Game Title: Jet Set Radio Future
Developer: Smilebit
Genre: Action, Sports, Art
Rating Teen
Release date: Feburary 28th 2002 (Western)
Platform: Xbox
Game overview: The year is 2024, the Rokkaku group, a mega corporate enterprise is taking over Tokyo bit by bit, Oppressing the people, taking away their choice and their freedom. Running this show is Rokkaku Goji, he plans to make Tokyo his own. All the while rival gangs vie for control of the streets, be it from the Rokkaku or one of the seemingly endless rival gangs. The hottest gang at the moment is the GG's, small in number but steadily growing. They plan to "bury Tokyo in graffiti" and make the streets their own Easel, but have no idea the impact they will have on freeing the streets and the tyranny of the oppressive Rokakku Goji.
The game starts with Yo-Yo, the newest addition to the GG's, after being mistaken for the pizza man, your are introduced to the rest of the gang, which at first only comprises of Gum, the first female character, Potts, the dog. And Corn, the leader of the crew. Shortly after the brief introduction, Corn switches on the radio for the undergrounds own news station, Jet Set Radio. Run by DJ professor K, He'll be your narrator and news caster for the rest of the game. With these stones set in place, and the story on the table, your launched into the game. and get ready for ride you won't forget.
Game play is pretty straightforward, and unfairly addictive. You can select any character you've already unlocked, all of which varry in stats, governing speed, stamina, graffiti amount, cornering, acceleration, etc. I, personally never found too huge of a difference other then graffiti amount and stamina (your health) but hey, it's there if you like diversity. From there you can head out to each locale, featuring a bus terminal station(my personal favourite), Shibuya Terminal, An entertainment district, Chuo street and even a roller coaster ride connected to sky scrapers, Sky Dinosaurian Square. Each locale has their own governing gang with their own story to them and ready to beat you down. It really does make you feel like your in a turf war. Think, a futuristic "The Warriors" on skates. Sadly, you only get to go to one at a time, but once you finish up there, you can go back to it a at anytime. The Garage being your in game menu screen and from there you pick your spot and walk into the "hallway" type exit which finally puts you into the core of this game. The gameplay.
At first the controls may feel a little strange, but thats understandable. you move with the left stick and jump with A
holding left trigger locks the camera on you and A jumps. Simply jumping onto a rail with cause you to grind which you can control the speed by pulling back or forward. X and Y do tricks on the rail or in the air and B does a turbo at the cost of ten spray cans, which can be replenished by picking them up. The controls are pretty fluid but the problem is the lack of camera control which should be mapped to the right stick but instead you get a fixed camera behind you, which gets confusing in closed corridors and during most boost jumps.
The second your into the level, your usually presented with a task, thankfully each task has a bit of a back story to it, giving you insentive you finish. Tasks usually range from covering up nasty graffiti, to spraying your own. This game is all about the paint. Once your done the task the gang and or gang member will show up and challenge you, to a race, or capture the flag, or other times a showdown of spray can verses the enemies face. Sometimes winning a challenge unlocks a character, but there are only a select few you get from playing through the campaign. More on that later.
So, you've got your idea, bury the town in graffiti, sounds cool write? sadly, this part is very limited. There are icons scattered about the zone in various difficulty, some are straightforward like walking up to the side of a bus, but some can test your patience with a series of grinds, jumps and lucky falls. Even if there are loads of places to tag, it's very structured, which can sometimes be a bummer. tagging graffiti is straight forward, hold right trigger and tag all the icons and your done. Each piece ranges in size from super small to extra large. Collecting Graffiti Souls will unlock varients to your graffiti and even let you create your own, a skill I can't ever get to work because my art skills with an analog stick is limited, but I've seen some cool stuff so hey, practise.
Jet Set Radio Future is all about speed, you feel it everywhere, and when you grind your body even blurs and the screen around you blurs with it. Giving you the sense on non-stop speed. Using a boost causes the screen to almost become a mass of blur, but damn is it impressive. the game runs at a solid 60fps with slowdowns, which is odd. The game can feature
hundreds of animation at a time, from the thousands of people walking, to the birds flying in the air to the limitless cars. Yet the game cannot keep a solid framerate when you move
too fast usually happens in a boost. Which honestly is a good thing, you move so fast that even twitch response skills with end up in mis jumps. Still, you feel you can outrun sonic at times, which is a damn good thing.
