Awesome! (MSR Metropolis Street Racer (DC))

Member Name: Premier King

Product:	MSR Metropolis Street Racer (DC)
Date:	10/10/01 (142 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The Game

Disadvantages: Not Many

Metropolis Street racer is another one of my best Dreamcast games that I have suddenly become inseparable from – this racing game is just darn addictive! I suppose it must be a combination of the amazing graphics, with accurately detailed cars and tracks – based in three very real, real life cities (Tokyo, the Japanese circuits are based here) (London – us Brits can enjoy a tour of Westminster, St James Park, and all sorts in England’s representative) (San Francisco providing the American city) and all look very, very realistic indeed – a mightily impressive graphics fest of a game. Nothing I have played on the PlayStation looks anywhere near as good as this. The game cost him £29.99, but you can buy it for £19.99 from most online retailers, good value if you ask me. This is one game that he won’t be seeing for a while…

Second great point – the difficulty! Finally here is a racing game that is above average in difficulty – but it’s just the right difficulty that when you complete a task in one of the earth shattering 25 chapters, you feel so very much rewarded – you gain kudos – Greek word for respect, and are able to unlock more tasks in that level chapter – basically you aim to complete everything, get maximum respect for your driving, unlock the sweetest sports cars, new chapters and progress in order to complete the single player game, and so far I’m doing ok! So, how do you get kudos and why should you even want to get some? Kudos means respect, it’s the main aspect of the game – you respect the game, the game gives you respect for your driving skills. You get kudos for skill – and style, so you could be the most careful skilful driver, but if you take risks as well, getting in some superb handbrake slides, maybe the odd 360 here and there – you’ll get a whole bucket load of kudos! However, hit another car or a wall, then you’ll be p
atronised by a horrid “warning penalty” sign, which will deduct the kudos count when your task has ended, so be careful…

Kudos is a very important aspect, it’s a fresh idea on a racing game – it’s not just about racing other cars, shoving them off the track and picking up the prize – in MSR it’s a lot more challenging, but the game breathes originality. Maximum kudos to Bizarre Creations! Each chapter will require a set amount of kudos to be completed, and although this does take a while, you will be rewarded with a car or two at the end of the chapter, it won’t fall into your garage, like in GT2, you’ll have to earn it if you want to race in it, so make your decisions carefully – you’re only allowed three cars maximum in your garage, another restricting element that actually enhances the gameplay, in my opinion at least. MSR is by no means flawless, but it’s one of the closest things to that word.

Racing – ah yes, that is what it is all about – racing other cars, but in some chapters you will have tasks that involve just one man (or woman) and one machine; you’ll have to take on the hot laps, trying to beat a certain time, if you make the time lower before you race then you’ll get more kudos – as it’ll be more of a challenge, just make sure you know how fast you can drive on a certain circuit before you attempt the challenge – and don’t waste the joker cards that pop up here and there occasionally – they’re there for you to use on tasks that you know you won’t fail, and those that you score a lot of points on anyway as this will double your score on that task. Other cars are involved mostly though, with Championship races, Street Races and one on ones, and the strange, but good thing is that they have very good artificial intelligence – they’re not infallible, they’re not perfect, they
do spin when shunted, but they will give you a run for your kudos!!

There are other modes as well, but the one player mode is the most rewarding, and I haven’t really invited anyone round to share this game yet (Well it’s not mine to share is it!), but I have played against a neighbour, and the 2 player racing is almost as good as the single player mode, however there is some slight slowdown – but then the single player is incredibly fast – slick frame rate, I think it’s around 30fps, and the sensation of speed is amazing. The detail on buildings is impressive, the lighting effects are very good too, although the cars aren’t as shiny as I’d hoped, and the game does feel a little bit dark when the sun is out, but I haven’t had time to dwell on these slight disappointments, the game’s positive points outweigh the negative ones.

The cars! Oh yes, all the cars are official – starting off with a choice of just the MX5, Fiat Barchetta and MGF, you will soon be unlocking some beast like motors – Vauxhall’s VX220 is breathtakingly fast and purrs like an enchanted cat, there are around 45 real life sports cars – the most impressive is probably the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6, there’s a very fine Audi TT, Ford Focus, TVR, and more…the cars look realistic, but as I say – not shiny enough. I was quite impressed by the fact that you get a driver in the car – someone actually turns the steering wheel, just as you do, it’s all very well done. Best looking game I have played on the Dreamcast so far – I think I’ll adopt this console, or maybe, swap for my PlayStation? You don’t have the same sort of options in sprucing up your motor, like you do in the GT series, but I’m not too bothered about that – nice features include privatising your number plate, selecting your own car colour and then changing the window darkness.


The presentation to Metropolis Street Racer is very impressive too – you have to select your time area, GMT would be ours naturally, so that the game can play in real time – i.e. at 5 o’clock in real life, the game will be at 5 o’clock – same lightness, and it even knows how dark to get when it’s winter and Summer – I was on at 9 today, still quite light in London (I haven’t played in winter yet, but I have been informed it gets dark in the game at around 4:30 in London – impressive). The menu screen is plush, the start up is brilliant, whole atmosphere in the game is really very well done indeed. Music wise, I think they should have had more of the start up music as in game it gets a bit boring listening to cheesy tracks from Will Smith a likes, rubbishy radio stations, and all of 6 seconds of Planet Perfecto – should have had some actual real music in. But never mind.

MSR is a great game, I have been addicted to it, I have to admit this, and I’ll not stop playing until I complete it to be honest, so despite the slight flaws, it is a really good game, and I would recommend it to a great many people – all of you in fact! This opinion is probably my best to date, I hope you found it very useful, please leave a comment on it.

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