Forget red; paint the town any colour you want! (Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox))

Member Name: Zarrah

Product:	Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
Date:	07/03/03 (337 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Addictive gameplay, Great mix of 2D characters - 3D environment, Arcade style gaming modes

Disadvantages: No speech, just speech bubbles, Once it's over, it's over, Slow motion moments are annoying

Jet Set Radio Future
Developed by: Sega and Smilebit
Year: 2002

Jet Set Radio Future is the final in a series of three comic book based ideas about gangs of skating graffiti artists releasing the soul to the streets, trying to avoid being arrested, and stopping the president of a multi million doll? Err? yen empire.
This final games uses twelve characters, as opposed to the original 10, and is exclusive to the X-Box, instead of the Dreamcast and Game Boy.

:~*~PLOT~*~:

You?re a member (which one is up to you) of the hottest Rudie (skater) gang of the moment, the GGs. At first comprised of Yoyo, Gum and Corn, the leader, (this is another change from the other two games, Corn was originally Tab, and is only one of the gang members to be revamped) you have to keep your territory, find out what?s going on in the streets, and find new gang members, all with the help of the DJ of the local pirate radio station, Professor K.
When Yoyo joins the GGs, he is sent to Gum, who shows him the ropes, and teaches him the basics of being a Rudie. This is your tutorial so pay attention to Gum.

:~*~GAMEPLAY~*~:

Well, if you find the X-Box controllers hard to use anyway, this won?t be the easiest thing in the world. Gum will teach you how to jump, grind (slide along banisters and rails), tag (spray graffiti) and boost dash (skating very fast, this requires ten spray cans, another new feature of the game).
After the tutorial, you are introduced to Roboy, the super computer who also dances. He saves the game, helps you change character, changes the garage music for you, gives you advanced tutoring, changes graffiti and, later on, will take you on Test Runs.
Each character of the GGs has their own stats, which include speed, how many paint cans they can carry, and how easy it is to get them to turn (Gum in particular can turn on a dime). It?s up to you to choose which character you use for which task ? Combo, a member who
takes high damage, will be best for fighting the police (known as Keisatsu in the other games).
In the garage, the GG base, you can talk to each of the other gang members to find out where you?re going and what you?re doing. Corn, being the leader, is best to talk to about where you go next, while random others will mention new characters you can pick up. Occasionally, they will have a personal response to the person you?re controlling, which includes one of the guys stammering like crazy around one of the girls. ^^;
In one way, JSRF reminds me of the Pokemon game ? even when the plot line?s over, there?s still plenty to be done; G-Souls have to be collected ? granted, you don?t have to spend ages looking for someone with another version to trade with you, but it is still quite similar. G-Souls have to be found by doing tricks in the areas of the city. This can be very easy or pretty hard depending on which area you?re in. 99th street is quite an easy area, due to the high places and lots of grinding, and the Sky Dinosaurian Square is one of the hardest, due to the fact that you have to watch exactly what you?re doing, or you?ll fall and have to start your trick all over again.
My only complaint in gameplay is actually a fault of the X-Box itself ? in certain places, the game tends to slow to a crawl, which is annoying and more than a little bit distracting.

:~*~GRAPHICS~*~:

Cartoon, 2D characters, in a 3D environment. Cool, huh?
The game uses cel-shading, which is putting a thick dark line around characters to make them look cartoon-y. This is a very good effect for the type of game it is.
The areas are spectacular ? try standing on top of Benten tower in 99th street and jut looking down ? it?s wonderful.
Each of the areas are very detailed ? stray papers will fly out of your way as you pass, water will fly up as you go through, and if you barge into a member of the crowd, they?ll scream and fall over.
Don?t try to kno
ck them off high places, though, they?ll just stand in mid-air ? my only complaint, really.

:~*~SOUND~*~:

The game has a soundtrack or 30 songs, each perfectly suited to the area they?re played in. They?re mostly by the same people ? Hideki Naganuma and The Latch Brothers, but there are numbers by Cibo Matto, Guitar Vader, Scapegoat Wax and BIS, too.
Just try not to end up like me; downloading every song on the soundtrack and shouting out the lyrics at inopportune times.
The radio air play is excellent ? the songs will merge for a few seconds between, which gives a very radio like feel, and there will be an occasional ?JET SET RADIO!? shout.
I did get quite sick of Ill Victory Beat playing every time DJ K came on, though?
Members of the crowd scream like high school bimbos in horror movies when you go by, which is? Well, funny at first, but gets annoying as the game goes on.

:~*~LENGTH~*~:

The plot took about 11 hours to complete my first time through, but I can get it in just under 9 now. It took altogether 24 hours to get all the G-Souls, all the Test Runs and entirely complete the game, though.
Whee.

:~*~BONUSES~*~:

When you complete the game, the Test Runs unlock ? talk to Roboy in the Garage to get those.
If you?ve got all the G-Souls in a level (you have to have unlocked the GG notebook by finding a special tape in the level before you can get the G-Souls ? so complicated!), you can try racing circuits round that level, tagging it, doing a flag race in it, or doing tricks for points in it, all in an attempt to get ?Jet? ratings; get Jets for all the Test Runs in the level and you unlock a new character to play!

:~*~OVERALL~*~:

Well, apart from a disappointment that this is the last game in the series, there aren?t any bad feelings from me about the game. A couple of complaints with the gameplay, and instead of having comic-style speech bubbles, I think the character
s should have talked more (this is excluding DJ K, who takled TOO much), but apart from that, I loved this game ? which is unusual, I?m normally a horror freak. ^^;
It?s fun, addictive and pretty difficult to complete! There?s even a four-player mode; go me! :~grins~:
I?m also pretty happy cos I got it free with my X-Box ? I just wish they hadn?t put Sega GT 2002 on the same disk, though?

Summary: