Great game, but difficult. (Metropolis Street Racer (DC))

Member Name: davemar

Product:	Metropolis Street Racer (DC)
Date:	18/04/01 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good challenge, quite realistic and fun.

Disadvantages: It is quite difficult, and slow to start a game.

I really enjoy driving games, so when I heard of this one I jumped at buying it. To quickly summarize the game, you own three cars of your choice of differing capabilities. There are a lot of city based tracks to drive around based in Tokyo, San Fransisco and London. You'll recognise many of the sights as you whizz around the streets. The aim of the game is to accumalate 'kudos' points, you get these for good driving, completing the challenges set, good times, and pulling off good moves just handbrake turns. Crashing into things loses you points. The game is split into chapters, each chapter contains several challenges. The aim is to reach the target 'kudos' score for that chapter before you can get onto the next one. The challenges vary from things like beating a certain target time for a lap, to a mini-grand-prix championship. If you complete a chapter you can be offered the chance to get a new car. To get a car you have to take it out for a spin and beat a set time. This can be tough with some cars!

The control of the cars feels quite natural (considering you are using a controller!), but not so dead easy and it is possible to lose it, particularly with handbrake turns. So it is quite realistic in that respect and you have to practice to get better at it, and different cars have a different feel.
Unlike some driving games you can't actually damage the car in this game, but I don't think it suffers as a result. Crashing into things will result in slowing down and penalty points.

The attention to detail is quite impressive, you can change the look of your car and number plate, the driver does move and steer the wheel. You can even re-tune your car radio! The graphics are generally excellent all round, and the cities look realistic, with a good variety of tracks in each city. One other feature is the daylight, which is set according to the time of day. So if you are playing the game at night, then London will be in
darkness! A little negative aspect here is the lighting can be a little too dark, particularly at dusk when the streetlights aren't on.

In terms of playability, I found it addictive to try and get the best score possible to progress in the game. But it is quite heavy going and difficult to get through the chapters, and requires a lot of your time and practice.
You really have to sit down for a while and give it a good go, rather than just have a quick blast.

One final aspect which I found annoying is the length of time it takes to start a game, there seems to several title screens to plod through, then lots of selection options to carry out before you can get behind the wheel.
But overall it is an excellent game that is challenging with great graphics.

It also has some online aspects, but I've yet to try that out.

Summary: