Joshua Orvis 2008-10-26
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Reviewers like C. Kelleher "cmkelleher" have already posted thorough comparisons of this game to other current racing ones, so I'll just post what I didn't like.
Before I do that I need to admit that this was one of the funnest racing games I've played through, and I've bought most that have come out for the PS3. The developers have done an amazing job and I know I'll keep going back to it (especially for the drift events)
OK, now the (slightly) bad stuff.
- Le mans - There are a host of tracks of varying types. Some are sunny and wide-open while others are tight, wet night courses. Of all of these, the most uninteresting is 'Le mans'. It consists mostly of mildly technical sections punctuating long stretches of slight turns. There is even one section where you really just hold the throttle open for nearly 30 seconds without turning a single bit. It's really the only course I dreaded seeing appear, which was unfortunate since the developers chose to feature it so much. Every four events you're challenged to '24-hours of Le Mans' and it's even the location for the final 'boss' battle.
- Nurburgring (nearly) - Most performance car enthusiasts follow the drama of new cars posting record-braking times on this amazing track (like the new Viper ACR vs. Nissan's GTR). I loved the prospect of racing on the full track, even if it took 7:30 to do it. Sadly, access is limited to the 'grand prix circuit.'
- Pole position? - Many races, especially later in the game, are composed of multiple rounds with the same car class but in different locations. If you win (or just do well) in a round you'd expect to be placed near the front of the pack for the next one. Instead, you nearly always start 10th or worse (in a pack of 12).
- View inconsistency - The game has 5 or 6 vantage points from which to play, and I usually choose either inside the car with steering wheel visible or as far as possible above it. The game's new flashback feature is a great idea and saves a lot of time restarting a race completely because someone spun you out 10 seconds from the end of a race. But when you go into the flashback mode the game doesn't remember the view you were using, so each entry into that mode starts with a rapid pressing of the view button to get back to your view. The seizure-inducing flash, flash, flash nonsense that happens before it throws you back into the race is also annoying.
- Cars - This game has a decent selection of cars, but I didn't like how advancement through the game essentially meant abandoning the types of cars I was most interested in. My loved Supra, Skyline, NSX, etc. were useless as the focus of the game shifted into GT-class, F3, F1 and prototype euro cars. Some of these were fun, but I prefer how other games let you upgrade the cars to you like to be competitive with higher classes.
- Bikes! - Why do almost no racing games have motorcycles? I would love to tear around the tracks in this game on a GSX-R. :)
Thanks to Codemasters for an awesome game - can't wait for your next one.
