4 Racing Games- A Casual Gamers Review

Let's Rate These 4 Racing Games....

The 4 games are: Project Gotham Racing 4, Need For Speed-Shift, GRID, and Forza Motorsport 3.

Project Gotham Racing 4- I can honestly say I have played every PGR Game made. Project Gotham Racing 2 (for XBOX) was fantastic, and for it's time it had magnificent depth. Racing in that game was fun. But for this one (PGR 4), the whole game is magnificent. From a graphical standpoint, the environments were more beautiful than all the games before it. For an arcade racer, the car models and environments take on such a beautifully realistic look that it's exciting just to play. I have crashed while looking around when I was supposed to be driving. The good things about the game always come first. Racing, even racing the AI (Artificial intelligence) in this game is exciting. The game and it's well crafted frame rates give you an excellent sensation of speed. If you are an average to casual gamer like me...keeping the AI difficulty on bronze is best (levels are steel, bronze, silver, gold)...because it's the most realistic difficulty. PGR's higher levels are challenging, but unrealistically hard. Cyborgs without fear of their lives drive the higher level difficulties. I'm not saying there aren't people out there who can beat the game on gold. I'm just saying I don't have the kind of time to get that good, or the desire to race in an unrealistic manner. I want my games to be challenging, but not stoopid-hard. So I keep it on Bronze and enjoy my 50/50 chance of winning a race. If you are driving with a force feedback wheel, this game is a treat. It's only 19.99 new now...so make haste and get it. On a scale of 1-10, I give this game an 8.7. There's too much menu option and steps to take to get to the good parts... but once you get there, it's all fun!

Need For Speed- Shift- Thank God EA stepped away from the ghetto "reputation points" format and "street creds" scenario to give us a AWESOME game. In my opinion, The NFS series spent way too much time on the urban themes and music...and it ruined the game for people who don't really care for that sort of thing. The "Fast and Furious" era seems to be thankfully coming to an end....and thank god. That whole driving thug thing was getting tiring. Especially if you like just driving.

NFS Shift is a beauty. This is another beautiful game, and (especially if you have the wheel) is closer to being a simulator in the driving department than being an arcade racer. In fact, I'd go with simulator. Environmentally, the most realistic game I have. While driving, you have a choice of several views to choose from, from a drivers point of view (over the hood, in the cockpit, chase cam from behind..etc) And if you choose the cockpit view, it's great. This is because it looks fantastic. The car interiors are EXACTLY like the cars you are really driving. I have seen the inside of many of the cars in the game, in real life, and I can first-hand report that it's accurate. Every car has it's own sound. The track's, trees, mountains, water, everything is beautiful and life-like. The car sorts are many, including production standards like Honda Civics, all the way up to the Bugatti Veyron. The game captures their speed and (presumably) their driving physics in a way that you would expect from driving that caliber an automobile. Even the menu's and ease of the menu selections in this game are beautiful. What I would like to have sen form NFS Shift would be if they presented car packs for sale, instead of selling individual cars using microsoft points. But really, that doesn't matter because making money and getting automobile upgrades in this game is not too difficulty. This game (as a plus) also allows you to adjust the force feedback on your steering wheels to customize to your taste. I have been having the MOST fun with this game. On a scale of 1-10, I give this game a 9. I love this game...it's SO fun, and it makes me feel like such a good driver!

GRID- Codemasters makes this game, so you can purchase cheats to get more cars for it. Being a casual gamer, that is like a chorus of angels to me. Beautiful! I don't feel like playing for 10 hours to win a mid- grade automobile. Thank God this game does that, because it is perhaps the most difficult game I have. Thankfully, adjusting the force feedback is an option..it made it so that I can compete and sometimes win. Without that ability to adjust force feedback, I would have given this game back. BUT...you can. I do have fun with this game. I won't give it back. The cars are pretty cool! I'm not done with it, so I do not know what cars are left...but it's a challenging and pretty game. These days, with the "Next Gen" consoles (360, PS3, Wii..) realistic graphics is a must. This game has stunning graphics, at times jaw-dropping. The sounds of the game are fantastic. This game takes on the "Driving as a Pro" intensity, and takes it to very challenging levels. Game makers that make their AI difficulty stupid-hard really miss the boat on making a game realistic. This game does the AI very well. They do act like they fear for their lives. They do brake when anyone would break and take corners as cautiously as a human. So that makes it fun. It's very challenging, because you are racing GOOD drivers...but it's still fun. This game, though, has a whole necessary "Drifting" section to it. I am only calling it necessary because you have to learn how to drift in order to advance to certain levels of the game. I do not care that much for drifting. Also, it's friggin hard! Aside from that whole drift thing....this game is pretty, and intense. I give it an 8 score. This is because I still say I can drive a Honda NSX easier in real life than I can in the game....and that is the sort of yard stick I use for my simulator games. If it misses the mark, it loses points.

Forza Motorsport 3- THIS was the game I have waited for. And by that, I mean on any console, and by feeling and beauty alone. When I saw the trailers for this game, I thought, "Holy Grail". This game is absolutely beautiful, stunningly realistic, and logical. It's friendly where it needs to be, and unfriendly where it needs to be, as well. Gorgeous car models, and beautiful environments: cascading waterfalls, realistic track physics and turns, car behaviors are wonderful, and it goes excellently with a force feedback steering wheel. I think of this game as "My own personal garage", because I have all of the cars, and I can realistically drive anything from an old cooper, to a Ferrari race car. Hundreds of cars and tracks. THIS GAME is, in my estimation, the reason to buy a steering wheel and start thinking about racing lines, speeding out of corners, braking early, feathering the gas and doing all of the things a driver who wants to drive fast does. Remarkable. I love this game. I like winning when I deserve it and that feeling of accomplishment. I also like knowing I lost because of that mistake on the 4th turn and losing my place as a result of it.....while knowing it was because of me and me alone. In short, I play this game to get better at race driving. I give this game a 9.3

