JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future

"An underrated Xbox Game"

One of the most under rated games for Xbox. Many Xbox owners now own this game since it cam bundled with the system for Christmas 2002. I however bought this game when it first came out because I loved Jet Grind Radio for Dreamcast. It was one of the most impressive visual games for the Dreamcast. It used a graphic style called cel-shading it was the first game to have it. Now today many games use this technique such as Cel-damage and Dark cloud 2. It had all the gameplay and substance it needed to be a classic. It was original and hip. It tried what many games never did before. How ever one problem that plagued it was the camera. It was on the same button used for graffiti. Now after the Dreamcast demise I thought I would never see a sequel now I do on Xbox. Jet Set Radio Future has everything the fist had and now more. It's deep and has incredible replay value. I'm proud to say this is one of the best games I ever played before and I've been playing games for thirteen years as of this writing. It is vibrant and brilliant and I do not see why this game was not as successful as it should be. It has to be seen and played to be believed and many people did not give this game a chance.

Story:
The Story of this game is very similar to the story in the first game. It involves gangs fighting for territory and how a Japanese company is control of the police force and is trying to restrict freedom. The person that narrates the story is DJ Professor K and he gives you updates to what is going on in the story. You have to go to different areas and leave your tag marking it your area. While doing all this you have to avoid police, fight rival gang members, and take down Gouji the person who bought out the police force and who is behind the oppression of Tokyo. The story has a lot of plot twist and will draw you in if you are into this type of stuff. You play as the gang the GG’s and the head of the gang in this game is Corn. The last game the leader was Beat.

Graphics:
Beautiful Graphics just down right gorgeous. It has vibrant colors and massive environments. Cel-Shading is done beautiful in this game. It looks better than The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker cel-shading. Everything is cel-shaded to perfection looks like you are playing an animated cartoon. It moves fluid and smooth with little bit of slowdown here and they’re mostly in the garage when it gets filled with members of your gang the GG’s. But it’s only a minor problem and it’s the only time I noticed any slowdown at all. The environments are huge and filled with life. People are everywhere and on the streets there is no slow down at all. The visual style used is amazing and once again has to be seen and played to get a better understanding how smooth this game moves and looks.

Controls:
The controls on this game are dead on. Everything is responsive and mapped out right on the controller. It doesn’t matter what controller you use the controller S or the original because I used both and I don’t have any problems with it what so ever. The controls are pretty much self-explanatory the left analog stick moves your character. The right stick makes you go into a first person mode when you are still. Right trigger is the graffiti button and you just hold in the R trigger while going over the markers where the graffiti is suppose to be at. L trigger is the boost button. But in order to boost you need to use 10 spray paint cans. The trick system is simple when grinding you can use the X or the Y button to do tricks. This system was designed to make the trick system more important. You can also use X and Y button in the air to do tricks also.

Game play:
This is where the game shines. It has so much playability in it. At the beginning of the game there is a quick tutorial that explains how to play the game and the basics. As you go on the game teaches you some new moves such as the handstand and so forth. Through out the game you are going to be tagging marked places. It is as simple as gathering spray paint cans and holding the R trigger at selected spots. As you play through the game you pick up graffiti souls, which gives you new tags to use. There is also a graffiti editor. This allows you to make your own graffiti to use in the game also. It has a simple art design to it but sadly you cannot download other people’s graffiti like in the Dreamcast version. You are pretty much free to roam every area finish tagging whenever you want to. You pick up cassette tapes telling you what you missions you need to finish to complete that area. How ever that is optional but in order to complete the game fully you must get the tapes and complete all the missions. There are also parts in levels where you got to fight the police, gouji’s henchmen or rival gangs. You pretty much got to tag the person up to win. Also the police will use tanks and helicopters on you also. You can also graffiti them up to beat them also.

Music:
First things first not all people will like the music in this game. I happen to love the music in this game. The music is like Japanese pop, R&B, and Japanese rock. The sound effects are also top notch in this game. The music is actually mixed like a DJ is actually spinning it off and it all flows together.

Overall this game is a classic. This game is sorely under rated and should not be missed. It’s a classic filled with great music and a great visual style. The game play is top notch and the replay is awesome with so much graffiti to find and characters to unlock.

Pros:
Great visual style and game play
Music is awesome
Lots of replay

Cons:
Like the first game the horrible camera

All in all the camera don’t distract much from game play. Everything else was great.
I give this game a 10 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/19/03