JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future

"Although it might *look* the same, it's VERY different"

Jet Set Radio Future is the game with the shiny red box. Beat is on the cover, he returns from the first one. This is a great game, and lets get onto the reviewing:

Jet Grind/Set Radio was a ground breaking game for the dreamcast. Many people didn't care for it, a lot of people did, and most people never heard about it. Was it the crazy commercial, or the lack of knowledge of the dreamcast? The world may never know. (go pick it up for $10 at any store now).

Well, Jet Set Radio Future is the next game in the Jet Set Radio series. The game is a breath of fresh air into the xbox's library of games, providing a new unique experiance to American gamers (for the 2nd time). This game is not ''Tony Hawk on rollerblades''. This is a... very hard to describe type of game. Well, you basically skate, and spray paint things. You tag up other peoples stuff to get them angry, then ''battle'' the rival gang, and either get people to join your team, or move the gang along.

If you liked the first JSR, you will LOVE this one. There are many changes, but they make the game fun, and fast paced, and MUCH easier to control.
A few of the changes:
+no more control stick rotation to tag.
+super fast boostie thing (costs 10 spray paint cans)
+you now need to travel from your garage to place to
place, instead of clicking a map.
+MUCH larger cities.

Ok, here are the ''quick review'' things for you to see.

Graphics: 10/10
Perfect. I love cel shaded graphics, and this game is the best you can get. The characters look far better than in the previous JSR, and there are new boost blurs and swirlie things that follow you. They were in the first, but now they look better. The levels are nicely textured, and it runs pretty fast most of the time. If you dont like cel shaded, you wont like this game. Next>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sound: 7/10
After playing the the game for MANY more hours than I did when I wrote the original review, I have made a change. The sound in this game is great. 5.1 surround or whatever (I'm too poor to afford that) is nice, but the music is good too. There are some really nice songs, a bunch of remixes from the first jsr, and a few REALLY HORRIBLE sorry excuses for ''music''. The ''Birthday Cake'' song, in my opinion, is the most horrible sound to emit from my tv speakers since I saw the last Richard Simmons' infomercial. A lot of you love the music, which is nice. Now, I wont be the first one out there to buy the soundtrack, nor would I take one if you offered me it for free, but its not that bad. So with a healty selection of rap/techno/weird japanese stuff, there is a song for anyone.

Control: 9/10
Easier to move than the first. L trigger is camera fix, R trigger is spray, you have a jump button, you have a turbo button, and you click the left stick to do some sort of slow down street grind thing. Easy to move, fun to play.

Replay Value:10/10
Sega was nice enough to add MULTI-PLAYER MODES! These are fun vs. humans or the computer in practice. You have a tag tag, which sounds like what it is. You have a ''tag more than your enemy'', and you have a race. This is very fun. The game is sort of easy, but it's hard in the fact that you get lost. You get lost a lot. If you want all 23 hidden characters I'm sure you'll play this game a while. I still play JGR today, well, not since I got this game, but its a fun game you can just pick up and play anytime.

So, do you BUY or RENT?: Depends
If you think you just want to play the game, hear the story, and see the end, I think you should be able to beat it in 5 days with a lot of play. But this is a game to own. Hell, it even has a shiny red cover. If you dont have the money, save it and rent this game. Anyway, I cant tell you what to do, and if I could....

Overall: 9/10
Even though I really like this game, I don't concider it perfect. I've given perfect scores out, because I only write reviews for games I like *most of the time* The main problesm with this game are:

- some VERY STUPID music (Birthday Cake song=trash)
-Glitches: skate on air? WTF is that?
-camera: bad at some times, not too bad though.

If you had to decided between this and other xbox games, don't. Either rent some and try em out, or get JSRF, its an awesome game, an awesomly fun game, and looks really really nice. 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/02, Updated 03/03/02