Game Review: Jet Set Radio Future

Game: Jet Set Radio Future
Console: Microsoft Xbox
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 25th February 2002

If you've read my Jet Set Radio review from a few months ago, you'll be aware of the general premise of the series. If not, then all you really need to know is that it's about youths on jet powered rollerskates called "Rudies" who form graffiti gangs and save/terrorise the streets of Tokyo-to. While Jet Set Radio Future isn't a direct sequel in terms of storyline (in fact, aside from featuring several characters from the original game, there's no mention of old locations or events at all) it follows a similar storyline to Jet Set Radio with a few slight changes to gameplay.

This time you begin by investigating why a statue was stolen by a rival gang. To get their attention, you spray their home turf with graffiti and then start to reclaim other areas of the city. One of your gang members is kidnapped and robots impersonate another of your friends before a plot to erect a giant evil statue in the middle of the city is uncovered, and it's up to you to stop it.

The player's central hub is at the GG's garage which is pretty much in the centre of the city, leading to 4 different districts, which in turn lead to 2 or 3 more locations. This is far more than was featured in the original Jet Set Radio. Missions usually involve spraying graffiti throughout an area of the city, and defeating rival gangs, or the police to advance the storyline. Players are allowed to come and go between unlocked areas as they please, even during missions as there is no time limit, unlike JSR. In a way this makes the game easier, but there are more demanding challenges featured.

The locations of the game vary greatly including levels based on a skyscraper district in the sky, an Egyptian theme, a rollercoaster, the lower levels of a sewer system and several other engaging and interesting places to skate around. Overall the level design is very good; there's always another part to explore and places where Graffiti Souls are hidden for extra rewards.

Controlwise some new tricks have been added from the first game; the ability to earn larger combos, handplant and boost dash have all made their way into the game. There's no way to make your character sprint but they skate a little faster than they did in JSR. The selection of playable characters has improved greatly, with many of the original game's cast included as well as new characters and unlockables also. There's still some issues camerawise, with the view being obstructed at points and walls popping in and out of existence, but they're not too major and don't happen too often.

Overall the gameplay is enjoyable and many different styles of combat have been added. Racing and tagging the backs of police and rival gangs remains in the game from the first installment, but Death Ball, and Flag Battles are new and exciting ways of facing off against opponents. The QTE like graffiti mechanism used for larger pieces of art in the first game has been removed and replaced with a simple trigger pull for convenience.

Graphically the game continues the cel-shaded look of the first installment with some minor improvements to objects and smaller details within the locations. It's a very stylistic game and on the whole it works well in establishing a consistent feel throughout the game. The selection of music provided is once again excellent and includes mostly electronic mash-up style songs by the main composer Hideki Naganuma, but also stretches to J-Rock and Hip-Hop.

Overall it's difficult to score this game against its predecessor as there's a few improvements as well as some weaker areas when comparing the two. As the plots are very similar, the only real difference in this respect is that Jet Set Radio Future is a fair amount longer than JSR. While this does provide more gameplay, some of it does feel slightly repetitive. That's not to say that this isn't a highly enjoyable game though, it's a great sequel to a great game.

Rating: 89/100
Grade: A

Game Review: Jet Set Radio

Game: Jet Set Radio
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 30th October 2000

Jet Set Radio (Known as Jet Grind Radio in the US) lets you play as a rebellious teen in Japan, fighting back against the man and other rival gangs through painting the streets with graffiti on your rocket powered skates. As you progress you'll uncover the plan by a large organisation to keep graffiti gangs off the streets of Tokyo-to and get the opportunity to take down the corporation for good.

Missions in the game are based around tagging a certain amount of targets with graffiti, sometimes they're in hard to reach places and other times they're the moving targets of other gang member's backs. As the player hits the targets, police and other agencies will attempt to stop them with tear gas, bombs and even fire in later stages of the game. Around the mission locations are "Graffiti Soul" icons which give the player new bits of artwork to paint onto the streets.

The player must first prove their worth, to join the "GG's", the gang the game is based around before making all of Tokyo-to theirs. To move easily through the city on your rocket skates, you have the ability to grind along railings and collect paintcans which are necessary to leaving your mark on the town. The characters also perform their own tricks between jumps, depending on their style rating. To begin with there are only 3 characters to choose from but with new applicants to your gang after certain missions, your roster grows to 10 or more.

The characters themselves are well designed and are fairly varied, both in their style and their individual stats. The story of the game is interspersed with the missions, in the form of comic strip panels and radio broadcasts by "Professor K", from the underground station Jet Set Radio. The story itself fits nicely with the cel-shaded style of the game, and doesn't seem too contrived when compared to other such plots.

Graphically the game is cel-shaded, as mentioned before and the world appears somewhat cartoony with stylised locations, which vary nicely. With a busy shopping district, a night-time shopping area and a waterside appearing early on in the game, there's a lot to explore. Later on the action moves to Grind Square, an inner city area run by the bad guys of the game, where again everything's set up nicely for exploration and tricks.

The soundtrack to the game is primarily a mix of songs by Hideki Naganuma and other Japanese Artists including Guitar Vader. There are some other artists on the soundtrack, however and overall it fits well with the feel of the game, and tracks are mixed into eachother well to fit the long mission times (some are upwards of 15 minutes). Although it's not an original game soundtrack, I'd argue that for this type of game (especially one featuring a supposedly pirate radio station) it works better.

Overall the game plays very well and there's a fun mix of roaming around on rocket powered rollerskates, defacing government property and giving the middle finger to the man before tagging your gang's symbol on his back. The missions advance the story nicely and fit nicely with the style of the game, leading up to the final missions where you have to use all your knowledge of the areas in previous missions to win. There's not a lot of games out there like Jet Set Radio, and I'd say its one of the Dreamcast's best.

Rating: 91/100
Grade: A