Jet Grind Radio

"GBA With Another Killer Action/Sports Game"

INTRODUCTION

The Jet Grind Radio series began on Sega's ill-fated Dreamcast but don't think that means that JGR was a horrible game. It was inventive in its use of cel-shaded graphics and other not-very-distinguishable aspects. But does the DC game's direction carry over to the GBA? The answer is a resounding yes.

GAMEPLAY

Controlling the eight characters is a snap as they all control the same with easily executed grinds and air tricks. Just hop on a rail to grind, how easy is that? Unfortunately, like most action/sports titles on the GBA, JGR uses a 3/4 isometric view which makes it hard to see where you're going so you end up backtracking and running into walls until you know the levels well enough. Speaking of levels, they are rather large once you unlock each area. Each level (there are four total) is comprised of roughly four different sections unlocked by completing missions in the story mode. So once you've completely opened a city you can cruise around for a good while spray painting your signature tags all over. Moving on to graffiti, you can't just paint anywhere you want. You have to find floating arrows and spray at those locations. This is rather disappointing as the size of the cities leaves so many walls to paint on but you're not allowed to. Spraying your tags is a task of its own most of the time though. You have to mimic instructions (in the form of arrows) by pressing certain directions on the GBA's d-pad. Sometimes this process can take up to 20 seconds which really blows when you're trying to spray something and run cuz you're being attacked by the cops. Creating your own graffiti is fun though and unlocking all the pre-designed tags by collecting JGR symbols adds some extra fun.

STORY

This is one of the only action/sports titles I have seen with a story. Granted, its not the most original (the XBox game Jet Grind Radio Future is where the plot mostly came from) but it works. Without giving you any spoilers, I will discuss the start of the game. You are part of a street gang called the GGs, who are dedicated to covering cities in their graffiti. But then an evil corporation steps in and tries to overthrow their hold on the cities. Its up to you to stop them. Big surprise huh?

GRAPHICS

Graphically, the game captures as much of the series cel-shaded aspect as possible. Character models move and trick smoothly and bystanders jump out of the way in fluid motion. You might experience a bit of slowdown when in the more populated areas of the city but even then its not much. The environments are nicely detailed too.

SOUND

This is where the game went downhill for me. JGR has weird techno beats taken from a previous game and while the transition from TV speakers to MIDI is good I'm just not that into the tunes.

TIME/REPLAYABILITY

It takes about eight hours to blow through the entire game so JGR is best used as a timekiller while you're on an airplane or road trip. However, I did love coming back to cities and using my own custom graffiti plus, like I said before, collecting all the JGR symbols to unlock different pre-designed graffiti adds extra time to the game.

FINAL SCORE

JGR is a great game to screw around with. Its not very deep but its smooth graphics, unlockable graffiti, large cities, and multiple characters will keep you coming back for more. Like I said, I didn't like the music too much, but if you like technoish music give this game a 9.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/03, Updated 07/23/03