Metropolis Street Racer: How Are You Gonna Get the Kudos?
Written: Dec 10 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Innovative and fun game system, well done physics and graphics
Cons: This game is not easy! No vehicle modifications
The Bottom Line: A unique and interesting racing game, the Kudos system changes racing games completely, though the game can be difficult at times.
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| B_Campbell's Full Review: Metropolis Street Racer for Dreamcast |
Overall: 9
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 9
Sound: 7
Concept: 10
Replay Value: 7
These days, most racing games follow one tried and true formula: Be as much like Gran Turismo as possible. Thus, there are a slew of games with 'career modes', in which you earn money and buy cars, featuring real-life vehicles with several modification options. While the number of titles in the racing game genre has grown significantly, most of them are uninspired junk. Every now and again, though, a new title pops up that not only deviates from that formula, but does it so well that it's an instant hit.
Metropolis Street Racer is one of those games. MSR takes realistic driving physics and real life vehicles, and puts you behind the wheel as an illegal street racer. As a street racer, you're a member in a sort of underground club; you and your fellow racers tear up city streets on predetermined courses. However, instead of simply winning races, your goal is to earn the respect of your peers.
This respect comes in the form of Kudos points, and it is this which makes this game truly unique and interesting. In MSR, there are 25 chapters you must progress through, and each chapter has 10 challenges. Before moving on to a new challenge, you must earn a certain minimum amount of Kudos, and the same is true of each chapter. There are several ways to earn Kudos, but generally you earn them by your driving style. As the game states, "It's not how fast you drive, it's how you drive fast."
each challenge is not necessarily a race against other cars. In fact, the majority aren't; only between 3-5 challenges in each chapter are against other vehicles. The rest are varied, for example one challenge might require you to beat a certain time overall, another might require you to sustain a certain average speed. Some challenges are also 'special' races, where you earn a bonus (usually a new car) for completing it and earning a certain minimum number of Kudos. Each chapter is more difficult than the last, and each challenge presents a unique task you must accomplish.
Before entering the challenges, you can alter the restrictions. For example, if the goal is to run a lap in 50 seconds, you might want to challenge yourself and drop the limit down to 45 seconds. In effect, you're saying "Not only can I do this, but I can do it this well," and this affects the amount of Kudos you earn. After every race, your Kudos are tallied according to three categories, in this fashion:
Skill: You earn Kudos based on how much you challenged yourself, by how much you beat the goal, and by how good the car is (better car = less points). If you drop a required lap time by several seconds, or aim for a high position in a 6-car race, you will recieve bonus points for being successful.
Style: You also earn Kudos for displaying driving skill and style during the race. Drifting through corners, powersliding, and generally putting on a good show can earn you hundreds of bonus points.
Pentalty: While there is no damage in MSR, if you collide with objects or other cars, you will lose points depending on how bad the collision is. If you manage to complete a challenge with no collisions, you will earn a small bonus.
Because you are racing to earn Kudos, this game plays completely differently from any other racing game out there. To begin with, you are rewarded for challenging yourself, not by completely blowing away the competition as in other games. Since you are often racing against the clock, the more you challenge yourself the more Kudos you will earn. Also, while there is no damage, you are heavily penalized for collisions, and after a while you'll do anything to avoid hitting a wall or another car -- which is the way it really should be. Real racers don't intentionally plow into each other with no recourse (take that GT3!)
As for the cars, there are a wide variety of different makes and models. All of the cars are considered 'sporty', or are at least top-of-the-line models of more sedate road cars. Generally, looking through a copy of Sports Compact Car magazine will give you an idea of what you're driving. MG, Mazda, Toyota, Opel, Audi, and other cars from around the world are featured in MSR.
While there aren't as many cars as in the Gran Turismo series, the number of courses available will blow you away. The courses are set in three real-life cities; Tokyo, London, and San Fransicso. The cities are mapped extremely accurately (My brother, who lived in Japan, was able to find his friend's apartment building), and they are huge. So huge, that by simply cutting off certain streets and opening others, there are over 200 completely unique courses in the game. Some courses are extremely challenging, with numerous hairpins, chicanes, and elevation changes. In fact, almost each challenge has it's own course, and in the first three chapters, there are only one or two that are at all similar. As a bonus, oneo f the last secrets to open is a 'free drive' mode where you can drive anywhere you want in any o fthe cities, with no blocked roads. Talk about sightseeing!
