dave757's Full Review: Metropolis Street Racer for Dreamcast
I see all the other reviews of this game lavish praise on it so I guess my view might not be a popular one! But I won't beat about the bush; I hate this game!!! Let me tell you why...
This game is hard. Very hard. In fact the difficulty level leaves me almost speechless!
There are over 200 tracks but that's because they are *small* very short tracks - and they are basically all the same. Oh they all *look* very different - London, San Francisco and Tokyo, and very varied and apparently extremely accurate representations of those cities (of which I've only been to London and not many times so I couldn't really comment) but they are basically..a short straight..a 90degree turn..a short straight..a 90 degree turn..a short straight..you get the picture! I am exaggerating slightly but only very slightly - take away the different appearance of the tracks and they're all damn similar.
MSR's gameplay is original and unlike other racing games. Where in other games you might have to complete a circuit within a time limit to progress in the game, or finish 3rd or higher (for example) in a race to progress, MSR's approach is unique. For your performance in a race you are awarded 'Kudos' points. You are awarded points for skill and for *style* and that (style) is what I have a big problem with. Put simply and bluntly, it is stupid. For example, you are awarded skill points for finishing 3 laps of a London circuit, within the time limit. Okay fine. And you get penalty points deducted from the total for hitting things (walls, railings, other cars). Okay - harsh considering the streets are narrow, you might say, but I can live with it. But..here's the crazy thing; you are awarded 'style' Kudos points for doing handbrake slides and powerslides round corners. Yep that's why the corners are all 90 degrees! But hang on, doesnt handbraking/skidding slow you down, meaning you take longer to finish the race, and are more likely to hit things, losing skill and incurring penalty points as a result? That's exactly what it means - so you are walking a tightrope all the time.
All that might even be fine, and fun - I certainly knew about the gameplay before I bought the game and was prepared to give it a go. But the time limits are very tight, meaning if you skid round corners you're less likely to finish in time - meaning no Kudos points whatsoever. The craziest thing is, this game does not cut you a break at any time. You might think that for a while, when you first play, it would be fairly easy, then get a little harder, then a bit tougher..nope, in this game it is as hard as hell from the word go and totally unforgiving.
When you begin 'Street race' mode (the meat of the game in other words) you start at Chapter 1. This consists of ten (I think) races where you are set a different task to complete; eg. finish 3 laps within the time limit, or reach a certain place in a race. For each of those races you are awarded Kudos points and your points for each race are added together for the whole chapter. Not until you have amassed enough points (1,250 for Chapter 1) are you allowed to progress to Chapter 2. Also, to go from race 3 to race 4 and so on, you have to reach a certain points tally also, to 'unlock' those races. Well I unlocked all the races in Chapter 1 and thought ok, here comes Chapter 2..wrong! I had only got about 1,050 Kudos points so I had to choose which of the races I'd already played, to replay in order to get more points to take the total over 1,250.
I will admit now unashamedly that despite numerous attempts, I was unable to achieve that and eventually gave up in disgust. So I paid for the whole game but am only allowed to access a fraction of it due to the crazy difficulty level.
Oh, because I completed all the races in Chapter 1, I was able to 'challenge' for a new (faster) car. To win it, I had to complete a Tokyo street circuit within a time limit. Well, that time limit is so damn tight you wouldnt believe it - completing a near perfect lap, no clipping walls, no slowing down too early etc still isnt enough! I never got closer to within a second of the time. And this remember is right at the beginning of the game.
Did I mention the graphics? It can be very very hard to see where you are going. Is that a corner? Is it right or left? Bang! Basically you have to remember where the corners are because you can't see them otherwise. It's very bad using the in-car view and not much better using the chase views. The developers knew this was a problem cos every corner has HUGE arrows by it!
This game could have been fun. A couple of the street races in Chapter 1, where you battle other cars, is almost fun except you can't concentrate on winning the race because you have to keep remembering to SKID all the time - but of course the AI cars DON'T have to do that, so they can just worry about driving the fastest way and beating you! HOW STUPID.
This game is frustrating, unforgiving and the only reward for completing tracks/chapters is..more of the same harsh, unfair and frustratingly difficult gameplay.
I might not be the world's best racing game player but I would say I am not bad; I have completed Tokyo Xtreme Racer for example (got the Porsche) - that game is also not perfect and can be frustating/hard but it is fun along the way - MSR is just frustrating and hard but they forgot that games are supposed to be fun too.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.