Tokyo Xtreme Racer Advance

"Massive under steer!"

The Tokyo Xtreme Racer series has been around for a very long time. And, on various consoles. They were all pretty good games. Until they got the bright idea to release one on the GBA.

First of all most racing games on the GBA that try to be more realistic, instead of those kart or other style of racing games that are fun, don't do a very good job at it.

The gameplay is were this game suffers the most. There's a huge sense of massive under steer because even if you push on the d-pad to turn the car will barely turn. It'll slowly turn until the tires start screeching and then it turns a bit more. This can get very annoying for tight maneuvering. Good thing is that most tracks are wide and don't have many tight corners.

Navigating through the menus is easy. You start out by being able to buy a car (there's a lot of cars in this game which is a plus) from A, B, or C class. B class is the best choice. From here you can choose quest mode, quick race, time attack, free run, and options. Obviously the main thing is the quest mode. In here your cars can be upgraded; the cars power (engine and exhaust), drive train (suspension, transmission, clutch, and tires and wheels), body tunes (basically roll cages and such to reinforce the car), body kits, and you can change the color of the car too.

Another thing is that the game feels too slow. It takes way too long to start a race. First you honk at them (instead of flashing your lights at them) then the cars take their sweet time to adjust themselves and the 3-2-1 countdown starts. But, instead of each countdown lasting 3 seconds like it should it'll last around twice as that. Then the races are incredibly long as the SP meter is backwards from previous games. The SP meter is what tells if you'll win or not. In this game the first to get their meter filled will win. Obviously if you're farther ahead it'll fill up faster. Then you maneuver around traffic that's pretty easy.

The graphics are pretty bland. You can never see the side of your car because when you race only the back is rendered. The roads and other cars are ok. Theirs actually lighting effects if you pass under a street light. The wheels and body kits look pretty good. That's about it for graphics nothing too exciting.

The music in this game is back to the original style. It's pure techno, trance, etc. This type of music fits the game very good. The cars have pretty good sounds, engine and exhaust upgrade do change the noise a bit. The horn of you car and the tire screeching are well done.

Replay value is high because of all the cars that can be purchased. There's a lot of different tracks to race in once they're unlocked and there's good amount of rivals to keep you busy.

This game is ok but it suffers greatly in the gameplay department because the cars barely turn at all, there's no sense of speed even if you're going 150mph it feels like the car is barely going 40mph. For a racing game the pace is too damn slow to start a race. And, I don't even now why Genki bothered to make a TXR game for the GBA if this thing can barely handle big games. If you want a good portable TXR game wait for the one on PSP. But this game is an ok game for the GBA.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/05