20th November 2005, 1:16 PM
Developer: Smilebit
Release Date: 04-2002
Jet Set Radio Future is the sequel to the Dreamcast game Jet Grind Radio, a game that introduced the graphic technique known as cel-shading while being coupled with an innovative approach to skating around and tagging city landscapes. Like many of Sega’s games at the time, Jet Grind Radio was critically acclaimed but met with only a lukewarm reception. Some might say that the steep learning curve and involved controls are to blame for the niche status the game managed, and I’d say they are right. It was hardly instantly accessible and it only got more challenging as the player progressed. That’s not to say the game wasn’t fun, because it was. It just didn’t have the likeability of a pick up and play type for the masses to enjoy. Never the less it seems that it did well enough to warrant a sequel, or maybe Smilebit just wanted a second chance, and here we are with JSRF.
Gameplay: 6
Like its predecessor, JSRF puts the player in control of a skater whose objective is to basically cause trouble. You begin the game in a central hub area where other skaters hangout, and here you are given the option of character choice, music, game management (saves), customizable graffiti, various types of surfaces to practice grinding on, and access to the surrounding city as you progress. Your missions will be given to you by the returning DJ Professor K who broadcasts over his pirate radio station, Jet Set Radio (now you know where the game title comes from in case you were wondering). The objectives vary from simply tagging specific locations in the city to taking out rival gangs. Now if you’ve played the original then this all sounds very familiar to you, and if you haven’t now you’re on the up and up. Let’s get to what’s new or different about it…
The first thing Jet Set Radio veterans will notice, besides the improved graphics, is that the controls have changed. It seems as though Smilebit wanted to make the game as easy to get in to as possible and in doing that they have succeeded, but they may have made it too simple in the process. If you played the original then you’ll remember that in order to tag an area first you had to collect spray paint cans then you had to go to a location marked by an arrow and begin to paint. To paint you had to pull off a series of analog maneuvers in order to complete the tag and rack up points. Small tags would take one or two strokes and the bigger wall sized tags would take several inputs or passes. All the while you had a squad of police on your tail and a time limit to contend with. Grinding took constant inputs of tricks to speed up which meant the player was always doing something. This made the game challenging but never impossible, and always engaging.
The maneuvers and time limit are gone, and the police, or Rokkaku, are not as much a threat. Tagging is as simple as grinding or skating pass an area and holding down the R trigger. Grinding is simple and doesn’t take nearly as much input to get going at a great speed, certainly enough to outrun the police or rivals with little difficulty. The Rokkaku are as aggressive as they were in the original but now they are easier to defeat, and with the larger environments and simplified grinding they are hardly a nuisance. Without the time limit there is no pressure to complete the objective. To sum it up, the challenges are gone. You skate, you tag without much to stand in your way; the mechanics are just too simple making for a largely forgettable experience.
I won’t say the game is a complete loss, because there is some fun to be had. The environments are enormous and it seems like you can grind on everything. It can be quite satisfying to grind around an entire level at a fast pace, finding shortcuts and outrunning rivals. The missions have enough variety to keep from being repetitive and there are dozens of them. There are even some moments that truly test your grinding capabilities to reach what look like impossible areas to get to. It’s just too bad these objectives are few and far between and don’t make up the missions necessary to complete the game.
It’s really too bad that Smilebit couldn’t find a better balance of gameplay to please veterans like myself while giving the game just a little more accessibility than the original. There’s a nice middle ground somewhere.
Graphics: 9
The first thing you’ll notice is that the people who brought you cel-shading still own it. The game is a spectacle and truly shines at times. The cityscapes are large and impressive, filled with buildings, billboards, stair ways, construction sites, bus stations, power lines, rails, and filled with pedestrians. The only disappointment is that the game has slow down at times, and the game can slow to a crawl. Fortunately these moments are few and far between.
Sound: 8
The original Jet Grind Radio soundtrack is an example of the perfect blend of music, style, and gameplay. Every track, though different from each other, fit the game perfectly. This is not true for the sequel. The soundtrack fits JSRF, but it’s not as perfect a blend as the original. There are some memorable tracks but it’s not as great as I expected in a sequel.
Lasting Appeal: 8
The game will take you around 15 hours to complete the core, and then for those interested there are hours and hours left in the game of extras. You can make your own graffiti and then go out on the town and spray it all over the place to your hearts content. I managed to make several nice tags and can honestly say I was pleased to bomb (a term for tagging) the hell out of the city. In addition to that there are some serious challenges for the dedicated few who want to get everything in the game. I’m talking specifically about grinding and reaching areas that take precise timing and skill, as well as races that will test you. There is also the VS mode that diehard fans will enjoy. Bottom line is if you like the game then there is plenty to do.
The problem is you may become bored as the game offers hardly anything new as you progress through the stages.
Conclusion
I was one of the few people who thoroughly enjoyed the original Jet Grind Radio for everything it is. I’m serious when I say that I would have scored it a perfect 10 across the board back then. The learning curve may have been a bit daunting at first but it ended up being entirely rewarding after a little time with it. I can say that I experienced adrenaline spikes when the police were cornering me, the clock was counting down in the teens, and it took me until the last moment to finally pull off the right maneuver of the analog stick then on to the next mission where I could expect a similar intensity. It’s unfortunate that great games like Jet Grind Radio get overlooked or dismissed, and even more unfortunate when the developer compromises almost everything that made the original great in hopes of more sales.
Hardcore fans will play and like it just because it’s more Jet Grind Radio, and there is some fun to be had even if it’s not as challenging or engaging as the original. New comers might enjoy the game for all that it is but I feel it will turn out too simple to hold their interest.
