Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3

"Can't Get Any Better Than This!"

Back in 2001, TXR0 was released. It wasn't very popular, but it was still purchased by thousands. I am one of those thousands, and I'm also one of those buyers who enjoyed it thoroughly. Now, looking into the present day, a new TXR game was born, which was known as TXR3. Enter the world of high speed machines screaming down three cities of highway in Japan...

Story 9/10
Well, you can't really call it a ''story'', but it is one nonetheless. You start off looking back 2 years before, when you beat the gang known as ''13 Ogre Military Officers'' (ala 13 Devils), and now they've came for revenge. That's only in Tokyo though. In Nagoya and Osaka, there's some trouble brewing, and it seems it's caused by you (imagine that...). You must fight your way through three deathly cities, and beat out hundreds of opponents. One you do, you get rewarded with a couple cinematics, which are very cool to say the least.

Graphics 10/10
Very much improved over it's predecessor, although some draw in does occur in the background (who cares though?). They're crisp, clear, and candy to the eyes. Nothing much else to say here.

Gameplay 10/10
The core of every game, this one keeps the old TXR tradition. Go on a piece of highway, and battle some opponents. Gain money, upgrade your car, beat out more rivals, beat the boss, beat more rivals, blah blah blah. Sounds repetitive, but it's tons of fun once you get into it. It'll have you tossing your controller in either frustration or happiness, and it'll suck you even if you only play it half an hour a week. It's that damn good.

Physics 10/10
Big improvement in this department. The cars don't feel like they're driving on butter anymore, so now it's actually possible to control the cars. Well, okay, before they were drivable and you could handle them fine, but now, it's super easy to handle any kind of car in this game, so that makes up for everything.

Difficulty
This game is still the same as it was two years ago. It gets harder and harder as you get farther and farther, and more and more opponents come out to challenge you. The only disappointment is that the Speed King, well, he isn't the Speed King anymore. He's fast, but not for very long. I won't spoil it anymore, except I will say this. You will recognize some of your older opponents from Zero.

Overall 10/10
Overall, this game kicks your grandmas ass. The sense of speed is amazing, (although not as amazing as NFS:U) and the graphics are excellent. What is a downside though, is that the civilian vehicles are replaced by Genki Official Vans. But the licensed cars make up for that, a lot. So, the ultimate question, Buy, or Rent? Rent first, if you like, BUY IT. For $20, this is a steal.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/03