Good racing game, but could have done with more new ideas.
Things I like
Some of the best track design I've ever seen in a racing game. You travel to America, Europe and Asia in career mode and get to race around some stunning looking tracks with amazing scenery, buildings and lighting, best looking racing game I've ever played. The game is pretty well stuffed with content, the career is lengthy, you have arcade mode, time trials, and can upload and download ghosts, pictures, videos. Couldn't really ask for more.
Loads of very cool cars, and bikes, haven't really learned how to ride the bikes yet but it adds to the package and is a nice bonus. But we warned, at first they take some getting used to. You have your super cars right down to your minis, rocket shaped cars, and trucks. The variety of vehicles should keep most people happy.
The weather...wow, racing around New York in a lighting storm in my Enzo was one of those special moments you get in games sometimes, the weather just looks great and adds a new twist to races, you have to adjust your speed and handling if you're racing on ice, wet, or in thick fog. It really adds atmosphere to the races, something the PGR games have been lacking in the past imo. this is the biggest new addition to the game, and a very welcome one.
I cannot comment on the online play as I have not played it online yet. But I've heard it's solid and fun to play online. Also I have only played the new Geometry wars once so cannot really form a opinion on it yet.
I do have a couple problems with PGR4, the soundtrack is very forgettable, I would even call it poor, some very strange song choices in this game. Not a problem for those who listen to custom sound tracks, but still I thought the songs pretty much sucked in this game, and they seem to get drowned out by the engine noises more than I would have liked. Maybe that's a good thing...
There seems to be a lot of menus to get through after every race. Can get annoying. Overall the menus could have been done a lot better.
Buying cars in packs of five can be a pain when all you want is one of them. It's a strange new addition to the game and a negative one in my humble opinion.
Some levels on normal difficulty seem overly hard, while some are to easy, I think there are some balancing issues with the difficulty in campaign mode, not game breaking , but it does seem a bit to hard on normal mode, then again maybe it's just me playing poorly.
I don't like the way you browse the shop to buy stuff, it's just a grey menu with points on it, the show rooms of the previous game were a much nicer way to buy cars. And the garages in PGR4 that I've seen so far don't seem to be as nice as PGR3.
Overall PGR4 does a lot of things well, and only has some minor problems, if you liked any of the previous PGR games then you will more than likely think this one is great. But it does feel very similar to previous games in the series and could have done with some more new stuff to make it feel more fresh. Try the demo first to be sure it's right for you.