GRAN TURISMO 5: PROLOGUE

GRAN TURISMO 5: PROLOGUE

(Sony Computer Entertainment/Polyphony Digital) for PlayStation 3

Rating: E

Grade: A

With more than 47 million copies sold worldwide, the racing simulation series Gran Turismo is easily Sony’s premiere franchise. It has been slow to make the leap to next-generation consoles, but Gran Turismo 5: Prologue remedies that.

Last year, a free PlayStation 3 download of the Gran Turismo HD Concept demo featured one track and 10 cars. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue packs a lot more punch: six tracks, more than 70 cars, three racing modes, two-player split-screen racing and online play for up to 16. It’s still not the full game, which is scheduled to ship next year, but think of Prologue as a tasty racing appetizer with a $40 price tag.

This game offers a deep experience, even without a career mode. It will easily engross driving aficionados more than such recent full-price games as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune have.

Every vehicle handles like the real thing. There are plenty of fast cars from such manufacturers as Acura, Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, Lotus, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Suzuki. To unlock many of them, players must perfect their skills in event races. That’s where the challenge lies. But fans of the series know what they’re getting into. The game has the most gorgeous photo-realistic vehicles ever seen; even the cars’ interiors have been accurately modeled in 3-D.

The tracks are also amazing, including the new Daytona International Speedway road course and the streets of London (miraculously void of congestion). The game’s ability to bring high-definition visuals to gamers with a full field of 16 drivers (racing online or offline) blows away the competition.

Gran Turismo games have always generated a lack of physical damage to cars when they crash; that will be addressed in a future download. That’s one of the great things about Prologue: In addition to online racing, PlayStation Network will update the game with new cars, tracks and features, adding even more depth. Enthusiasts can even download racing footage and car-related programming from around the globe.

This title will easily satiate PS3 fans who have been craving a racing simulation game.

—John Gaudiosi, Washington Post

BAROQUE

(Atlus) for PlayStation 2, Wii

Rating: T

Grade: C+

Baroque’s title comes from the Portuguese word “barroco,” meaning “flawed pearl.” For many people who play this hack-and-slash role-playing game, that’s an appropriate description. Its flaws may tempt you to toss it aside, but persistence yields value.

Baroque’s plot is its strength. The world has been destroyed, leaving twisted denizens and the strange Neuro Tower. The tower and its dungeon are the game’s focal points. Your character has committed a great sin and must atone for it by venturing to the bottom of the tower, which may in turn heal the world. But you have no memory, which makes atonement difficult.

The tower is filled with monsters that were once people. They have committed a “baroque,” kind of like a sin such as gluttony or lust. The baroque eventually turned them into monsters that represent their sin. You can “purify” them (basically killing them) through combat. Eating their hearts or bones gives players certain powers. Just keep telling yourself that you’re the good guy — maybe.

Players explore levels in search of a portal down to the next. But don’t rush. Characters give clues about the plot or your unknown sin. Sometimes they ask, often cryptically, for items. Oftentimes you can’t help a character at first but will see them again on another trip through the tower.

When you die, your level is reset and you return to the start of the game without any items. That maddening feature advances the plot. You must delve through the constantly changing (and growing) tower multiple times to unravel the mystery, so if you’re impatient, this game isn’t for you.

—John Breeden II, Washington Post