Leaves 'Gran Turismo' in the dirt!! (Metropolis Street Racer (DC))

Member Name: markwpage

Product:	Metropolis Street Racer (DC)
Date:	10/11/00 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Graphics, Gameplay, Sound, Kudos, Multiplayer, Selection of modes, It is MASSIVE, Very fun, It'll last for months

Disadvantages: None at all

Before I begin I would like everyone to know that this is without a doubt the BEST DRIVING GAME EVER ON ANY FORMAT. In fact it is so much better than any existing driving game in every way that it even make Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2 looking like a piece of turd.

The prospect is simple, "It's not how fast you drive.....It's how you drive fast". This, the MSR slogan is precisely the rule you must follow. Gone are the days you could bounce off every wall on the track and come first, this is totally different. It's all about KUDOS, a unique scoring system that rewards you with driving stylishly rather than quickly. If you powerslide around a corner in the game you will gain more KUDOS than if you smack into the wall, reverse and drive off again. You will actually use the braking system in this making it more of a simulation as opposed to a full-on arcade blast. In fact the handling of the cars reflects this as they handle realistically but not so that you will be crashing off course all of the time as you would in the recent Ferrari F355 Challenge. Having said that, it doesn't make the handling crap. Oh no, it is actually the finest handling system I have ever witnessed in a video game. It is ten times better than that of 'The Real Driving Simulator', Gran Turismo. This is 'The Real Driving Simulator'.

And it's not just the handling that makes it real. In fact everything about this game is real. Take 3 famous cities, 40,000 photographs and 40 hours of video footage then model it into a 3D environment and you have the tracks in MSR. There are 250 tracks altogether, a record for a racing game. These are all based in different areas of the 3 cities, London, San Francisco and Tokyo and all are modelled accurately right down to the paving stone. There are 3 areas in each city, each being about 1.5 sq miles in area and the tracks are comprised of different routes through the areas. The tracks are all good and ran
ge from 20 seconds long to over 2 minutes.

As you would have expected the graphics are fantastic. The 40,000 odd photographs that were taken to make this game have been scanned into developers, Bizarre Creations' computers and modelled into the 3D environments. You can see Piccadilly Circus and Big Ben (Which displays the correct time) as well as the rolling hills of San Francisco and the lit-up streets of downtown Tokyo. Everything is here and everything looks AMAZING.

The cars are no slouch either, with ambient lighting effects on the cars and even a driver who changes the gears and puts on the handbrake. There is so much detail in this game it is unbelievable and it doesn't stop there. The game is clock sensitive meaning that when you switch it on, the game takes the time from your Dreamcast's internal clock and puts it into the game. So if it is 8am in London you will see the early sun whereas if you played a San Francisco track at the same time, it would be midnight and therefore dark. The street lights would be on and of course it looks cool at night too.
There are even weather effects thrown into the mixture with convincing rain and decent looking fog effects.

The game is also a treat audio wise. The car engines are all pre-recorded so they are real sounding and the engine noise is affected by the distance of the camera from the car and whether of not you are near a wall or in a tunnel which will echo the engine noise. And it doesn't stop there either. The soundtrack is fantastic too. Created by game sound legend Richard Jacques, all 20+ songs in the game are of high quality and some such as the Oasis esque 'Live your Life' are good enough for chart entry. Each city also comes complete with a range of radio stations which play different types of music. Capital Jazz, for example, plays Jazz music. The DJs are really good and sound convincing talking of traffic conditions and adverts even play at times adve
rtising real products such as Diet Tango of which the 'You need it because you're weak' advert plays.

But are the game modes any good, I hear you ask. Well, to put it simply they are magnificent. The main event is the 'Street Racing' mode which puts you into 25 chapters of driving glory. This allows you to earn KUDOS by driving well in each of the events. There are Hot Laps, Timed Runs, One on One races, Street Races and sometimes Secret Challenges. You will need to practice and practice to get past these and earn maximum KUDOS and it will take you near a week to complete the first Training Chapter! Some game would try to get away with something of this size but not MSR.

Every time you finish a chapter you will get a car or 2 extra to drive of which there are over 40. These are cars from a range of well-known manufacturers including Vauxhall and Alfa Romeo. They all handle differently and you will become attached to one car racking up hundreds of miles on its milometer.

So there are all the other modes such as time attack and single race but what of multiplayer modes? Well, you'll be glad to hear that they are present and most definitely correct. There are championships, single races, pursuits, match races.....the list goes on. The split screen graphics are just as good as the single player graphics too. Put it this way, the 2 player will not disappoint.

So there you have it. A game that has been delayed for over a year and has more than lived up to expectations. If you don't have a Dreamcast then buy one now. If you won't then tell me why not. This game is as close to perfection as you can get. Go out and buy it, NOW!!!!!!!

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