THE MOST ORIGINAL GAME OF THE YEAR (Jet Set Radio (DC))

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Product:	Jet Set Radio (DC)
Date:	11/02/01 (13 review reads)
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Advantages: A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL GAME WITH CARTOON STYLE GRAPHICS

Disadvantages: NOT MUCH VARIATION

In the smoke and mirrors surrounding the October launch of the PS2, it'd be a crime to overlook the planned Euro/US release of one of Sega's most original and captivating titles yet. Not long out in Japan, Jet Set Radio (to be re-titles Jet Grind Radio in the US) has been touted as a cross between Tony Hawk's Skateboarding and arcade hit Crazy Taxi, which snappy tag-line - though a bit inaccurate - basically gives you a nice feel for the experience.

In a fictional Japanese city of the very near future, "ruders" (teenage gangs) move between the districts on jet-propelled rollerblades, claiming territory by tagging - marking walls, buildings and street furniture with their personal symbols. Your gang, the GGs, are just moving in on the big triumvirate which have divided the city centre between them. Jet Set Radio involves both missions to expand your borders beyond the other gangs', escape from the evil Inspector Onishima who is determined to rid the city of your sort by any means necessary, and the gradual discovery there's a more important story behind the law's passionate desire to do away with anyone going round with a spraycan and an irreverent attitude.

The skating is snappy and fairly simple, and the levels aren't any great size, but the game is still one of the most outstanding technical achievements on the Dreamcast yet. It looks like anime come to life, with thick black borders around all the ploygon scenery and characters giving it the look of a hand-drawn cartoon. The smaller size of the levels means the buildings and architecture are plastered with beautiful, individual high-resolution textures rather than Crazy Taxi's blurred shop fronts, and although the characters might be simplistic and stylised, they move astonishingly fluidly. The analog stick moves you, right trigger dashing forward with intermittent bursts of speed, and button A jumps.

Characters (there are 10 to be earned) au
tomatically pull off characteristic backflips, splits and twists etc. given enough speed, so there's not much more to the technique. The skill comes in evading pursuit and negotiating obstacles to make it to the precise locations you're required to mark. Left trigger begins once you're stood under the arrows which mark any relevant location, and repeated sweeps of the analog stick in particular patterns gradually build up whatever it is you're painting.

The law really don't care for you very much; once they realise your average policeman on the beat has trouble running down some young person on rollerblades, Onishima leads riot troops, attack choppers (!) and even more into the fray to get you. They don't appear until proscribed limits have been crossed. Levels are a strange sequence of tense exploration and awe-struck wonder at some new location - the sunset third of the city, around the junkyard, is especially stunning - followed by mad, panic-stricken chanrging around the place, dashing down backstreets, through traffic and over rooftops. You can grind (ride) on almost anything with an edge to it, from kerbs to powerlines, so much of the fun is in the "so he killed me this time, but if next time I try and get up there...? my god, that's cool!"

In between the levels involving forced expansion and furthering the story, more of the cast will come looking to join your gang - from the "training" section at the start, where you put your gang together, to impressing people who want to see if you're everything your reputation makes out. These levels, and the inevitable final confrontation when you've overrun a particular gang's empire, are where the stunts come in to play, as you have to use all your dexterity on the stick to throw your skater around after your opponents, from routines of monkey-see, monkey-do to breackneck races against a prospective new friend.

All this is set off
against one of the tightest, most pleasing soundtracks ever to grace a videogame, let alone one about "street" culture; purportedly the pirate broadcasts of
the DJ "Professor K" (the narrator) through the wristwatch come radio you all wear - hence the title of the game. As slick and demented as only the Japanese seem to know how, it blends bubblegum pop, disco house, punk, soul and more into a perfect backdrop to the bright technicolour of the game itself, fit to make anyone smile, then grin, then giggle nervously and grin again.
On top of this, completing every level in a particular gang's territory opens the areas up for recreation - skating just for fun, trying to beat your stunts and your tagging score against the clock. There's a vast array of pictures for your tags, secreted away platform-game fashion, to disover and collect from all of the levels. And Jet Set Radio even contains a rudimentary paint package to design your own tags, along with the ability to download JPG format pictures from the internet and use them as tags. In effect, this gives you the freedom to design your own tags in a professional art package. You can even swap these from VMU to VMU.

It's not perfect - disappointingly, no multi-player mode, and for all its attempts at longevity it's both rather small and perhaps a little easy once you're into the swing of things. A little more commitment from Sega to the cause of graffiti as a legitimate form of social expression would also have been heartening - as it is, we have the unavoidable fact this is a fantasy world, and a rather predictable disclaimer at the title screen urging you not to "do this at home", and so on. Nonetheless, there's more exhilaration, passion and spirit in this one title than in most of what we've seen announced for the PS2. Sega seem to realise that making videogames "art" doesn't have to mean aspiring to too much depth or sincer
ity.

Should you import it? Well - it's perfectly understandable without recourse to Japanese, once you know what's going on. Professor K's narration is even in English! Reference to a FAQ is probably a good idea to guide you through the menus and so on, though, and probably essential if you plan to experiment with the paint package and the browser. Bear in mind, though, that - assuming the Dreamcast doesn't get killed in the space of a few months - if and when Jet Set Radio does make it to the West in localised form Sega promise it will include a new, fourth area to the city by way of a bonus, complete with its own missions (and music courtesy of Rob Zombie and Jurassic 5, should that persuade you). Also, I'm unsure how well the ingame Japanese internet browser works in the US or Europe, for downloading pictures to use as tags, or even if it works at all. However, a final word for how good this title truly is can be that I fully intend to get it in English when it eventually arrives - and I fully expect it will persuade many other people to do the same.
Characters have different attributes for example some have more health than others and some are better at graffiti.

Extra characters
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You start with Beat the founder of the GG's his life is about three quarters full, his technique is about half and his graffiti is also about a half. His clothes are a big pair of headphones, yellow top and black trousers.
When you meet the extra charcters they see if you are any good and test you if you complete the test they join you.

You then meet Gum a girl wears a white dress with stripy sleeves, her power is half, her technique is is three quarters and graffiti is half.

Tab is the next person to approach you he wears overalls and a hat his power and technique bar is half full and his graffiyi bar just a bit lower making him a good choice.

Mew is the next person to sp
eak to you and no it is not the pokemon, she wears a pink dress all her attributes are about average.

The next character looks a bit like a fly with fly eyes and wears a pair of shorts, he has the most life so far but his graffiti is poor and technique average.

Combo has almost full life infact it is that close to being full the makers might of aswell put it up to full he is built tall and stocky and wears ashotsleeved shirt with a yellow t-shirt underneath. A hat, tatoo and radio finish him off in style. Combo comes from another gang but is forced to join the GG's so he can find his friend coin to help him comes cube a lady all in black with average power and technique but better graffiti.

Yo-Yo is the person that i have earned most recently he wears a yellow hooded jacket with black trousers and cool glasses. His power is poor , technique is average and his graffiti is very good.

The last to characters i haven't unlocked so when i do DooYoo users will be first to know about it.

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