I was only able to get RR7 due to availability problems. I would have really liked to have had Resistance: Fall of Man or perhaps Call of Duty 3 as I don't tend to bond well with racing games. They never seem to have the stickiness and longevity that other games can offer.
After loading the game into the front slot i eventually realised you have to then proceed, from the menu, to the game icon. Clicking down you will see an icon for the game you have loaded. It doesn't happen automatically, well not for me anyway.
I was a bit nervous about the PS3 anyway as its a fairly complicated bit of kit (I'm far more at home with a PC !) but when a game loaded on to the screen that came from the 1980's with beep beep sounds I had a horrible feeling in my stomach that I was a victim of some huge international fraud... :)
As it happens, it was meant to happen and it was just Xevious, an old arcade classic, as you can see in the first picture. After dying within 10 seconds I pressed 'Start' to proceed to the main event. Immediately the graphics were impressive but I wouldn't say any better than an Xbox 360. I guess being a pre-launch game that it doesn't have the full monty of graphical goods.
Clicking down through the main menu it is immediately obvious there is a HUGE amount of depth to this game. It is definately NOT a quick arcade bash sort of game. It is a lot bigger than PGR, for example. I quickly got down to some arcade action which is probably everybody's first port of call, not even bothering to read the instructions. I must say, the driving dynamics are very good and drifting round the corners seemed to come naturaly depsite being an old fart.. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks... :)
There is the usual ghost-car Time Attack but this time it compares your times with everyone around the world for the chosen car and track! (Internet connection neeeded.)
The GP section looks to have the usual 'progress up the ranks' scenario but, judging by the 'percentage of game completed' figures thrown at me, I expect to be spending a good month before reaching the upper echelons of Racerdom.
After a day or two of playing I realised I wasn't getting very far, very fast and was really struggling in the the levels above 'idiot novice'. It turns out that after winning certain races in Manufacturers Mode that you win credits which you may spend on your car in the Machine Connector section. There is a full array of body parts and performance parts to choose from and the better stuff costs a fortune as do the better cars. The extra speed I gathered from upgrading 2 car levels up with extra nitrous was unbelievable. The game actually took on another dimension and it felt as if I had been running through deep water previously... The game went from Manic to Mental !
Tips I can impart in my limited experience:
The cars are much faster with Manual Gears which are not as scary as some may think. Also, the car is much smoother by using the ananloge thumb sticks than the buttons which helps with faster lap times.
Overall... I am very impressed and my boys (right pic) are addicts already which means that I am not getting many 'Road Hours'. :(
More on the Online functionality of this game coming soon!
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