''Project Gotham Racing 2'' is a

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

developed by

Bizarre Creations Bizarre Creations Limited was a British video game development studio based in Liverpool, best known for their racing video game, racing titles ''Metropolis Street Racer'' (Dreamcast) and the follow-up Project Gotham Racing, ''Project Gotham Rac ...

and published by

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

. It was released exclusively for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

in November 2003. As in 2001's ''

Project Gotham Racing ''Project Gotham Racing'' (''PGR'') is a series of racing video games developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Studios (Xbox and Xbox 360) and Sega (Dreamcast). The series appeared on the Dreamcast, Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, a ...

'', the route to advancement in ''Project Gotham Racing 2'' differs from most racing games. Advancement in ''Project Gotham Racing 2'' requires a combination of driving fast enough to meet the challenge set, and scoring enough Kudos points to advance. Kudos points are gained through the player's driving skills, such as power sliding around a corner at speed, or overtaking other drivers in the race. Kudos points are used to unlock new cars. The Kudos system, challenges set, available cars, and the tracks around which players race were expanded greatly from the original. ''Project Gotham Racing 2'' supported

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

and allowed players to race against other people all around the world. The in-game garage featured the cult-classic mini-game ''

Geometry Wars ''Geometry Wars'' is a series of top-down multi-directional shooter video games developed by Bizarre Creations, and, later, Lucid Games. Originally published by Microsoft Games Studios, the first title was included as a minigame in '' Project Got ...

''.

Gameplay

Single-player

There are four main parts to the single player game: Kudos World Series, Arcade Racing, Quick Battles and Time Attack. In Kudos World Series the player has to complete a series of races in 14 different categories of car. The player begins with just three cars in the Compact Sports Series and eventually can have access to 102 cars (118 cars after purchase of the downloadable content). Most cars can be bought in exchange for kudos tokens, although some can only be obtained by completing enough races at a high level. Each car is made from around 10,000 polygons. In Arcade Racing there are 60 medals available, 20 each for street racing, timed runs and cone challenges. Each race is with a preset car and track. Time Attack does not use kudos, the aim is for the player to try to get round the circuits as fast as possible. The player can either choose circuit or car challenges. In circuit challenge the player can choose from a selection of up to 92 circuits and then choose any car to race in. In car challenge the player can choose from a selection of up to 102 cars and race on a predetermined circuit. In both styles circuits and cars may only be chosen if they have previously been unlocked in kudos world series or arcade racing. If the player enters the showroom, it can view and test drive all cars on a test track. The players can also race against a ghost car that got the record time. Challenges are divided into five difficulties: Steel (novice), Bronze (easy), Silver (medium), Gold (hard), and Platinum (expert).

Online

Unlike many other

enabled games, ''Project Gotham Racing 2''s online ranking system is solely based on the kudos earned online. One can not go down in rank, only up. In this way, one's rank does not necessarily reflect their skill.

''Geometry Wars''

Within the player's car garage, an

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

can be interacted with to play ''Geometry Wars'', a top-down

multidirectional shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of charact ...

. This marked the first appearance to the public of what would become an entire series of similar games.

Downloadable content

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

released two downloadable content packages for ''Project Gotham Racing 2'': the Paris Booster Pack (released in May 2004), featuring eight new cars and seven tracks in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France, and the Long Beach Booster Pack (released in June 2004) with eight new cars and eight tracks based around

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, United States.

Reception

''Project Gotham Racing 2'' received "universal acclaim" according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of all four eights for a total of 32 out of 40, while ''Famitsu Xbox'' gave it one ten, one nine, one eight, and one seven, for a total of 34 out of 40.

References

External links

* {{Bizarre Creations 2003 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Project Gotham Racing Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in Australia Video games set in Hong Kong Video games set in Sweden Video games set in Tokyo Video games set in Washington, D.C. Video games set in Moscow Video games with custom soundtrack support Video games with downloadable content Xbox games Xbox-only games de:Project Gotham Racing BAFTA winners (video games) Bizarre Creations games