The smartest racing game yet? (MSR Metropolis Street Racer (DC))

Member Name: cool_matt11

Product:	MSR Metropolis Street Racer (DC)
Date:	18/04/02 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics, fast gameplay

Disadvantages: a bit too hard, too many levels

MSR

Street racing used to be about how many people you could run over and still manage to finish in under 2 minutes, but after all that can only prove so much fun. Ever thought of a game that would be near impossible to complete, but not stupidly impossible. That’s the idea about MSR, its not impossible, but still manages to be bloody hard. The hardest part is not finishing the race, but trying to drive with style and still with a solid speed of 75mph. That’s why Kudos is involved it’s idea is to earn points by quality driving and then totalling them up at the end of the race to give a bonus to your score. Not only do they help your score, but also you need a certain amount to get to the next chapter.

It’s this idea about MSR that makes it such a good game to play. The graphics are okay and the cars you get to race are very detailed, and it seems the only thing it lacks is the decent sound track. The guys at Bizarre have really let down the side with a function to swap from c.d. to radio, and yet they still manage to get some rubbish dance mix that irritates the hell out of you and then mucks up your driving time. The multiplayer isn’t that good, buts it’s a good laugh, which is important as the rest of the game can get a bit stressful.

The cars like in most games start off with the basic models and gradually move to the fastest most powerful and best looking at the top. This also helps motivation, as racing to get a TVR is a lot better than trying to beat an old lap score, which is a normal improvement from the old racing games. When racing the cars you also have to pick up how each cars moves, and in extreme cases it means sliding off or staying on round the chicane bends, but normally its just amount how much you accelerate and how much you brake. Coming back to the multiplayer, the only thing that is wrong is the descent in the frame rate, but it isn’t really that noticeable. The online option
is also has a slower frame rate, but I found this didn’t affect my racing.

I think the whole kudos racing points is a very interesting idea that has obviously had a lot of effort put in by the makers of the game. The whole concept of this “how you drive fast” is a lot better than any competing games that came out at the same time, on any console and is definitely an option to look at when your thinking of buying any racing game for the Dreamcast. With everyone saying that its really hard I think a lot of people have been put off, but once you get the idea of how to get round the corners the fastest with each car I don’t think anyone will struggle that hard. So anyone who’s out there thinking “should I get it or will I get no where and be the laughing stock of all my friends” say no and get it, because if I managed to get a hold of it, I’m sure anyone else in the world can. It just takes practice of going round the same circuit again and again. Don’t try to do anything fancy, just go out there and race!
If I can, You can.

It’s like the motto that Sega put with the game “It’s not how fast you drive. It’s about how you drive fast” and this basically sums the game up and from that you get the whole idea of the game.

So go out and get it… Now!

Summary: