Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360)

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The paradox inherent in a racing title featuring courses that run right through adeptly rendered real-world cities is that you will do poorly if you stop to admire the view.

"Look, kids -- Big Ben! Parliament!"

Crash.

Still, one of the best things about Project Gotham Racing over the years (can it really be six?) has been that, in addition to being a kick-ass racing franchise, it has been an enterprising virtual tour guide giving you street-level access to places you may never get to go in real life.

As the fourth PGR title produced for Xbox consoles (a fifth was released for portable gadgets), this is one of those increasingly rare sequels that adds little to the franchise while subtracting almost nothing. If you've played any of the other incarnations, you should know exactly what you're going to get here. Believe it or not, that's actually a good thing.

Of course there are some significant changes, or there would be nothing to talk about.

On the plus side, the course selection here is a major upgrade over PGR3, which seemed to have been rushed to market in order to be offered up as an Xbox 360 launch title. In addition to all four of the haunts found in that edition (New York, London, Tokyo, Las Vegas), courses now run through St. Petersburg, Russia; Quebec City in Canada; Shanghai; and Macao.

Sure, the relative obscurity of these newer selections might cause a snarkier player to wonder any of the following:

"Why Quebec City instead of Montreal?"
"Where's Beijing?"
"Macao? What's next -- Addis Ababa?"

And it could be argued that no PGR course has ever been as much fun or as challenging as the hilly San Francisco tracks found in the 2001 original. Still, it's hard (though obviously not impossible) to gripe about this installment's diversity.

In previous PGR titles, you had two playing options, both of which are still present: Arcade Mode, in which you tackle various challenges in order to unlock cars and courses; and Time Attack, in which you simply race against the clock.

Enter Career Mode. Now, this new feature is in no way groundbreaking: Your driver competes in a series of races and gains points according to place of finish; the more points, the higher you climb in the standings. But tacking on a third game type ratchets up the replay value of PGR4 considerably. It will take you months, even years, of continuous geekery to master every vehicle and every course in all three modes.

Confounding your attempts at total domination is another solid new feature: the dynamic weather system. Like mailmen, PGR4 vehicles aren't deterred by rain, sleet or snow. While some players may tire of trying to figure out how pet vehicles behave under these unfamiliar conditions, taking a corner at 130 mph in a St. Petersburg snowstorm has a kind of sadistic charm.

The most controversial element of PGR4 is the addition of motorcycles. It's here where esteemed U.K. developer Bizarre Creations can be accused of trying to be everything to all people. While tooling around on them is enjoyable (bonus kudos for popping a wheelie!), the motorcycles have been introduced illogically into a franchise that has always been entirely logical.

The problem is that at times you have two-wheelers racing right alongside muscle cars -- which aside from looking strange can create a strategic imbalance. For example, motorcycles have an easier time squeezing through pileups and passing on corners. And in a collision, guess which vehicle has the upper hand?