TAKE TO THE TOKYO HIGHWAYS!!! (Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 (DC))

Member Name: Vincent

Product:	Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 (DC)
Date:	01/08/00 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics

Disadvantages: Control system needs some work

Unsurprisingly this is the sequel to last year?s mediocre Tokyo Extreme Racer and is developed once again by Genki who are now one of the main companies supporting Sega. The main problem with last year?s game was it's poor floaty handling and average graphics. What has Genki changed since then?.

The main overhaul has been the graphics. This new game now looks AMAZING and is up with the quality of Playstation 2 racers. Lights reflect off the cars as if they actually had curved surfaces and each car model looks supreme. This time around there is also more track and the track side details look nicer and are more varied. Last year's edition had 30km of actual Japanese highway programmed into the game this time there is 180km and what a difference this makes. With the extra road comes more rivals to race and now there are over 300 so there is no problem with the longevity of the game.

The premise of the game is still the same and just as innovative as it was a year ago. In the main mode of the game (Quest) you are a boy racer on the Tokyo highways and you must win other racers to earn money. When you see a rival you would like to race all you have to do is flash your lights. This effect looks very nice. Once your rival accepts two life bars appear at the top of the screen and the two of you line up along each other. Once the countdown is finished the race starts. If you are in the lead your opponents life bar goes down but if you are behind your life bar goes down. The further ahead you are the faster the life bar decreases. Once the life bar is empty you lose. This sounds very simple but some races can be very very close and excitng. Once you have finished the race you get to watch a very nice replay of it which shows off all the graphics and nasty moves you used to win.

When you think you have earned enough money all you have to do is drive off the highway and you return to your garage. Inside the garage you can spend all of your hard
-earned money on a new car or upgrade your existing car. If you decide to purchase a new car there is a very large selection for you to choose from. I think there are more than 200 hundred cars in the game but I am unsure at the moment. Although the game does not have any licenses the cars do look incredibly like their real life counterparts so you should have no problem recognising them. On the other hand if you decide to upgrade your car an exhausting amount of upgrades can be purchased. Tires, engines, turbos, wheels, stickers and anything else you could possibly want but the best upgrades have to be the body kits which actually cause major differences to the look of your car making it look more menacing as well as better to drive.

The gameplay has also been improved but in my opinion this is where the game falls down. The cars don't feel floaty anymore but they still don't handle very well and whenever you and a computer have to take a corner the computer takes it much quicker than you so you end up losing the race. The lack of a two-player mode is also disappointing but the quest mode will last a long long time. If they spent more time improving and making the controls more sensitive this could have been a great game but as it stands now it is merely good.

Oppurtunity Missed.

Summary: