PGR4 revisited


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got this one off an acquaintance on a trade, and gotta say it's one of the finest vehicular games ever. totally missed on it when it came out last year because it was so close to Forza 2, and am happy got the chance to play around with it.

Is there still strong popular support for PGR4? i notice online it's not that hard to find races. So i just thought i'd try to rekindle interest in this title with a thread, maybe the munky can add it to his clan's schedule or something.

also, i must commend Bizarre on the visuals in here, they're really nice. The cities are by far the most convincing and authentic i've ever witnessed in a car game - i'm sure many have said that, and i do recall a thread comparing screenshots from this game to real world images quite favorably.

also got the Challenge Pack. Does anyone know anything about this? the blurb said you get free roam around the featured cities, but there's nothing in the main menu about that. All i can see is the addition of a Challenge mode. Granted, didn't really look into it too much.

So if you have any tips for a belated PGR rookie (it's my first PRG foray), put em here.

and now i do understand why the Xbox has two racing franchises - one for looks and straight up action, one for deep modding and ludicrous damage modeling. Nice.

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I'm a massive fan of PGR, however 4 came out at a bad time of year for me last year so I didn't get to play it very much. I always wanted to go back and play it, but the trouble with PGR (for me anyway) is I play it nonstop when I do. It's something I love to master and earn platinum trophies in.

I was playing PGR3 just the other day and thinking about playing PGR4 again. So I might just add it to the clan game schedule if there is enough interest.

When it comes to playing the game, you really need to have some skills. Its definitely not like other racers out there. Knowing the cars and tracks inside out is the first step, you really need to pay attention to all the bumps, whether they make the car jump or not or throw you out of control. It can screw up your whole race or going into a corner at the right angle. It comes with practise though and you'll eventually learn them and even how to use them to your advantage.

When it comes to collecting points and combos you have to be on the ball with your time and outlandish with style. Its a really hard skill to learn, but once you've learned with one car you can apply it to most of them.

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I'd probably go as far to say PGR4 is my favourite game for the 360. I can just pick it up and have a blast for a few hours. Some parts are really frustrating just because of the immense difficulty it throws at you sometimes. For some reason i think i'm brilliant at this game but i bet if i played it more online i'd get thrashed.

The free roam mode in the challenge pack is only available to play online.

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guys, thanks for the comments. DM let me know if you put this on the schedule, in fact i'll need to talk to you about the clan later anyway.

everything said above is correct, it's both very addictive and challenging. i mean you can set it to bronze or steel, but then that's like winning on amateur in EA sports games. i have noticed that maintaining speed and momentum is what it's all about - lose control once and it's race over. sometimes that's cool, sometimes you feel like throwing the console out the window as a result. i've given up on finishing the arcade events on silver - the computer just has much faster cars, you can't catch up.

PGR4 also does that usual trick racers do. The CPU drivers have completely different physics, rarely make mistakes or lose control, and often look like they're on rails. this is what finally ****ed me off about Forza 2 last year, and i suppose the same will hold true again. for that reason, race games are mostly better online than off. at least the competition is more honest, which when playing with people is really saying a lot!

EDIT: but what really keeps taking me aback is the attention they paid to the visuals, and how smooth they are. i only got the occasional hitch, and this is the first time i've seen such a degree of realism when doing cities in a game. The even managed to put the Yoshinoya in Tokyo heh heh.

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i suggest you give it some attention, far as racers go, this is a good one.

I plan to. Just had Fable 2, GOW 3 and now Fallout 3 to contend with. Add to that I haven't touched Farcry 2, Crysis Warhead and only a few runs of Left 4 Dead and I'm all snowed under. Tomorrow I know I'm getting Banjo Kazooie and potentially others. Argh. Also part way into Tomb raider legend.

Hectic month or two for games and I just started full time employment having all but finished uni besides one course I'll do next year and the 1st 3 weeks have consisted of me merging a side project I worked on in my part time with the companies flagship product while att he same time transitioning over to a new team and project.

So looking forward to the next 4 days off work I'll say that much. Doubt I'll get to try any PGR4 but :p

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i have noticed that maintaining speed and momentum is what it's all about - lose control once and it's race over. i've given up on finishing the arcade events on silver - the computer just has much faster cars, you can't catch up.

Thats whats so fun about PGR though :woot:

Sometimes I have to restart a race over in the first 10 seconds cause I'm my toughest critic and just not happy with what I did. So it can take me like 10 attempts to finish a race which I'm happy with. This isn't always the case, sometimes I'll let it slide if I know it'll be a walk over with the car I'm in.

Trust me though, there is definitely a way to finish on Platinum, even if you're car is slower. You just need to learn how :p

I spent almost every night playing PGR2 back in the day playing it on XBL learning from the pros. The best way was to watch the time challenges they updated every week and how people took on the course. It really shows you how to play the game in a different manner. Once I did that I just adapted my own style to it and hey presto!

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I bought PGR4 the week after it came out. I rented the game and was instantly addicted, so I went out and bought it. I haven't played it in a while, though.

My favorite car is the Tesla Roadster :) Sometimes I'll just drive around the Nurburgring in that car for hours on end for no purpose.

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While it may not be the fastest car in the game, hands down, the Supercar is THE most fun to drive (if you ask me). Plenty of horsepower, but more importantly, you can go full-throttle and it will stick to just about anything you throw at it. And when it does get sideways, it handles like a dream.

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the supercar does work very well! but i don't get it, in career mode, the cars in the garage aren't the cars you actually get to race in events. why is that?

another disappointment is the tourist mode, i thought you get to just drive around at your own pace, enjoying the sights. but no, you have to wait for other people to join online. i don't get that.

smigit, congrats on finishing college, i understand your situation. sounds like you have mounds of gaming to get through, and it's always the new ones that take priority.

as for you DM and Digital, you're always ahead of me in the friends leaderboards, you've been in almost all events i've done so far. it's a tough game and i don't think i'll do what you're suggesting DM, i admit to being a middling gamer, i want the fun but not too much of a challenge...

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indeed, the visuals are truly impressive, it clicked when i realized bizarre were also behind The Club, it had a very similar look - detailed, solid, no clipping, texture pop etc...proof positive custom built engines beat off the shelf deals any day of the week. what i don't understsand is why the reviews for PGR4 were a bit ho hum, and why bizarre decided to let the series go. is MS really working with the Forza guys on the sequel? i don't think it'll be the same.

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I know someone who worked on the PGR games and The Club ;) Munky knows him too :p

Bizarre didn't let the series go, they were bought by Activision and thus MS severed their ties with them as they were now owned by another publisher. I cannot comment on the rumours of Turn 10 working on a sequel, but Turn 10 and Bizarre did work very closely together on some things ...

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Indeed, he is an awesome guy (Y)

After PGR4 was released, Bizarre did say they wanted to do a desert/offroad style racing game next, which would have been before the Activision buy out. Who knows if they went ahead with that idea, but it won't be called PGR5 anyway.

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so, you guys know one of them? nice. i won't pry too much, but convey my thanks to this person of interest if you get the chance. especially if he worked on the graphics, i can't get enough of those!

ricardo, there's no coincidences in this life...you know that.

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yikes, a 007 game? very weary of those! hopefully they'll be back with PGR5, now that i'm hooked on the series. maybe even hunt around for PGR3...

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