So how much more good can there be to say about this game? Well, without boring you too much further, the physics are well done, though not totally realistic; while it is biased to make drifts and powerslides easier and more spectacular, you're going to be in trouble if you lift off the throttle mid-corner in a mid-engined car. The AI is excellent, with computer-controlled cars slowing for you and attepmting to avoid you, instead of simply ramming you to get their line. The computer cars follow the basic rules of racing; the car in front has the right of way. This has its downside though; the collision follows the same rules, so while a car ramming you from behind doesn't count as a hit (and subsequent loss of Kudos), if a car in front of or next to you swerves toward you, you're going the be the one at fault.
Graphics are top-notch; the cars blend in with the game seamlessly, the scenery is beautiful, and more importantly, there is no fog or pop-up to be seen. Normally there is no franerate slowdown, however when there are 4 or 5 cars on screen and it's raining, the pace can come to a crawl momentarily. This is rare though, and the game is generally up to speed.
The sound is okay, with the music emulating a radio (deepening the 'street cred' feeling), but the radio songs get very annoying. None of them are 'real' songs by 'real' artists, they were all licensed for the game so they're fairly cheesy.
The two-player mode isn't as captivating as single-player, but it will give you and your friends a chance to challenge each other. There are a wide varitey of different races you can choose, from the traditional 'first to finish' race to best of lap races and even a 'chase' race. Slowdown is mor eoften evident in 2-player than in single player, though it's still fairly rare.
But what's missing? Yes, this game gets a very high overall rating from me, but it's not a ten now, is it? Well, the main problem with this game (though it's not quite a problem for everyone) is that it is extremely hard. When I say hard, I mean hard. The only other racing game that I have played that's nearly this difficult is Vanishing Point. While this is great for us lifetime gamers, for casual players it might be aggrivating. This game basically requires you to replay past challenges in order to scrape up enough Kudos to move on, and guess what: when you decide to replay a challenge, you're stuck with what you get, it's not best of all runs. So, if you earn less Kudos, you'd better run again.
Also, there is no car modification, You're stuck with the stock vehicles. While this simplifies the game and allows for the car challenge factor system, it detracts a bit from the street racer feel. Look in any car magazine and you'll see dozens upon dozens of ads for performance products. Street racing, in fact, is all about tweaking your car with performance modifications that improve performance while keeping the car street legal. However, because of the game's mechanics, you'll never miss it, and tuning up your car is all to prevalent a feature in racing games anyway.
Of course, as I mentioned before, there is no damage. MSR did a good job of penalizing the player for crashing into things without introducing money, however, so it's not missed. Also, you are trickled a slow stream of ever improving cars as you race, instead of having them laid before you all at once. You earn about 2 cars per chapter (making about 50 cars in total), so getting new ones is pretty slow. However, I prefer earning the more powerful cars this way, and it keeps the game paced and gives you a reason to go back and replay some previous challenges after you've earned a car or two. In fact, some of the 'special' challenges require a car you don't get until the final chapter, giving you a reason to keep playing after you've finished the game.
The X-Box features a great sequel, Project Gotham Racing, which keeps the spirit of MSR while improving graphics and gameplay. If you ahve an X-Box and/or liked MSR, you need to get Project Gotham Racing.
Overall, MSR offers more than I could fit into even this admittedly long review. It will keep you hooked for weeks on end, and provide hours upon hours of white-knuckle racing. If you want pick up this game, you can find it used for around $20-$30 - a great deal, but get it quick as it is one of the few coveted and hard to find games for the Dreamcast. It's really one of the many great but often overlooked titles for the console, and very possibly the best racing title of its time.
Recommended:
Yes
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B_Campbell
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Member: Bennett Campbell
Location: In a Volkswagen somewhere in upstate NY
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