Unlike most people, I didn't plan to buy Bizarre Creation's Project Gotham Racing 3. It was a total impulse purchase and it only goes to show how weak I am with a credit card, but unlike many purchases that I make, this spontaneous decision was so well worth it. The premier Xbox 360 racing experience, PGR3 is one huge screaming 170 mph hairpin turn that's been shoved inside of a tiny green box. It not only plays spectacularly but it looks about as gorgeous as the last ten women in a Miss America pageant, save for when you're playing it on a regular old standard definition TV. Then it looks like PGR2 for Xbox, or to keep the comparison going, your strangely attractive yet middle aged next door neighbor.

Like all of the games in this series, it's not always about what you drive but how you drive it, for you see, in PGR3 simply winning a race isn't enough. If you want to fully exploit the game you'll need to earn kudos, which are points awarded after you perform stylish maneuvers with one of the game's 80 sports cars. These can be earned by doing thing such as 360s, E-Brake Slides, Braking Drifts, and by getting two of the car's wheels off the ground, among other hot moves, and if you manage to pull these off without crashing into something you'll be able to bank the points, which will then be used to determine your overall ranking in the grand scheme of things as well as slap some well deserved credits onto the table which you can either save up or use to purchase another car. In fact, while you're spinning all over the place you can even link moves together, thus earning combo bonus points and pocketing even more credits.

All of this sounds great in the game's instruction manual but it's not that easy in practice. That's because PGR3 is hard. Actually, on the medium to harder difficulties it'll totally own your ass, and one screw up usually results in you watching your competitors fly past you and burn their way down the track. With that being said, Mario Kart DS this game is not. It's always better to be in first than last place, and if you have a sizable advantage on the competition I suggest you keep it, lest your nostrils fill with the smell of burning rubber.

If you're into high powered muscle cars then this is really the perfect game for you. Fast as all hell and just begging for a test drive, models from Ford, Ferrari, Honda, Jaguar, Nissan, Mercedes, and Toyota are just but a few of the famous names that comprise the list, and the good news, though this is also one of the game's weaknesses, is you can drive something like a Ferrari F50 off the lot after less than a half an hour of play. That's because it's quite easy to earn massive amounts of credits, especially if you've set the game on the lower difficulty settings. It's a smart way to ensure that you'll be able to have access to the best cars in the shortest amount of time, yet it sort of eliminates the need to work. When I first learned I could afford the F50 after a brisk 30 minutes of race time I actually laughed aloud because I was sort of shocked. But then again, who in their right mind would turn down such an automotive beast? Not this guy.

Once you purchase your car(s) you can place it/them into a garage and freely walk about, examining each vehicle, admiring the artwork adorning the walls, or playing the mini bonus games Geometry Wars 1 & 2, which are both extremely addictive. But keep in mind that PGR3 doesn't come with the full version of Geometry Wars 2, and you can get that through Xbox Live Arcade.

The single player portion of the game features a decent assortment of typical things to do. You can begin a Solo Career and earn Kudos and Credits by defeating opponents and completing challenges, but you can also perform test drives, sell your cars, watch your replays, take photos, and partake in several game types such as Street Race, Eliminator, Team Street Race, Team Eliminator, and Capture the Track. There's even a Route Creator that lets you design your own tracks, but don't confuse that with a full fledged editor, which this most certainly isn't. All it allows you to do is connect points on a map that represent pre-developed set pieces, so it lacks personal flair. But it's still fun to tinker with for a few moments, and there are enough combinations between the available cities to keep you occupied.