Tokyo Xtreme Racer

"Wanna Race?"

Before I start, I have my own method of of scoring games. Since this site doesn't over decimal values for the reviews. Therefore I round down to the nearest decimal point. I feel if a game earns a 7.8, it didn't earn a score of 8, therefore should only get a 7. This game came up with a score of 8.95, but with my system, it gets an 8, not a 9.

Let me put it this way: Tokyo Xtreme Racer gets a very high 8.

Now with the review. I really like the idea of going around, challenge people for races. It's quite fun. Basically, you're some lowly punk who looks for people to race on the highway for two reasons: For money and to better your reputation. Word gets around about you and people start to challenge you. Your goal is simple. to beat everyone.

I love racing games. As long as it's easy to control, I'm going to play it. This game would do really well on the the sole principle of a racing game. The added feature of it being a street racing puts it over the top.

Graphics 10

The visuals are gorgeous. Everything looks close to real. Tasty eye-candy.

Game Control 9.0

I love the Dreamcast controller for racing games. The analog L and R buttons are perfect. Controlling your car is quite easy, however it's much easier to crash into the wall than to brake, even at 50 mph. For some turns, if you didn't want to crash, you'd have to slow down to almost a complete stop. Crashing into the wall is fine but I feel it takes away from some of the technique of fine driving. Oh well. My only other gripe is the fact that there is no third-person perspective that allows you to have a rear-view mirror. You have to go into the first-person view to see the rear-view mirror. This make blocking your opponent a hassle because it's difficult in some parts to drive in first-person (mainly on turns).

Replay 9.0

Depending on which challenger your facing, races are won on technique, not because of the fact that your car is really fast. Sometimes you'll sit behind your opponent for a minute or so because the cars are relatively the same power. It's really great to overtake him on a turn and have him sit behind until the race is over. One mistake and you lose the race. That makes the racing in this game really fun, even after you beat the game.

Game Design 9.0

I like the concept of this game. My only problem is that when the game is almost over, trying to find the last few opponents that you haven't raced against are like needles in a haystack. It becomes very frustrating. Also, I think there should be more tracks. I don't really care that there are only two because too many tracks would take away from the concept of the game.

Sound 7.0

The game sounds very nice but there are very few tracks. It get repetitive after a while.

Satisfaction 9.0

Great game. Loads of fun. The kinks are far and few between. A worthy purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/27/02, Updated 03/27/02