Overall 7.5 Graphics 10 Sound 8 Addictive 9 Depth 9.5 Difficulty 6
9.6
Gran Turismon 6... zanderlex
A couple years ago, I was really excited when my favorite racing franchise, Gran Turismo, released the 5th game in its series. I immediately bought the game and it soon became one of my favorite racing games ever. The same thing happened just a little while back when Gran Turismo 6 hit the shelves. I could not get the game when it first came out due to monetary dilemmas, but on April 1st, I had managed to pick up a bunch of new games when I traded my 3DS and this happened to be one of them.
I have not yet been disappointed by this franchise, each game gets better and better and the 6th installment was no exception. This game proved to have everything that I could ever want in a racing game and it just has so many different things.
This game has so much more than what GT 5 had, nearly 3 dozen different tracks and more than 5 dozen different designs of these tracks, and more than 150 more cars than what was seen in the previous game. I find some of these new features to be unique. There are some basic new features such as tracks that perform differently based on whether, and then there are some new features that are out of this world.
I haven’t actually checked this out yet, but apparently the game includes the use of a Land Rover with the moon as a track. Now that is something that I would love to see.
GRAPHICS 10/10
As for the graphics, I thought that GT 5 had some of the best racing graphics ever and I never imagined that they could have gotten any better than that. Well of course, the developers Polyphony Digital had a few tricks up their sleeves to make sure that the graphics of this game are much better than that of the previous game. They have gone WELL out of their way to give their graphics the next step towards reality.
Sure, in my opinion it looks like there may be a few bugs compared to GT 5 when it comes to the speed of the game, but the overall clarity and detail of the cars, track, and surroundings have far more advantages than one or two things that make the game appear just frames slower. In my opinion, these are the best graphics that I have ever seen from any sports game and they are the most realistic graphics as well, as if somebody was right behind your car, videotaping everything as you play.
As for the grade for this category, I highly doubt that this game deserves anything below a perfect score. There are no more than a handful of other games that I could ever say have better graphics.
SOUND 8/10
As for the sound of the game, there is a TON of songs. The soundtrack contains almost 150 songs. I wouldn’t really consider any of these songs to be one of my “Favorites”, but they are still really good songs. There are plenty of songs that are both instrumental and lyrical, and most of them are very energetic and blend in really nicely with the quick tempo of the game. What I am saying though, is that I don't like the soundtrack as a whole, however, out of the hundred and something songs that make up the soundtrack, there are a couple that I do like.
One song that I like from the soundtrack is called The New Black and is from Roll The Dice. I don't exactly like the music itself, but the instruments that are used and the tempo that the song is played at really resembles the speed of the cars. Throughout the song, you hear a fast paced beat and if this is played as you are driving, it fits in perfectly as the car accelerates because the song really gives you a good feeling of speed and the beat makes the song sound very energetic as well as a bit dramatic. when the song is played while driving, it also makes you feel as though you are going to crash at every turn.
Though this is not one of my favorite video game soundtracks, and I don't really enjoy it, it’s still very well made, has a few really good songs, and is going to get an 8 out of 10.
Aside for a few features, there isn’t really a story in this game. It’s mostly just racing, so I am going to leave the story grade out.
ADDICTIVENESS 9/10
The game is very addicting, sure it can be very repetitive because you are just racing over and over again, but because of all the new features, racing over and over will never get boring. When it comes to Gran Turismo, I am the kind of person that can pick the same car and race on the same track over and over again. When it comes to racing, you will never have the same experience in one race that you had in another one. You will never have the same race no matter how many times you race, and that is what makes the game addicting. The uncertainty of the races outcome and the thrill, in addition to all of the new features and the number of cars and tracks will allow me to give the addictiveness portion a grade of 9 out of 10.
DEPTH 10/10
As for the depth of the game, it is almost impossible for me to give this section anything that is less than perfect. There is just so many things in this game. Sure, it’s just one race after another, but there are just so many different combinations that you can work with. There are almost 1200 different cars to use and more than 60 different track designs. If you were to use every car just once on each possible track layout, you could take part in well beyond 50 thousand races. This is the kind of game where you could play hundreds of hours and not even scratch the surface of the game because there is simply so much to do in the game.
DIFFICULTY 5
As for the difficulty of the game, it is not that hard if you have played any of the other games in the series. If you have played a game in the series before, you will have no problem with playing the newest game. If you have never played another game in the series and this one is your first one, then the only thing you have to do is get used to which button does what. The game really can’t be any easier, even if you are a terrible game, you will quickly get the hang of the game and you will begin winning races in no time. For Difficulty, I am going to give this game a 5 out of 10, but it can fluctuate based on how much experience you have with racing games and can range from 3 to 6 on experience.
OVERALL 9.6
As for the overall game, it is a SPECTACULAR game and if you have not yet played it, I highly recommend that you test it out. It is easily the greatest racing game that I have ever played and one of the best sports games I have played. Even if you don't like racing games but do enjoy sports games, I would recommend that you try it out because it is a very fast paced game, and can easily get you addicted. I just bought the game a bit over a week ago, and have already played 25 hours and see no sign of slowing down. My overall grade for Gran Turismo 6 is 9.6.
Graphics 10 Sound 9 Addictive 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 04-10-14
Updated: 07-10-14
Review Replies: 0
8
GT6 EX Palen
Fifteen years after the first Gran Turismo, here is the sixth and so far latest installment. It features a lot of real circuits, with some fictional and urban circuits, and a very large car roster, with brands from four continents. It also includes a special project, called Vision Gran Turismo, in which several brands from all over the world expose futuristic cars as their own vision of the future of the automobile. Some have taken the chance to show urban cars, others show race cars, and some even mix both options by presenting two or even three models.
GRAPHICS: 10
Without a doubt, the best aspect of the game. The tracks feel almost real, with even the slightest details added, though there are minor details still missing, such as a small bump in Cote d’Azur which is crucial in real life races held on that circuit. What to say about cars, is like if you were watching them directly and not through a screen. Worth of mention is the detail of the iridescent painting, making the color of the car change depending on the angle of vision, presence or absence of sunlight and a few more aspects. As for the inside view of the car, well, I’m not used to it, but I’ve used it in some replays, and though it’s not that detailed I wouldn’t say that it’s plain and simple.
SOUND: 7
Who wants music, when you have the sound of the engines? Well, except for electric cars, in that case a little music could be welcome. In the menus, the music serves a good purpose as an ethereal add-on, while on the replays there are better songs than others, but all of them seem equally suited for a race. And well, the engine sounds… Not very realistic, being benevolent, even if they sound amazingly good, I know that some cars don’t have the noise Gran Turismo presents. I wouldn’t mind if this happened in the early installments, which it did, but after nearly 20 years I think one great addition would be this one.
ADDICTIVENESS: 9
It’s always fun to race, at least for me. I could play this game at all times, and since there are a ton of cars and a lot of tracks to visit, it’s hard to get tired of this game. The seasonal events, the quick play, the online servers, the newly included community… A lot of things to do, many new things to try day after day. If we had changing weather conditions and night races even without proper in-track illumination outside of the online modes I could have rated this a 10.
STORY: 0
You incarnate a young racer who wants to become the greatest driver to have existed. Through many and varied challenges, you manage to worm your way through the ranks, so much so that even Lord March hears of you and invites you to the Goodwood Festival of Speed that he organizes every year.
With such an important man having set his eyes on you, your career never ceases to ascend, and you become able to drive the most select cars in existence, race in mythical events that were just a dream in the distant past, and demonstrate you can handle any machine you’re handed under any circumstances.
Having mastered all tracks, machines and conditions, the biggest and most important brand sets its mind on you: Red Bull. You have been selected to be part of their Driver Development program, and thus allowed to drive their most brutal prototypes, the Red Bull X, the fastest machines mankind has ever built. To graduate, you must defeat the four times Formula One World Champion and Red Bull’s (former) protégé, Sebastian Vettel, in a one-on-one battle with the exact same machine.
Not a bad story, but sadly this is just the background of the single player mode. It could be real, and honestly Gran Turismo would gain a lot with a story mode like this, in a similar way to Need for Speed Shift, but I’m guessing that the real thing would be to change being Red Bull’s protégé for Nissan’s, since they have been a lot more involved with the game.
