TDU vs PG3, which one is better and why
going to try to list the good and the bad of both of these games, and explain
which one I FEEL is the better of the two racers. Lastly, I am going to talk about our
over-reaching view of what "Next Gen" should be. I apologize for spelling errors in
advance. Long post. You were warned.
PGR3
It would
probably be best to start with a game I think that everybody respects. It is very clear that for an arcade style
racer, PGR3 is the best of the best. PGR3, is not a simulation, by any means though. Here are the positive and negative points of
the game, as I see it:
Positive
1) Fantastic
online. Having the ability to watch
others with Gotham TV is also a blast. This can be a great learning tool and a wonderful way to spy on your
friends :-P. Lag is almost nonexistant
in PGR3. I have been in a couple of
races where there has been a laggy car or 2, but that is so few and far between
that is almost not worth mentioning. It
was most likely the connection of the people lagging. Gotham TV is a wonderful tool for learning
how to play the game. Watch the worlds
best race. It is amazing.
2) Great
frame rates. PGR3 is not streaming a
whole lot of area, so it can do a remarkably good job of keeping a steady frame
rate. It looks good.
3)
Customizable Tracks. Make your own
courses and race people with them. They
claim you can make over a million courses (at least at the loading screens it
does ,lol)
4) A ton
of cars: Honestly more than TDU, but
this will discussed later. Each car is
modelled beautfully and is a pleasure to drive (except I suck at the Evolution
for some reason)
5) Beautiful
textures. Of these 2 games, PGR's
textures have more resolution and a higher poly count. Of course, this is expected in technically
possible in a smaller area. The
screenshots of this game are, in fact, on my desktop. The game looks incredible.
6) Day
and night racing. Nuff said.
Negative
1) Car
driving performance not varied much. You
can pretty much get into car 1 then car 2 and pick up where you left off. The biggest difference is the classes. E is different from D and so forth. That is very noticeable. But for the most part, MOST ( and here comes
the flames because there are a FEW cars that feel signifigantly different in
each class ) cars handle to same way. This is one of the symptoms of an arcade racer. The game is also plagued with the "Ridge
racer" type sliding. Not NEAR as
bad, of course,... but it still makes power sliding way too easy, as compared
to how it should be.
2) No
damage. The only reason I bring this up
at all, is because people are complaining about TDU not having one. I figured it would be fair if I just pointed
that out as well. Would you like to pay
for your repairs after a PGR3 ram fest race. No, I did not think so. If we had
a damage engine, people would complain about the expense and the griefers. Sorry, for the time being, until they have a
way to patch griefers,.. I don't think you will see damage on these kind of
games very often.
3) Races
plaged with everybody has the same car. I have joined hundreds of races where people are forcing everybody drive
the same stupid car. This is so common
in PGR3. While not a flaw of the game
itself. It does force players to race on
somebody's best track against their best car.. and you lose. Not a lot of fun in my opinion. This can make finding a race that you want to
join a bit of a pain. Once again, this
is a player base problem, but should be remarked on.
4)
Unrealistic roads. When I say this, I
mean that the roads are relatively flat. The roads have little personally. They are curvey and such, but for the most part, the bumps just are
cosmetic. Perfectly flat streets are not
normal ( at least if you have lived in all the places I have ). Most of the time you lose control is because
of over or under estimating a turn. Tracks are pretty linear. There
is no chance to leave the track and blaze your own path.
5) AI is
on a fixed course. The AI always seems
to get right back into place, even if they get bumped around ( which is WAY
hard to do ) and they ignore each other and just "pit manuever" you,
if they can.
TDU
Positive
1)
Fantastic online. No "Gotham TV" option present, but the ability to
just cruise around and see somebody as well, suddenly you flash your lights at
them, and you two are off on a race with or against traffic down to
who-knows-where. Lose, win,.. it's
ok. Click revenge and off you go again. This is a blast. You can do this for $$$ and it is a fun way
to win and lose some cash. Also join
custom made time challenges and premade courses as well. Some of these courses are well over 100
miles, creating a mini "Cannonball" style event. The option of fast or short courses, mixed in
with optional traffic and cops makes for a really different driving experience
online. As of right now, there are some
problems with the online. But, then
again, I defy you to find one Massive Online type game that has started off
perfect. Can't think of one? Neither can I. People always whine that there are problems
in the first few days. But you can't
test the stress on the servers with a console game like this. A demo does not cut it.
2)
Customizable Tracks. The customization
of tracks in this game makes PGR3's "Million courses" seem like a
very.. very.. very ( more very's ) small number. The number of tracks that you can have in
this is.. well... infinite. You really
can't beat that number.. ever You have
curves, straights, city, country.... whatever. It is here. TDU wins in this
area. Players can create their own
challenges, where the best time after a set time periond ( 2 days or such )
wins the whole pot. The creater gets 10%
of the pot. This is a great idea.