Final Score: 7
Release Date: 04-2002
Jet Set Radio Future is the sequel to the Dreamcast game Jet Grind Radio, a game that introduced the graphic technique known as cel-shading while being coupled with an innovative approach to skating around and tagging city landscapes. Like many of Sega’s games at the time, Jet Grind Radio was critically acclaimed but met with only a lukewarm reception. Some might say that the steep learning curve and involved controls are to blame for the niche status the game managed, and I’d say they are right. It was hardly instantly accessible and it only got more challenging as the player progressed. That’s not to say the game wasn’t fun, because it was. It just didn’t have the likeability of a pick up and play type for the masses to enjoy. Never the less it seems that it did well enough to warrant a sequel, or maybe Smilebit just wanted a second chance, and here we are with JSRF.
Gameplay: 6
Like its predecessor, JSRF puts the player in control of a skater whose objective is to basically cause trouble. You begin the game in a central hub area where other skaters hangout, and here you are given the option of character choice, music, game management (saves), customizable graffiti, various types of surfaces to practice grinding on, and access to the surrounding city as you progress. Your missions will be given to you by the returning DJ Professor K who broadcasts over his pirate radio station, Jet Set Radio (now you know where the game title comes from in case you were wondering). The objectives vary from simply tagging specific locations in the city to taking out rival gangs. Now if you’ve played the original then this all sounds very familiar to you, and if you haven’t now you’re on the up and up. Let’s get to what’s new or different about it…
The first thing Jet Set Radio veterans will notice, besides the improved graphics, is that the controls have changed. It seems as though Smilebit wanted to make the game as easy to get in to as possible and in doing that they have succeeded, but they may have made it too simple in the process. If you played the original then you’ll remember that in order to tag an area first you had to collect spray paint cans then you had to go to a location marked by an arrow and begin to paint. To paint you had to pull off a series of analog maneuvers in order to complete the tag and rack up points. Small tags would take one or two strokes and the bigger wall sized tags would take several inputs or passes. All the while you had a squad of police on your tail and a time limit to contend with. Grinding took constant inputs of tricks to speed up which meant the player was always doing something. This made the game challenging but never impossible, and always engaging.
The maneuvers and time limit are gone, and the police, or Rokkaku, are not as much a threat. Tagging is as simple as grinding or skating pass an area and holding down the R trigger. Grinding is simple and doesn’t take nearly as much input to get going at a great speed, certainly enough to outrun the police or rivals with little difficulty. The Rokkaku are as aggressive as they were in the original but now they are easier to defeat, and with the larger environments and simplified grinding they are hardly a nuisance. Without the time limit there is no pressure to complete the objective. To sum it up, the challenges are gone. You skate, you tag without much to stand in your way; the mechanics are just too simple making for a largely forgettable experience.
I won’t say the game is a complete loss, because there is some fun to be had. The environments are enormous and it seems like you can grind on everything. It can be quite satisfying to grind around an entire level at a fast pace, finding shortcuts and outrunning rivals. The missions have enough variety to keep from being repetitive and there are dozens of them. There are even some moments that truly test your grinding capabilities to reach what look like impossible areas to get to. It’s just too bad these objectives are few and far between and don’t make up the missions necessary to complete the game.
It’s really too bad that Smilebit couldn’t find a better balance of gameplay to please veterans like myself while giving the game just a little more accessibility than the original. There’s a nice middle ground somewhere.
Graphics: 9
The first thing you’ll notice is that the people who brought you cel-shading still own it. The game is a spectacle and truly shines at times. The cityscapes are large and impressive, filled with buildings, billboards, stair ways, construction sites, bus stations, power lines, rails, and filled with pedestrians. The only disappointment is that the game has slow down at times, and the game can slow to a crawl. Fortunately these moments are few and far between.
Sound: 8
The original Jet Grind Radio soundtrack is an example of the perfect blend of music, style, and gameplay. Every track, though different from each other, fit the game perfectly. This is not true for the sequel. The soundtrack fits JSRF, but it’s not as perfect a blend as the original. There are some memorable tracks but it’s not as great as I expected in a sequel.
Lasting Appeal: 8
The game will take you around 15 hours to complete the core, and then for those interested there are hours and hours left in the game of extras. You can make your own graffiti and then go out on the town and spray it all over the place to your hearts content. I managed to make several nice tags and can honestly say I was pleased to bomb (a term for tagging) the hell out of the city. In addition to that there are some serious challenges for the dedicated few who want to get everything in the game. I’m talking specifically about grinding and reaching areas that take precise timing and skill, as well as races that will test you. There is also the VS mode that diehard fans will enjoy. Bottom line is if you like the game then there is plenty to do.
The problem is you may become bored as the game offers hardly anything new as you progress through the stages.
Conclusion
I was one of the few people who thoroughly enjoyed the original Jet Grind Radio for everything it is. I’m serious when I say that I would have scored it a perfect 10 across the board back then. The learning curve may have been a bit daunting at first but it ended up being entirely rewarding after a little time with it. I can say that I experienced adrenaline spikes when the police were cornering me, the clock was counting down in the teens, and it took me until the last moment to finally pull off the right maneuver of the analog stick then on to the next mission where I could expect a similar intensity. It’s unfortunate that great games like Jet Grind Radio get overlooked or dismissed, and even more unfortunate when the developer compromises almost everything that made the original great in hopes of more sales.
Hardcore fans will play and like it just because it’s more Jet Grind Radio, and there is some fun to be had even if it’s not as challenging or engaging as the original. New comers might enjoy the game for all that it is but I feel it will turn out too simple to hold their interest.
Final Score: 7