Jet Moto

"Butterfinger VS. Mountain Dew. Who will win?"

INTRO

Not this time folks. I don't have any interesting story of telling you how I got this game. Yeah, I know you're heart broken, but your just gonna have to live with it. Jet Moto is a unique racing game that is on jet motorcycles (duh) and is made by Sony. Jet Moto was made in 1996 and is one of the first racing games on the PSX. I got Jet Moto as a gift as a classic so it was really cheap ($20). Jet Moto isn't really that good, but Sony had good ideas for this that was in the sequels. Jet Moto is not your every day racing game. There is too many things that aren't good about this that didn't make it good. Although I gave it a 5 to me it's just an average racing game that could've been done definitely better. Here's why....

STORY: (N/A)

Well, this IS a racing game so I wouldn't really expect it to have a great story. Some other racing games may have somewhat of a story, but this one really doesn't. You just race in name of a certain brand (depends on who you choose) and try to get first. That's basically it. Overall, no story.

CONTROLS: (5/10)

The steering is so bad it's not even funny. The thing is that in Jet Moto you can get knocked off your bike very easily and because there is a lot of turning in the stages this really got to me. Not only does the sterring suck and sometimes cause you to fall off your bike, but in some swampy levels there's like a million tree stumps and it causes you to fall off whenever you even touch them. The buttons are basic and should be no problem for anyone who has played racing games before. The thing bad about Jet Moto is that you always go too fast. I mean this may be good for a racing game, but not to the point where you can't control it. I can't even tell you how many times I died or fell off cliffs because the game was too fast. They say it matters who the characters are but it doesn't matter much. One character doesn't go faster then the other even though the statistics of the characters say so. Pretty ironic. I know that Jet Moto is supposed to be fast, but when I'm racing and going fast I see a turn and WHAM! I get knocked off my bike. If Sony put in better controls this game would be great. Better controls meaning like to make the steering better and to maybe make the tracks bigger so you won't fall off so easily. Overall, average controls but they can really get on your nerves.

GAMEPLAY: (6/10)

It's pretty fun when racing, but the game itself isn't that good. First I'll start with normal mode. You can just race by yourself or with a friend against the computer, but the thing is there is 19 other people racing against you. I feel that 20 people in a bunch of small courses is just asking you to not to play this. It's so easy to knock into someone and fly off your bike in the courses that it isn't even funny, well sometimes it is. Speaking of courses, Sony decided for the players to unlock all the other levels in the game by getting first in the three courses you start with. Racing against twenty people is hard enough but racing against twenty and getting first. That's hard to accomplish. There are a lot of characters in the game and they are representing some company like Butterfinger or Mountain Dew. There are a total of ten levels and I know so many people that used cheats to get them. You can race one on one with a friend too. This however is a 50/50 of winning instead of a 5/95 chance. Jet Moto is supposed to be very realistic, but maybe reality in video games isn't much fun. Whenever I play I play a mode that's called Elimination. You do a bunch of races, but after eac hone a certain number people get eliminated. For example, the people who got 16th -20th place on the first race will probably get eliminated and the next race would be between you (if you made it) and 14 others instead of 19. This is my favorite mode in the game. There is also time trial mode where of course you race to try and time yourself. The levels are pretty hard and long. Each course takes a while to beat and most levels have many sharp turns. Word of advice from me to you is to go slow on the ice levels because, well you'll find out but I hate those levels! Anyway that's pretty muhc the stuff you can do in Jet Moto. Overall, the gameplay is a tad bit above average. Not that good.

GRAPHICS: (7/10)

On the back of the game it says ''Gut-Wreching 3D Tracks'' and I gotta say it's true. The courses are nicely done, but most of it looks blocky or wrong kind of like static or something. I can't even explain what it looks like. The backgrounds vary from swamps to beaches to ice pits. The characters however look pretty bad. Especially in the races they look the same with different colors. The coloring in Jet Moto isn't really detailed and colorful. The tracks are 3D and it looks cool and it is really cool (to look at) when one of the characters gets knocked off there bike. They either do twists, flips, etc. and is real funny to watch. Overall, the graphics are good though, especially for 1996.

MUSIC/SOUND: (7/10)

The music is pretty good. The music is mostly rock-type music and some stages are similar to some Twisted Metal 2 themes. The sounds are pretty good too. There isn't much variety in them. All you can hear is the sound of the jet motorcycles jets and the screams of a character if they fall or get hit. The screams are different making it that a woman screams like a woman and a man screams like a man. Very realistic in the sound department. The music themes aren't different for each level. I think it's like a CD where the songs just go from track to track whether or not you're at a beach level or a swamp. Overall, the audio in Jet Moto is pretty good.

CHALLENGE: (7/10)

This game sure is hard. As you may know, you start the game with only 3 tracks and you have to get 1st in all three to unlock the others. The tracks are long and hard. The controls are bad so that makes the game much harder because you have to control it. it's very easy to fall off your bike and to top it off you race against 19 other people. 19! That's so much. If you're lucky you might get 7th place or 8th. If someone bumps into you can fall. This is the only challenge in the game; getting the other tracks and trying to get 1st. I've got first place before but only about 2 or 3 times. It's not very fun and it's very hard. Overall, the challenge is above average for a racing game.

REPLAY: (4/10)

The only thing to do once you unlock all the tracks is to play with a friend on it. The game gets extremely boring easily and one on one with a friend is the only thing I did. I also did time trial sometimes. If you do want to play against the computer and your friends are unavailable you should do elimination race. Overall, the replay value is pretty low. I wouldn't bet on you playing this game over a lot unless you're very bored or if this is your only game.

OVERALL: (5/10)

Jet Moto is nothing but an average game made by Sony. I haven't played Jet Moto 2 or 3, but I hope that they have improved. I'm not saying this is garbage because it isn't, but in my view it's not a great game. I would recommend a rental at first and if you like it, go buy it. What my true feelings of this game summarized are that it's not very bad, but out of my other 25 games I think this would be one of the last games to play if I decided to play them all. it's mainly just the controls that suck and ruined it. Also, what the <bleep> was Sony thinking by starting the game off with three levels. Not many people spent time playing them, as I said I know a lot of people that just used codes. I seriously think you should save $15 and just rent it because I don't think many people would like this, but everyone has different views on things. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/00, Updated 07/13/00