Niche Market Goodness! (Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox))

Member Name: Mr Wakeman

Product:	Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
Date:	22/05/02 (321 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great stylised looks, easy to pick up, funky funky beats

Disadvantages: Niche value

A few years back Sega released Jet Set Radio to critical acclaim. In fact, many said that it was one of Sega's best offerings on the now obsolete Dreamcast console. The game was a fountain of original ideas and it also set a new graphical standard for console games with its eye-popping cel-shading technique.

So then, a couple of years on and here we are in the space year 2002. The Dreamcast is dead and Sega is now a software only company, but what of the Jet Set Radio series?
Well, a prequel to the game has been created for the Xbox that promises to build on the general formula of the original whilst generally expanding on the concept as a whole, not to mention add a graphical touch-up to take advantage of the new hardware. Does it deliver though?

The basic story is simple (aren't they all?). You're in 2025 Tokyo and there is an evil corporation trying to take away the rights of the individual and gain global control. In retaliation, youth groups have started massing; creating their own little gangs in order to revolt against the social regime. And how does one stop an evil corporation in its tracks? With graffiti of course!
That's right, you have to traverse a number of different, imaginably designed areas of the city and spray your groups' signatures and logos everywhere. Each area has a set amount that must be sprayed in order to progress to the next stage of the game and whilst the game mechanics are pretty simple on the whole, JSRF actually turns out to be a very addictive game indeed.

There are many characters to choose from, but you only get the choice of a couple from the start. Other characters have to be unlocked by completing certain tasks as you make your way through the many stages in the game.
Not only does each of the characters have their own individual statistics (e.g. acceleration, jumping abilities) but you also have the option of choosing what your graffiti looks like and if you don't
like the ones that are on offer you can even make your own! The game offers a feature that allows you to design your own tag or logo using the controller and then saving it to the hard disk.

The beginning of the game is deceptively easy, and it makes you wonder how long the game will actually last you. Surely enough though the difficulty seems to spike mid-game and it becomes an immensely challenging but equally rewarding one to play. One of the main things that stops the player from progressing is the question of what you are supposed to do next, but you'll often find that the answer is sitting straight in front of you and that you merely have to adopt a different approach to playing the game in order to defeat that obstacle.

The controls of the game are very intuitive and easy to get to grips with. The left stick controls the characters' movement whilst the A button causes you character to jump and squeezing the right trigger causes the character to spray his or her can.
There are more buttons, but that's the basic jist of it and overall the scheme works very effectively.

One of the most stunning aspects of the previous game was its visuals and they're equally as stunning here; if not more so. The game uses a graphics technique referred to as cel-shading (a technique pioneered by the first game). What this does is take a normal three-dimensional model and accent it with thick black outlines to give the game an intentionally cartoon-like appearance. It appears that you are looking at a 2D image even though it is obviously 3D. It's a very effective technique and highlights the comical overtone of the game itself very well.
The effects on the Xbox have been refined from the Dreamcast and now look a lot sharper and use high- resolution textures and no longer suffer from slowdown.
The only thing that I feel could have improved the look of the game was if the developers had implemented anti-aliasing so as to ge
t rid of the games' slightly jaggy appearance. Given that the graphics chip in the Xbox is said to be highly astute at the anti-aliasing process then it puzzles me why they chose not to use it, but it's only a minor gripe and doesn't detract from the quality of the game in the slightest.
The game also sounds fantastic. There are many funky hip hop tunes in the game, some of them are just okay and some of them are sick. Generally there could have been a little more variety but it's certainly not a game where you're going to want to play your own music (which is good because this particular title does not support that function).

JSRF also offers a two and four player split screen mode that is fantastic if you invite a couple of friends around, although it's certainly not the centrepiece of the game

If you're looking for an Xbox game with a somewhat comical overtone and one that is simply great fun to pick up and play then you probably can't go wrong with JSRF.
The developers have taken the original and really tried hard to improve it, and it shows. The concept of the game is too radical for it ever to be a mainstream hit which is a definite shame but I would certainly recommend this to any fun lovin Xbox gamer with a taste for the less ordinary!

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