Sleeper Game- RACE PRO- This game didn't get the fanfare and build-up of the other games, but then, who cares? This game is Value with a capital V. Many awesome sports cars and race cars are in this game. But what I like best about it is the car weight and bobbing physics. It adds up to give you the most realistic braking and acceleration feelings you can have in a game. This game forces you to brake when you are supposed to brake, and to speed out of corners to make better times. Good racing lines are a must, and cleanly passing your opponents is completely necessary. The graphics in this game aren't as good as the others, ( a tad better than PS2-ish) but it's still pretty nice. They spent more attention on driving, and physics in this game...so you are not too worried about perfect graphics anyway. I give this game a 7.8 score: Just because it's in a different class than the big kahunas...but still an awesome and (in my opinion) necessary addition to your driving game library.

SO...in my opinion, you are good to go getting these games!

AVOID These games: Sega Rally (pretty isn't always good), and any of the Baja series... (Boring comes in expensive packages)

Love, Chrissy.

The Silent Brass Band

This was a time I looked forward to since 1994. For the past couple of months, child support is over since both of my daughters are 18+ years old.

In 1994...my girls were both day care aged: I was paying almost $ 1,000 per month in support and day care expenses. What would ensue was a remaining income so low that I would live in 5 different spare rooms or basements in a 6 year time span (plus a whole summer sleeping in my car).... The credit report when to crap, debts never went away. Having to work different jobs to stay afloat...and setting up ideal and safe circumstances to spend the weekend with my daughters. My average night of sleep was 5 hours. This was what our so called "Family" law system deemed acceptable for the welfare of the children. A destitute and financially disabled father, living in someone's spare room or sleeping on a couch in a basement as a place for the kids to come visit. (by the way...this is by no means a cut on the places...and the people who gave me this shelter, I am forever in your debt. You gave us a place to be. This is more of a statement about the system)

I avoided bankruptcy...built myself back up as the child support amount decreased by 50 here...50 there....until I got where I am right now: a decent credit score, no bankruptcy's, and I'm finally (at the age of 46) looking for my first house!

Now, if you think think this post is about me and my struggles, it is not. It starts the way it did because in 1995 or so...when I was my lowest, when I was my most frightened and when I genuinely thought I was going to be homeless, I said:

"When all of this is over, I'm going to throw the biggest party ever."

Now...2010: Both of my girls are college aged kids. And believe it or not, I find myself missing the 90's...I miss those years when they were growing up, and visiting me. Granted, the locations for the visits weren't good locations, but it all disappeared when I was alone with them. Many of my greatest memories took place in those spare rooms or basements, or the McDonalds play land....or the parks outside...in the bed with them telling the stories and all of those things we DID have brought on the most beautiful memories.

Sure..these memories would certainly be enhanced if I had a house of my own, or a stable environment: But those are not my memories, they aren't mine. The one's I have are, and I wouldn't replace them for a million dollars. Some of my hardest and most desperate times were in that era....but also too were some of my most beautiful memories; the kinds that defined my life.

So...there was no party. I didn't hire a brass band and start soaking watermelons in vodka. I didn't hire a DJ, and put out a beautiful food spread. There is no real elation, and I don't feel any more 'free' than I did before. I mean, sure...the extra money is going to reinforce my retirement and I'll definitely put it to practical use: But now that I am at this point, I see that all the time, even at the worst, it was proven that money isn't everything. The memories and my life with them stand out with much more prominence than the lack of income, and what I was going through.

The important thing is, that BECAUSE of that, I now sit back and savor my daughters love, and enjoy the relationship with them that we all three built together over those years. Somehow, God finds a way to give even when you feel like he isn't.

Things I seem to notice...

You know....

• When I am riding my scooter and I am doing the speed limit, or slightly slower...the one that comes barreling up on my rear, swerving to try to get around me and shouting at their windshield most likely has a big assed vehicle like a pick-up truck, usually it's an F 150...but it can also be hummer or something. He's usually wearing a tank top, has a mustache, his hair parted in the middle and is wearing aviator-type sunglasses...usually he's 5'7" or less. I can usually call it on the speed of their approach. I don't know why this is, it just happens to be the usual result. It's usually someone whose masculinity seems to be riding on that very moment.
  
• I always wonder if that person riding around Meier in the motorized cart really is disabled, or just big? I know that sounds like a cruel assessment, but I usually notice that they get out of those things and walk just fine. Some need it, but I'll bet an equal amount of them don't.
  
• If that person at work is constantly is cutting down and degrading people when they are not present to hear it, and then pretend to like them when they are around:You can bet your butt that they are doing the same thing to you. This person is poison. Be careful what you say to them.
  
• You know that "intellectual" person that carries themselves like they really are smarter, only discussing things that an intellectual would discuss, and calling people on the carpet to question the depth of their knowledge on an issue in an effort to highlight their own wit and intellect? That person, socially, is doing the same thing as the drunk guy at the bar bragging about the size of his wanker; He knows that no one will really know the real deal, yet, is oblivious about no one really giving a shit. Now how smart is he?
  
• GUYS- When a girl says to you, "Oh, you don't have to worry about Ken, he is like a brother to me"... RUN. Run fast. Run like Bruce Jenner. And do NOT look back.
• GIRLS- If you're out there looking for the the 'bad-boy' type...keep this in mind: Once that excitement has worn off, once he's old news to your friends, and you see that he really is not going to progress for you.....you can't complain- you're the one who was looking for 'bad'. Most likely, that's what you'll end up with. Enjoy your bad boy.

~That's all I have for now.....for now.