Metropolis Street Racer

"Does this game live up to my high expectations? Yup!"

Introduction:
I have never been a big racing fan, sure I like it as much as the next guy, heck I spent many an hour in Gran Turismo 2. But aside from that, I never found tuning cars and making them a shade faster that much fun. What I enjoyed was driving fast, and working to buy the next upgrade. While MSR isn't as simulation based as Gran Turismo, it can still be hard as heck. Why you ask? Read the gameplay section to find out why! Anyway, to sum it up, I have been looking for MSR for a while now, and when I saw it in EB today, I jumped on it(not literally). I was anxious to play it the whole way home, so when I popped it in, was I disappointed? Only a little.

Graphics: 9/10
For some reason I had it in my mind that these would be amazing graphics, better than any other racing game on the DC, and possibly rivaling GT3 and other PS2 racers. Did I get what I expected? Yes, although I wish the cars had been shinier, I can find nothing else to complain about in this game. The graphics do indeed look as good as GT3, that could be because I haven't played GT3 in over 6 months, or it could be because they are. It may be a little of both, but they are hands down spectacular.

Sound: 9/10
I think the idea of the radio stations is cool, and the way you can customize your own mixes of the in game songs is nice too. They even have a country song in there, which I was absolutely ecstatic about, being a huge country fan(IE, other than Christian music, it's all I listen to). I didn't think the sound would have any flaws, until I heard that country song, it had that OVERLY country sound(honestly, I would have rather listened to bluegrass), and a few of the country stereotypes(A girl named Mary Lou comes to mind). While I know those things aren't necessarily that bad, I take my country seriously, and decided to knock it down a point.

Gameplay: 9/10
I stated earlier that this game was hard, and it is, all thanks to a little thing called Kudos. Kudos is a numerical representation of ''how you drive fast.'' Thanks to this, the focus is taken off of speed, and placing first to driving with style. The control is good, using the analog triggers for braking and accelerating makes precision driving easier. Those of you who enjoy ''drifting'' will be in heaven. But also, little mess ups hurt your score, and since you have to be very precise sometimes, the game can get hard. Otherwise the game is great fun, and I can say that most racing fans will like it, especially those of the ''Need for speed underground'' type.

Overall: 9/10
While hard, and containing a stereotypical country song, I still think MSR lives up to my exceptionally high expectations, and due to the difficulty, you can expect to be playing this one for a long time to come. So in short, if you like racing fast cars, with style be sure to find this one and jump on it(not literally)!

OOOWWWW Have Mercy!!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/04