Jason Bock

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PRG3 - Review

Ever since I got my 360, the only game I’ve really played on it is PGR3. Overall, I’m impressed with the graphics, but it’s just not as fun as PGR2. They’ve done some things that just don’t make any sense in PGR3. For example:

• If you’re in a room and the host accidentally starts the game, you can’t go back to the lobby. You could in PGR2, and this was nice in case the game was started with an unintended configuration, or a person came in and we wanted to race with that person. Now everyone has to leave the room. That sucks.
• The TrueSkills races are dumb in that you have to wait 30 seconds before the race starts. But … if someone leaves or joins the room, the time resets back to 30, even if you were at 2 seconds left.
• None of the cars are slow. You can still play games like Ultimate Loser or Cat-n-Mouse, but I loved making that Jaguar E-Type fly in the air.
• Only 5 cities?? C’mon!
• There are no more weekly or montly races.
• If the host leaves, it doesn’t transfer the host responsibilities to someone else. Halo2 has this among other games - you think by this time PGR3 would have it, but noooooo …
• Getting all platinum medals wasn’t as hard as it was in PGR2, and there was no reward for getting them all.

I realize PGR3 can’t just be PGR2 + 360 graphics. I do like the graphics. The in-car view, while not my favorite, is fun once in a while. But, frankly, if I could play PGR2 on the 360 I’d rather do that. It’s just not as fun. It’s still fun - don’t get me wrong. But they could’ve done so many more things right … I also realize that there will probably be dowloads (San Francisco is probably the 1st city that will be available). Maybe they’ll add some slower cars as well.

Oh, and my ring time is 5:36 or something, which (at the time of this post) is 80th in the world :). The fastest time is 5:24 - ridiculous!

I’m thinking of getting Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV, just for a change of pace. Racing all the time is getting kind of boring..and when in the hell is the 1st Splinter Cell for the 360 coming out?!

Published: 03.26.2006 06:12:47 PM CST

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