"If street racing is your game then TXR is your game."

I will have to start by saying that when this title first came out I had no idea what this game was all about. Then I was one of the lucky few to pick up a copy of Tokyo Xtreme Racer. To start this games graphics and speed are the first thing that jumped out at me. I sometimes found myself releasing the accelerator because I was going so fast that I couldn't process the info fast enough. I would see a car way in the distance then BOOM! I found myself right in the passenger seat of the car in front of me. So this game does not lack speed and it doesn't lack in the detail they put into the highway. I have a friend that used to live in Tokyo and he was amazed at how well they recreated the whole highway experience. Lighting is done super smooth with some real to life lighting effects, you actually feel like your out there racing trying to win the races.

The game begins when you choose quest mode, which by the way is the games main mode of play. You start out with about 25,000 cash on hand that you can virtually spend at will. You have an assortment of cars to choose from, so you buy one. Then comes the cool part, MODIFY. Yeah that's right you get to (if you have some money left over from your first purchase) modify or add new parts to your racer. If you didn't have any money left over well not to worry. When you race you earn money while you win. The concept of the game is real neat. You start by finding yourself driving on the same highway as other racing teams. The thing you must do is approach each member of the racing teams and one by one challenge them to a race for victory. You challenge them by pulling up behind them then their racing emblem will appear on the screen and all you have to do is flash your high beams at him or her. Cool huh? Then the countdown begins 3,2,1 Go. Your off racing and dashing as fast as you possibly can to win the race while at the same time avoiding traffic that happens to only be going the normal speed limit. So naturally you will have to swerve and weeve to win your battles. The cool thing about challenging the racers is that, when you beat all of the racers on one racing team the teams leader will show himself and challenge you to a race. This could be good and bad. If you modified your car enough to smoke anything that moves then the leaders will be no problem for you. But if not then you will be like most of us and bow down for the time being to those speed machines on the highway. One of the main features of this game is being able to modify your car in all areas. You name it, you can modify it. Exhaust,engine,suspension,wheels,spoilers,front and side kits,and even the mirrors and hood can be modified to meet your needs. So with the money you earn when you raced can now be used to supe up your ride to maximum. One thing that I noticed about modifying your car is that, they set it to where you have to modify your car in stages. Starting at normal then stage 1, stage 2 and so forth puts real playability into the game. Because that way you have to go out and race your heart out to get to the final stage of your cars limits. Then race it and get enough money to buy an even faster car and do the same to it. It's an awesome stage of evolution not to mention being able to paint your car different colors.

The replayability is definately there. I can see myself racing for months trying to obtain newer and faster cars modifying all of them. The game also has a pretty good two player mode. This will attract some players but not all. Knowing that most of the time is going to be spent in quest mode. But it still makes for a good match on the highways of Tokyo.

The game was pretty well thought out. I have like everybody else heard the goods and the bads of this wonderful title. But having played this game for myself I'd have to say that most of those rumors are without cause. Granted the game only has two tracks, being the highway going oneway or the other. I found myself looking beyond that while marveling at the beauty of the speed and graphics of the whole game. Some other little things that can be looked past are that the game does not have a reverse button on it so if you hit a guard rail doing 150mph then you'll find yourself turning the wheel as much as possible trying to get back on track. But again this is a minor flaw, the whole time I've played I think I only ran into that problem one time. That's it. And of course who wouldn't want a game like this to be online compatible. Well as we speak there are games being made just for that so be patient.

Is this game a buy or a rent? Well the best way to answer that would be to figure out what your game type is. If your the type of person that wont get tired of going the same way for awhile and loves to modify, then definately buy this game in a heartbeat. But if you think well no I would rather like to see more tracks and less modifying then maybe you should rent this one first to see for yourself.

A final thought. Ever since I started playing TXR I have totally abandoned my all time favorite Gran Turismo. TXR is the best car racer out there speed and graphics wise. So if you thought Gran Turismo was awesome you have yet to see anything.......ARE YOU READY!.......

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99