brettz0r's Profile

Id just like to point out first that this is my review for the ps3 version as I have not played the 360 version.

Now starting this game, It took a while for the game to install itself then download the latest version of the game which is rather frustrating when you get a new game and you really want to play it!

Once that had all been done, I decided it was well worth the wait as from then on, there was no real wait in between races and menu screens. The game flows seamlessly from menu, to selecting you race / cars - to the actual racing. There is no blank loading screens and there is always music (that doesn't skip a beat) and your stats popping up while the game quickly loads up its next event.

The game is very well structured and can be picked up by anyone of any age and played with no hassles. When you come to something for the first time, there is always a friendly voice (addressing you by your chosen name) informing you of what to do.

When it comes to the actual racing, you will find that each of the car handles differently with its own style. Some good, some bad - just as you would expect . You will all so find the other competitors in the race will be talking to you and each other during the race - generally giving you positive reinforcement (unless you hit them) to help you along your way.
They have also taken the "instant replay" function that was used in Race Driver: Grid which makes this game sooo much less frustrating. Basicly, if you crash or do something wrong, you can hit one button which instantly pauses the game, rewinds the gameplay for a set time- then lets you watch your epic crash in slow-mo as many times as you want - then pick any point - and resume your race that from point. this is done seamlessly and is a great help.

There are many different types of races in this game as well, from your standard rally to other events such as gate-crasher, last man standing and domination. This adds more of a fun aspect to the game and gives more variety / longevity to the game. You can also change the game difficulty at the beggining of each event - from easy up to extreme. This is great because kids can pick up this game on easy and have a chance of winning where seriouse gamers can have a real challenge in hard mode.

Online is great fun - supporting up to 8 players on track at once. You can play every type of game with friends or just other fellow PSN members with full or no contact. Games can be very full on and eventful - something new every time you race.

Also something to mention is the trophies - they have a good variety with some challenging ones and some pretty simple ones. I do love how you have to go out of your way to go for some of them in like a sort of a side mission of the game to add more fun to it.

Im not going to go on about graphics - they are really good (as you expect from any next-gen console) but I still haven't seen any game out yet that makes me just think... "wow"

All in all, I would seriously give this game a 10/10 and recommend it over any other racer that has currently been released (especially the new Need for speed) and would also recommend Code-Masters other game Grid to go with it as they both have the same fun filled feel to them.