For those don't wanna watch the review, a text version can be found here.
Highlights:
"This is definitely one of the strong suits of Project Gotham Racing 4—the sheer variety of vehicles available. Not only do you get to rip around the tracks in NOS-boosted import tuners, but there are also F1 cars from decades ago, luxury Mercedes and BMWs, exotics to die for, and gas guzzling muscle cars from the ‘70s." .. "There are a couple complaints, however. While the motorcycles are fun to ride and easy to handle, the game treats them as if they weigh five tons."
"Project Gotham Racing 4 is a solid game on all fronts, but it also begs the question, just how many games of this type do we need? At this point they all include the same feature sets, vehicles, and tracks, with minute details separating one from the other. At the same time, it does satisfy a niche of players who aren’t ready to become mechanics but want a moderate amount of realism in their games. But then Forza 2 also managed to do this while still providing a lot more depth. PGR4 is loaded with content and the driving is generally tight, it just fails to break any sort of new ground."
Appropriately enough for a game that introduces motorbikes, PGR4 restores balance to a series that was beginning to wobble. PGR3 wasn't sure whether to be a fast racer or a game of technical driving. With PGR4, Bizarre Creations was sure it could do both, and so it proves.
Bizarre Creations revealed to Eurogamer today that a playable demo for Project Gotham Racing 4 is headed to Xbox Live in the near future, and that the demo will feature exclusive challenges not found in the final release.
peaking to Pro-G at the Leipzig Games Convention, Bizarre Creations has revealed that a new Geometry Wars game will be featured in October's Project Gotham Racing 4. Dubbed "Geometry Wars: Waves," the shape shooter will be an exclusive Project Gotham bonus and unlike Retro Evolved, won't be sold on Xbox Live Arcade. That makes for an excellent bonus for racing fans, but a $60 investment for those just hoping to exact revenge on the sneaky green square.
As reported earlier today, there was rumor of PGR 4 being delayed. XF has just learned that it has been finalized. There is a delay. The new release date has been changed to October 2nd or 3rd.
@welshbloke, I know that sort of thing has happened before. But, personally, I trust a developer more than a PR machine. I don't think there's any problem with having developers discuss their games in an open forum- hell, if I open my own studio like I plan, that'd be our sole method of communication- I think the problem is what people expect. They want to hear only the good news about their favorite games and companies, much like they do with consoles. Also, a smart consumer will weight the pros and cons of a product before buying, so the business has a vested interest in treating all cons as false, even when they're true. Developers, not as much.
I've been following this story from the beginning, I had originally posted that PGR4 was limited by dvd and I still completely believe that. Bizarre said it themselves and then tried to cover it up after the reaction from the press & gamers. They probably got a warning from MS. Kotaku said this themselves, and that Bizarre was just spinning the story around.
This would not be the first time a developer spoke out of turn or was misunderstood. The fact the company has had to make a statement which strongly denies the rumour would suggest that it was not the case. I think it highlights the problem when letting developers discuss matters in an open forum.
1
Highlights:
"This is definitely one of the strong suits of Project Gotham Racing 4—the sheer variety of vehicles available. Not only do you get to rip around the tracks in NOS-boosted import tuners, but there are also F1 cars from decades ago, luxury Mercedes and BMWs, exotics to die for, and gas guzzling muscle cars from the ‘70s." .. "There are a couple complaints, however. While the motorcycles are fun to ride and easy to handle, the game treats them as if they weigh five tons."
"Project Gotham Racing 4 is a solid game on all fronts, but it also begs the question, just how many games of this type do we need? At this point they all include the same feature sets, vehicles, and tracks, with minute details separating one from the other. At the same time, it does satisfy a niche of players who aren’t ready to become mechanics but want a moderate amount of realism in their games. But then Forza 2 also managed to do this while still providing a lot more depth. PGR4 is loaded with content and the driving is generally tight, it just fails to break any sort of new ground."
Points:
Desing 9.1
Gameplay 8.4
Presentation 9.2
Overall 8.7