- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
If you think the Gran Turismo series makes for great racing action, check this out.
To be honest, I was quite skeptical about this game because it had a story line. I know when I played "Diddy Kong Racing," I knew I really wouldn't like a game with a story mode, as I thought DKR wasn't as good as Mario Kart 64 (in terms of Nintendo 64 games). But since getting a PS2, I've been more of a Sony man than a Nintendo person. So I give you a review of Pro Race Driver. I will judge on Concept and Execution, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, and even the storyline and how far I am right now.
Quick Review:
CONCEPT AND EXECUTION: 9/10; Excellence of execution. Another pure racing game from a game company that knows how to smash up cars.
GRAPHICS: 8.75/10; The graphics aren't Gran Turismo 4, but they are certainly passable in today's wave of games.
SOUND: 8.5/10; The best sounds are with the DTM and V8 Supercars. I think the cars sound greatly accurate if not a little generic. But don't expect much from Codemasters when it comes to sound.
GAMEPLAY
- RACING (you racing): 8.75/10; You'll know right away how your car is doing. If you race a stock car, you know you can't make left and right turns on a dime like an F1 or DTM car. I recently unlocked a car I thought was the Porsche 962C, but it handles beautifully. And when you wreck, your car looks pretty ugly, and it handles like crap. For a demonstration on how VERY crucial car control is, race Bathurst, Vancouver, or Canberra.
- RACING (against others) 7.5/10; I'm giving this a lower score because the racers race like thugs basically. They think their car is faster, and they'll ram right into your ass like you're some kind of wimp. If you played any Gran Turismo, you'll quickly want to go back to GT because the racers are too aggressive. But this score is not quite 8 because I think this makes you think about actually racing hard rather than being roughneck. There have been times I banged into the wall or went off course, and I couldn't recover as easily as I could with a Gran Turismo game.
STORYLINE: 9.5/10; The story begins where Kyle McKane is racing around some speedway in Michigan (that I can't pronounce or spell) about 15 years ago. A racer named James Kendall bangs into Kyle McKane, sends him off the track, rolling over, finally landing on the roof of his car, then the car explodes into flames and he dies. In the meanwhile, young Ryan McKane is looking to climb the motorsports ladder, and he wants to win the championship for himself and not anyone else. And let me tell you. This kid has spunk. He's like (pardon my ghetto), "back up off me, punk!" Then he tries to hit on this Latina hottie after going through the first championship series, the Americas Cup. The storyline seems to get deeper, and this game has really shown me something. It's still a great racer, even if it isn't made by PD.
JOHN'S COMMENTARY:
Sometimes, you HAVE to play dirty. If they can do it, so can you. A nice feature about this game is that when you pause, you press "X" in some games, and the game automatically gets back underway. In this game, you have to hold down "X" within 2 seconds to get back to racing effectively. This way, you don't have to hold down Start while in Pause then press "X" inadvertentely. Speaking of the accelerator, you'd better mash it down hard to go faster. I don't really like that feature. Didn't like it in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, and no sensitivity features are available. So mash it down, and don't expect to win every race like you could in Gran Turismo. There should be two bonus codes you can use when you register PRD. But since their phone line means money out the drain, I'm probably looking online for codes. Anyhow, I used up as much as I could to give you a review of this game, and doing it all in detail. I say that this game is kind of cheap now, so go out and get it.
To be honest, I was quite skeptical about this game because it had a story line. I know when I played "Diddy Kong Racing," I knew I really wouldn't like a game with a story mode, as I thought DKR wasn't as good as Mario Kart 64 (in terms of Nintendo 64 games). But since getting a PS2, I've been more of a Sony man than a Nintendo person. So I give you a review of Pro Race Driver. I will judge on Concept and Execution, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, and even the storyline and how far I am right now.
Quick Review:
CONCEPT AND EXECUTION: 9/10; Excellence of execution. Another pure racing game from a game company that knows how to smash up cars.
GRAPHICS: 8.75/10; The graphics aren't Gran Turismo 4, but they are certainly passable in today's wave of games.
SOUND: 8.5/10; The best sounds are with the DTM and V8 Supercars. I think the cars sound greatly accurate if not a little generic. But don't expect much from Codemasters when it comes to sound.
GAMEPLAY
- RACING (you racing): 8.75/10; You'll know right away how your car is doing. If you race a stock car, you know you can't make left and right turns on a dime like an F1 or DTM car. I recently unlocked a car I thought was the Porsche 962C, but it handles beautifully. And when you wreck, your car looks pretty ugly, and it handles like crap. For a demonstration on how VERY crucial car control is, race Bathurst, Vancouver, or Canberra.
- RACING (against others) 7.5/10; I'm giving this a lower score because the racers race like thugs basically. They think their car is faster, and they'll ram right into your ass like you're some kind of wimp. If you played any Gran Turismo, you'll quickly want to go back to GT because the racers are too aggressive. But this score is not quite 8 because I think this makes you think about actually racing hard rather than being roughneck. There have been times I banged into the wall or went off course, and I couldn't recover as easily as I could with a Gran Turismo game.
STORYLINE: 9.5/10; The story begins where Kyle McKane is racing around some speedway in Michigan (that I can't pronounce or spell) about 15 years ago. A racer named James Kendall bangs into Kyle McKane, sends him off the track, rolling over, finally landing on the roof of his car, then the car explodes into flames and he dies. In the meanwhile, young Ryan McKane is looking to climb the motorsports ladder, and he wants to win the championship for himself and not anyone else. And let me tell you. This kid has spunk. He's like (pardon my ghetto), "back up off me, punk!" Then he tries to hit on this Latina hottie after going through the first championship series, the Americas Cup. The storyline seems to get deeper, and this game has really shown me something. It's still a great racer, even if it isn't made by PD.
JOHN'S COMMENTARY:
Sometimes, you HAVE to play dirty. If they can do it, so can you. A nice feature about this game is that when you pause, you press "X" in some games, and the game automatically gets back underway. In this game, you have to hold down "X" within 2 seconds to get back to racing effectively. This way, you don't have to hold down Start while in Pause then press "X" inadvertentely. Speaking of the accelerator, you'd better mash it down hard to go faster. I don't really like that feature. Didn't like it in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, and no sensitivity features are available. So mash it down, and don't expect to win every race like you could in Gran Turismo. There should be two bonus codes you can use when you register PRD. But since their phone line means money out the drain, I'm probably looking online for codes. Anyhow, I used up as much as I could to give you a review of this game, and doing it all in detail. I say that this game is kind of cheap now, so go out and get it.
