Despite initial disappointment when I came to realise that it had absolutely nothing to do with Batman, the original Project Gotham game served as a brilliant way for me to burn in my new Xbox console back in 2001. Whilst Halo may have been taking the majority of the plaudits and sales (somewhat justifiably, obviously), for me the initial few months of Microsoft’s console career were all about street racing.

Plenty of years later and the other side of an excellent sequel, Bizarre Creations have once again primed their racing epic for the launch of a Microsoft console. Initial disbelief at the level of detail presented in initial screenshots has by now subsided into somewhat of a stunned awe, although with such feelings come heady expectations. Project Gotham Racing 3 walks the walk, but does it talk the talk?

You bet it does. Buried deep in PGR3 are huge amounts of cars, circuits and challenges with which to absorb yourself. Whilst the visual gloss may have been the thing that stole the show pre-release, it only takes an hour or two with the game to realise that the game itself more than backs the hype up.

Based somewhere between being an arcade racer and a driving simulator (although a bit closer to the former than the latter), PGR3 builds upon the same framework of progression that its predecessor had. Career mode is the primary option, offering a wide selection of different championships for the player to work himself through. Each championship offers a number of challenges, ranging from time attacks and standard races to the welcome return of Kudos challenges.

These see the player having to slide his car around and display excellent race craft in order to score points. Dodging your way through cones, finger hovering on the handbrake button quickly becomes the order of the day, with well-judged powerslides and good discipline when keeping to racing lines rewarded too. After being blatted with a whole range of uninspired racing titles across various platforms which all offer pretty average racing action, the Kudos mode Project Gotham continues to offer is a refreshing, enjoyable take on the genre.

Good performances in each of the challenges earn credits, which can be used to purchase new vehicles. The range of cars has been toned down a lot from PGR2, and some may feel a little disappointed that the lower-end cars such as the Minis and the SUV’s have been ditched. Perhaps this may have been due to people complaining that all they wanted to do was drive their Ferraris or Lamborghinis, but now they’re gone it certainly does leave a bit of a gap in what was a greatly varied line-up.

What really adds greatly to PGR3, though, is how the online mode has been fully integrated into proceedings. Set a particularly nifty time or score in a single player mode and you’re gamertag will be added to the ranking board automatically and without taking you from the main single player game. In terms of racing, you can earn Kudos online too which can be spent on cars. The action itself is usually as smooth as a billiard table over Xbox Live too, with lag proving a rare occurrence. Players are ranked for each online event they take part in on accumulated results, meaning that only the most talented players *cough*like myself*cough* will see the lofty height of division 1.

Inevitably, part of this review was going to have to focus on how the game looks. I’m desperately trying to think of ways to not have to use phrases as ‘standard-setting’, ‘moves the goalposts’ or ‘in a league of its own’, but hey, I failed and all the previous apply. The cities in which you race – London, Las Vegas, New York, Tokyo and Nurburgring – are beautifully modelled and each car is painstakingly detailed and built from well over 50,000 polygons minimum. Heck, even the tarmac is practically photo-realistic. Although you will mostly spend your time whizzing past such scenery and not paying it too much attention, it nonetheless is a very strong selling point for both the game and indeed the console itself.

It would be tempting to label Project Gotham Racing 3 as a fantastic launch title, but it deserves to be recognised as a great game full stop, discounting that it has come along so early in the Xbox 360’s lifespan. Inevitably we will end up looking back at the game in a few years and realising that, as with anything of this type, time has not been kind in comparison with what will be offer at that point, but for now PGR3 offers a beautiful, thrilling experience. Perhaps the biggest challenge the game offers at the end of the day is to anyone not owning a 360, as even a short amount of time playing a demo or a friend’s copy will without doubt start tempting even the tightest of wallets open.