JSRF has it's own style to it that I can't seem to describe, It's cell-shaded graphics may be a turn off at the mention of it, but pop it in and you'll see it is easily one of the most beautiful games of last generation. The design of each locale reflects the gangs there and sometimes has it's own style that you feel you left reality completely. The millions of cramped houses in Rokkaku Dai-Heights to the Egyption styled architecture in the Pharoh district. Each zone has that significant "wow" factor that even just waiting to see what else the game can throw at you is motivation in itself.
The music..where do I begin? This is, by far, the highlight of this game. Every artist is non-mainstream which is refreshing, yet every soundtrack flows into the game like bread and butter. At times, the skates hitting the ground feel like the perfect beat to the music. The soundtracks are all individual and each one has it's own feel. Some more upbeat then others. Others more laid back and some even a little confusing. At times I would leave the game running and just listen to all the music tracks. This game easily rivals the best soundtrack in the gaming industry, hands down.
1.Audio: 10
From the sounds of people you bump into telling you not to touch their butt, to the crows chirping, to the cars driving by and all the while a pumping soundtrack in the background. This is a game you can admire without even playing.
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2.Graphics: 8
The graphics come in as a beautiful cell shaded style. And while the game can look damn right incredible at times, a perplexing frame rate and the feel that the designer went with the "simple and easy" plan a bit too much may take away from the overall experiance.
3.Controls: 7
The controls are easy to pick up and go for experianced players, but newcomers may find them a bit frustrating at times.Especially the camera in particular.
4.Content: 10
Graffiti souls to find and unlock, secret tapes unlocking challenges which in return rewards you with characters you saw, but were unable to play. (IE. Immortals, Zero beat) Once you finish the game, all your graffiti is gone and allows you to cover it all back up again, kinda annoying. But it's still pretty fun trying to find new routes to the same spot witch a different character.
5.Replayability: 6
Egh..this ones a toughie, I've had to replay it a few times and find it rather annoying. Since most of the stuff is unlocked AFTER you beat the game. It kind of deters you from playing it over again,
REGARDLESS of that, you will probably end up playing through it a second time for the fun story and witty dialogue. oh ya, and listening to DJ professor K is always a treat.
6.Multiplayer:7.5
This portion really feels like an add on, sadly. It's great fun at first, featuring challenges from the game and certain locales as well. and it's fun to get four people and playing some Graffiti Tag.
But sadly it dosen't feel like it was really planned out too well. Which is a shame, because a free play mode and a recording feature with four players in, say, Shibuya Terminal would be BAD.ASS.
7.Story: 9
The story is pretty solid, a few twists and turns here and there. But it delivers a solid tale about gangs, oppression, freedom of choice and speech and shaping the future for ourselves.
8.Innovation: 8
Although it is the sequel to Jet Set Grind on the dreamcast. It took it's basic idea and built upon like none other, improving controls, graphics, game play, characters, the whole shabang.
But since most people thought of it as a stand alone game. It's innovation was pretty impressive, it took chances, rolled the dice right and came off clean.
9.Getting into it: 10
At first you may be weary about it, but when you pick it up and play you'll discover a real gem here. The game play is solid, the music addictive and the entire experiance will stick with you for a long time. Go ahead, put it down, you'll pick it up again very soon, trust me.
10. Game length: 10
At most you can beat the game in 7-10 hours. But it dosen't require you too, you can stop the main storyline and just go muck about as long as you want. Even when you beat the game, you still got stuff to do, it'll keep you busy, and you'll love every second of it.
OVERALL 8.5/10
EDIT: As of Apirl the 19th 2007, jet set radio future was backwards compatible on xbox 360, I've played both versions and can easily say that the original xbox is the way to go. sure, it's a great feature and all, but it cuts the framrate 70% making it down right impossible to play and fully enjoy. I tried my other xbox games and came to a conclusion; BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY BLOWS.
Kroen
