This is my favourite racing game of all time. It's got an excellent sense of speed, impressive graphics (though it only runs at 30 frames per second), a great learning curve, clever AI, and some of the greatest cars ever made. Above all, it's accessible, playable, and ridiculously addictive.
I won't go deeply into the scoring system apart from to say that this is where the game differs from so many other titles on the market. It's great to be rewarded for classy overtaking manuvers, taking the racing line, as well as basically driving with style (this is one reason why I never liked Gran Tourismo - but that's another story). If you're miles ahead of the pack with a lap still to go you can abuse your tires and powerslide around every corner and get rewarded points for it. However this NEVER happens on Platinium difficulty!
Which brings me to the learning curve. I never finished the original Projet Gotham; I reached a tasty 100,000 Kudos to unlock the TVR, but then I left it aside too long and couldn't get back into it. It was just too unforgiving, and the way you unlocked cars was at times nonsensical - obtaining new vehicles when you already had faster, better handling cars in your garage. This has been nicely fixed, and even the laziest player can unlock the Enzo without daring to attempt a level higher than bronze, but there's no fun in that - it's all about being the best! You still have to go back to unlock all the other nifty cars and tracks available. You still have to challenge yourself to better your last score just so you can eventually say to yourself "Yes! I've unlocked all the cars in the Sports Utility class!" Having seen some of the movies available on xbox live though, I'm resigned to never being able to unlock the final TVR!
Sometimes progress can come down to trial and error, though. Especially in the Speed Camera challenges, and although the damage looks quite impressive, it bears practically no effect on the car's handling. Some reviews have said it makes no difference, but I swear to you that after battering my Noble around Florence, the engine starts complaining and the top speed does suffer a little. However nitpicking about Gotham 2 is just that.
On the whole racing on Live is where its at. If you don't have Live then there's still plenty of fun to be had in split screen and in single-player. The AI cars don't just go around the track on rails, they actually RACE you - blocking you off, nudging you, even fish-tailing you on corners. Of course this can be intensely annoying, but for that reason alone it has never been so gratifying to visit sweet retribution on something artificial; smash a computer controlled opponent into the wall on the last corner, watch him spin 180 degrees in your rearview, and steal the race from under his virtual nose, laughing like a maniac while he places last! Seriously, I've never had so much fun seeking violent retribution against AI like this!
I personally adore the 'inside' car view in racing games. It never feels right to me to be looking at a car I'm supposed to be controlling as if I'm suspended from some invisible crane. Of course here you can't appreciate the car models so much, but the sense of speed is all the faster. Which brings me to my conclusion; Gotham 2 is very fast, very playable, very challenging, very addictive, very good value for money, and thus a very good game and worth every penny! Enjoy!
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