::: the electric playground :::

PlayStation II

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero

Review

Our Score 8/10

Your Score 7/10

Review

While underground and illegal street racing have been popular activities in numerous cities for many years, this summer’s sleeper hit film The Fast and The Furious has really brought it to mainstream attention. Admittedly the film was weak when it came to plot points, character development and dialog, but it did have some intense racing action and cars that just evoked cool! Now if after seeing the fast cars from the film, you want to experience that same kind of rush, you can either go blow your life savings and still come out looking foolish after you lose everything or you can take a ride on the wild side of the virtual sort from the comfort of your living room.

There have been more than a couple of illegal street racing games, but few have mastered the attention to detail of Crave Entertainment’s Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero for the PlayStation 2. This mostly well-polished game looks decent and plays really well. This is a credit to the development that went into Tokyo Xtreme Racer for the Sega Dreamcast on which this new game is based. The newest title in the series has seamlessly made the transition to the PlayStation 2 and the end result is enough to have hardcore adrenaline junkies skipping a night on the town to give this one a spin.

Like the previous Xtreme Racer games, this title recreates the illegal race action on Tokyo’s winding highways. This time around you can expect to drive more cars, face more challenging rivals and take a spin through 100 miles of actual Tokyo roadways. As you win races you’ll also be able to customize your car with more than 200 parts, new paint jobs and even team logos.

The details, which include more than 400 opponents-–each with their own unique cars and driving styles, along with special effects like sparks, brake glow and rich graphical settings that create the bright lights of the big city, make for some intense race action. Once again the gameplay blurs between hardcore simulation and a more relaxed arcade game, so you can expect lots of powerslides but quick reflexes and acute driving skills will still be necessary. While the game may be too relaxed for some hardcore racing fans, Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero should be easy enough for novices and experienced racers alike to get into and enjoy.

With both a 2-player head-to-head and quest mode this is also a title that should provide a lot of re-playability in the weeks and months to come. As mentioned, the quest mode will allow you to spend your race winnings to upgrade, tune and even purchase new cars. Success will mean facing rivals in a unique battle system through the dense traffic of Tokyo’s highways. The AI is especially challenging, but with such a numerous amount of computer-controlled racers you don’t have to worry about facing the same style too much.

The visual detail of the game is decent, but there is little improvement from the previous release for the Dreamcast, though it is hard to offer many complaint or compliments since the actual looks of the individual cars aren’t based on real world licenses. This is one of the game’s minor failings, and no doubt many car buffs would have much more appreciated being able to virtually own their dream cars. Fortunately, developer Genki has been able to create fairly close replicas of real-world cars, complete with fictional names, but at times, something still doesn’t sit right.

What probably also won’t be beloved by gamers are the generic sounding audio effects and rather repetitive musical tracks. While techno and trance beats are usually perfect for this style of racing and even fit with the late-night themes of the game, along with the personalities of the racers, in the case of the music in Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero the tunes are just too redundant--almost to the point of being very off-putting. There is more diversity with the engine sounds and other effects but hardly enough for the sheer volume of vehicles and tweaks available.

On the flip side, racing fans will be able to enjoy a few DVD extras that are included on the game disc including a trailer to Universal’s The Fast and the Furious, something that will probably get you in the mood to race –as long as it doesn’t convince you to immediately attend this somewhat lackluster film. Additionally there is an interesting original racing documentary called “Night Warriors” that takes a brief look at the underground street scene.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero does deliver on the details, the racing can be intense, and while it is disappointing that the graphics were brought up just a notch you can expect some decent visuals and take part in very challenging races. For those in the know, the actual Tokyo highways have been painstakingly recreated, so consider this the ultimate vacation – it is certainly a cheaper and less dangerous way to take a ride on the wild side in Tokyo.

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