3) Each
car handles very differently. Not all F
class cars are the same, not all A class are the same. There are very clear differences with these
cars. You can feel them with weight and
body roll. It is done very well. To really understand the differences between
the cars, get yourself a wheel and you can really FEEL the difference.
4) Real street dynamics. What I mean by this is, the streets have
flaws. Bumps, dips and flaws. Some people will not like this. I do. It gives each road real personallity. Most racers have the roads as pretty flat, with some slight elevation
changes. By adding personallity to a
piece of road, you make the road a real part of the game and not just a
texture. Also, a bumpy stretch of road
can be really punishing to somebody doing 235 and trying to turn, lol. Also, you are not forced to race on the
streets. Shortcuts through the dirt and
fields can sometimes be used.
5) A good
deal of cars. While not the
"ton" the PGR3 offers, they have stated that there will be more for
download in the future.. same as PGR3. Furthermore since there is such a difference between each car, I feel
they don't need as many to fill the void. Still, if you feel that 90 cars is not enough... Personally, I want to get good with just 1
car. I want to master it, that is more
interesting to me. Still, the cost is
$40 partially because they know people will pay for car downloads in the
future.
6) The
ability to "cruise". You can
just drive to.. well.. drive. Test drive
started this way. Here is a car, now
drive it. I find this kind of gameplay
to be extremely relaxing. Just drive. Simple, but fun.
7) The AI
makes mistakes. The AI attacks each
other. They drive off the road, they
crash. I love it. Finally, a non-perfect computer
opponent. That makes it more interesting
by far.
Negative
1) No
Damage. This one has been covered. Though it is fun to ram the cars on the
street sometime, since they DO take damage.
2)
Difficulty. While I do not consider this
a negative, most people who are not into more realistic physics will. Yes I know the physics are not perfect, but
they are much better than PGR3 and Burnout revenge or any other arcade racer. The difficulty will turn off most
people. This is a negative, because to
truly get the most out of the game, you may need to invest in a wheel. I did, and I can tell you it is night and
day. So the added expense of a wheel, to
get the most out of this game will hurt. Sim lovers won't mind.
3)
Ocassional frame rate issues. I have
noticed that when running a race with the faster cars, such as B or A classes,
through a city the frame rate can suffer, until you get out of it. That is the majority of the frame rate issues
I have noticed. Others may have noticed
more.
4)
Occassional streaming problems. I have
driven off the world once so far ( I have driven the entire map --> see
achievements for proof ). Only once have
I driven off the world, as I outdrove the streaming ( it only seems to happen
on this one stretch of highway going east, sometimes )
5)
Motorcycles. While fun, they are not
FULLY implemented. Front and back break
control would have been nice. The only
reason I mention bikes is that they are in there. All things equal, PGR3 does not even have
bikes. Still fun though if wierd. Maybe it is ok, I don't know. I don't play bike games
6) No
night time. It is always dusk in Oahu. Kind of
wierd. Pretty,... but wierd
7) Some
online issues. I expected as much, but I
have to be fair and put it in, as they are still working out the bugs, it will
get better. It is pretty good now, but
finding friends can be hard sometimes. Go to a remote area and meet up. It is easier that way.
Overall,
I would say that TDU is a much greater racer. It is clear it has its flaws. Yes, this is true. All games have
flaws. But pound for pound, this game
has more to offer you than any other racer out there. It is the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion of
racing games. Great job Atari, for
creating a whole new direction to go for racers in the future.
Final
thoughts on Next Gen:
We ask
too much of this next gen in gaming. We
want the moon now. It is ok to ask for
it, it is ok to desire it. Do not expect
it yet. The reviewers were upset at TDU
because there were no people on the sidewalks. They were upset at character models. Common people how can adding something to a game, that has never been
added before cause it to lose points. Most of the time this stuff is not even there. It is the added level of immersion that is
making these games more intense. But
every time they try to add something like this, people complain about the
quality. It was not even there last time,
so why complain about it now? Somehow
everybody thinks games on Next Gen should look and run like FF 7: Advent
Children. That is in the future, but it
is not now. I would have NEVER have
expected TDU to map out Oahu to drive on, but
yet there are still people who complain that they cannot find their house. Common people, stop being so whiny! This is a giant leap in racing games. If you can't admit that then I would stay out
of consoles for the next 20 years, as it will be a while, before you become
slightly satisfied. Let these advances
happen, and let games like this grow. You can't do it all perfectly the first time, but I will say this. They came pretty darn close.
Grats
Atari!