JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future

"A must buy for anyone with an Xbox"

Jet Set Radio Future

Jet Set Radio Future is the sequel to Dreamcast’s highly acclaimed Jet Grind Radio. You are in control of one of many inline skaters in the gang called the GG. The game is set in the futuristic Tokyo 2024 where the population is being oppressed by a mega-corporation known as the Rokkaku Group. Your mission: To expand your turf by spray painting (or tagging) everything across Tokyo while being guided by the funky DJ called Professor K. It seems easy until a few rival gangs and the Rokkaku Group, lead by Gouji, are thrown into the mix. Police that patrol the streets of Tokyo will also come at you in groups throughout the game. They are lead by Hayashi and attack you on foot, in the air, or by tank. After beating this game, I finally realized how much I enjoyed this and how great a praise it should receive in the gaming industry.

Presentation:
With beautifully designed levels that would make you drool, Smilebit can say they didn’t let up at all in this category. The levels are large, multi-tiered areas of Tokyo filled with pedestrians and automobiles. From the characters to the music the overall package is astounding.

-10.0

Graphics:
JSRF just makes you stare at it in awe of its beautiful graphics. The environments are wonderfully textured and full of detail. The cel-shading technology has never been implemented better. The characters are smooth and detailed and they give the game a very clean look. They also interact with the pedestrians in different ways, meaning they will say different things to you and react in different ways as you skate around them. Some things you will notice are sparks from grinding, streaks as your character gains speed, the blur-effect from a speed burst, and birds scattering as you go by them. The only problem I can see with the graphics is a slowdown once in awhile. Other than that they are superb.

-9.4

Sound:
JSRF has one of the best soundtracks on a video game to date. It includes 30 different songs that are all worth hearing many times. The JSRF soundtrack can be considered, arguably, the best soundtrack in a videogame, ever. It’s that good. The effects are also better than par. You can hear sounds such as grinds, birds, pedestrians, cars, and many other things. This can all be experienced in Dolby 5.1 if you have good sound system. All of the characters talk in a hip way with some kind of a beat to it, especially Professor K.

-10.0

Gameplay:
The gameplay can be summarized as simple and ultra fast. The ease of the controls is part of what gets things done quickly and what ultimately speeds up the game. Grinding is as easy as jumping on whatever you are trying to grind. Graffiti is applied by pressing the right trigger. This is if you have spray cans, which you can find all around the area. You do tricks by pressing X or Y on grinds or while you are in the air. There is no way to tell what trick you are going to do, but I didn’t have a problem with that since they are all pretty sweet. One problem that I had with the gameplay was that when you are grinding on one grindable area and there is another placed along side of it, it is very hard to land in the space between without grinding again. The only other complaint I had was that the game was a bit too easy.

JSRF is up to a four player game so you can team up with your friends for split-screen multiplayer action. These are the modes:
City Rush: Race one lap around an area. First to cross the goal wins.
Ball Hog: Race to the ball and snatch it up. With ball in hand, make one lap around the level. Rival players will try to crash into you, trying to steal the ball. If you have a partner, you can pass the ball.
Flag: Get to the flag before your opponent. Once a flag is taken, another one will appear in a different area. The player with the most flags wins.
Graffiti Wars: Try to get your tags on the walls of the level before they do. You can tag over your rival's tags.
Tagger's Tag: Tag your opponent before he tags you.

-8.7

Lasting Appeal:
The game takes around 15 hours to beat. The multiplayer mode is great though so you will probably spend a lot of time with that. Once you beat the game you can go back and collect a hidden tape from each area, which unlocks five Street Challenges. These are various challenges like grinding off certain objects. Once you beat the Street Challenges, a Graffiti Soul will appear and you can collect it to add to your collection of graffiti designs. To completely finish the game you have one more mission. All of the areas have been retagged in different places so you need to go back and spray them once more.

-7.3

Overall:

-9.3

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/02, Updated 08/13/02