DEPTH: 9
A lot of things to do, not only in the main mode, but also on special events such as the Ayrton Senna tribute and the Moon Rover experience. You have a lot of races, each with its own conditions and requirements, you have license tests, single-brand quests and coffee break challenges. Not really bad, but still missing something: endurance races never last more than half an hour, when I remember doing two hour races back in Gran Turismo 2. A very weak point, specially when three tracks hosting 24 hour events in real life are represented as 24 minutes at most in the game.
DIFFICULTY: 7
At first, races are of a ridiculous difficulty, but then they escalate to become real challenges, specially when competing in karts or with specifically designated machines. Even then, the difficulty is nothing to mess with, it all depends in choosing the right car, the best settings and the best strategy, mostly on endurance races on the pit stops. Depending on what you choose for these three factors, you can have a very easy time or be unable to win at all. Of course, there’s also the randomness of the opponents, as sometimes you will face different machines when exiting a race and re-entering it, which means that you can still win with a bad choice if you happen to be in the right time. And well, the Red Bull races are made with virtual cars that cannot even be built for real, so I’m ignoring how hard the challenges are (and how hard is to get used to the car’s monstrous performance).
OVERALL: 8
Once again, Gran Turismo demonstrates why it’s the best racing simulator. Or at least was, because in recent times some games have appeared to try and claim the title for themselves. Nonetheless, Gran Turismo will always be above your average racing game no matter how many years pass.
POSITIVE
-A wide variety of track conditions: the time can affect the temperature of the track and the amount of sunlight and shadow, the climate can wet the track and make driving a lot more difficult, and since time can pass as the race progresses, you can start a race during the day and end during the night.
-The tribute to Ayrton Senna. He was the best driver to ever exist, and for Gran Turismo to include three of the cars he drove during his life, as well as two special circuits from Senna’s era, is a very big point.
-The inclusion of the Moon Rover. Yep, you have a few challenges you can make on the Moon’s surface. Not very fast, like 30 mph or so, but overly fun due to the lesser gravity and terrain conditions. Definitely a must for any player who attempts this game.
-Vision Gran Turismo. This is the name of a project in which many brands from all around the world present prototypes of what they think will be the future of the automobiles. Some have resurrected old legends, like the Chevrolet-Chaparral alliance, the Le Mans Prototype of Mazda and the return of the Alpine brand through Renault, and some have simply developed extreme cars like the prototypes they expose at the diverse Motor Shows held all over the world. Chevrolet went as far as to use an engine that doesn’t even exist, and SRT included aerodynamic components that aren’t yet invented, all in the name of the future and innovation.
-Sebastian Vettel. I’m not a big fan of him, but I have relatives which are, and hearing his voice as he challenges you to beat him did really excite them. Seb, maybe you won’t see this, but your fans appreciate that gesture. Too bad you probably won’t be in future installments since you’re racing for Ferrari now.
NEGATIVE
-Car roster. It’s big, and includes a lot of brands and tuners, but a little more variety has been demanded by fans ever since the first Gran Turismo. Some European and American brands only have a handful of cars, while Japanese brands have dozens of the same cars, and I mean THE SAME: same performance, same price, even same year. Do we really need that?
-Offline multiplayer. You can do almost anything when hosting a game in online multiplayer, but have very limited options when it comes to offline multiplayer. Why are we hampered when it comes to play with someone sitting besides you, but have free reign to play with an stranger over the net? Disgusting.
-Seasonal events. Lately, they have been recycled versions of not so old events hosted before, some other times are really specific as to which car(s) you can use, and most of the times you have no room for strategy in selecting the tires, not to mention the weather conditions, which are seldom at night and rarely under the rain.
-Rolling start. Suddenly, the grid system is completely discarded in favor of rolling starts, in an attempt to add more difficulty to the race as your opponents are given an edge even before starting. Probably the most ridiculous option to try to make races even harder challenges.
-Tire selection. In Seasonal Events, this factor is horrible. They are almost always focused on using hard tires, ignoring the medium and soft compounds. At least, those compounds are selectable in single player to give you a strategy factor, but seemingly Seasonal Events don’t need anything like this.
Graphics 10 Sound 7 Addictive 9 Depth 9 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 07-30-15
Review Replies: 1
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