Dreamcast

  News 
  Reviews
  Previews
  Hardware
  Interviews
  All Features

Areas

  3DS
  Android
  iPad
  iPhone
  Mac
  PC
  PlayStation 3
  PlayStation 4
  Switch
  Vita
  Wii U
  Xbox 360
  Xbox One
  Media
  Archives
  Search
  Contests

 

Jet Grind Radio

Score: 95%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Smilebit/Sega
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Action


Graphics & Sound:

Jet Grind Radio is, hands down, the most gorgeous game I have ever played in my life. Nothing out on the PS2 right now, and certainly nothing else on any other system, comes close to touching the graphical genius of JGR. The characters all look like they’ve been ripped out of a comic book or Saturday morning cartoon, a style that has to be seen to be believed. Wacky Races almost pulled it off completely, but this game takes cel-style graphics to a whole other level. There are a few graphical issues, especially with the God-awful camera, but nothing that’s really atrocious. It hurts to see people’s feet poking out of things and through walls, though -- a little of the immersion is lost.

The same can not be said of the music. Sporting the hands-down best musical selection of any game ever, Jet Grind Radio will have you tapping your feet from when you boot it to when you turn the game off reluctantly. Songs from relative no-names to Rob Zombie and Mixmaster Mike grace the game, and most of the better tunes are the unknowns. That’s not to say there are any real bad tracks -- even if some of the music isn’t my style, it fits the game so perfectly that you can’t fail to enjoy it. And the fact that the songs themselves mix together D.J. style as you play the game only makes it better. The voice-acting is solid, the sound effects are amusing -- you’ll learn to fear the sound of running footsteps -- and everything sounds like it should.


Gameplay:

For the most part, everything plays like it should too. While Jet Grind Radio defies description for the most part, one could classify it as a race (against time). Of course, no other racing game I’ve ever played has you covering a city in graffiti, so that’s pretty much tossed out of the window anyway.

You play one of the members of a gang called the GGs. Tokyo-to, the place where most of the game is set, has a problem. Free expression has been suppressed, and it’s up to you to make the city a safer place for punks to live. Or something. The core gameplay has you rollerblading around various locales in the city (not to mention a new city added for the American release) and spray-painting over signs, windows, and other people’s graffiti.

Each level has a time limit, and, at least in the first part of the game, takes place in only a small part of an entire area. As you succeed in painting the town red/green/whatever, new areas open up for you to show your stuff off in. And as you complete the story segments, the game allows you to go back and race fellow gang members, or simply zoom around the city and spray paint to your heart’s delight. You can also go back and see how many points you can garner by pulling off tricks and whatnot.

There are quite a few things you can do in Jet Grind Radio, and some skills are very important to beating the game. You can grind along rails, sides of walls, and a lot of other things, which both makes you go pretty fast, gets you places you can’t get to otherwise, and makes you invincible to attack. The latter is important, as in every area there are cops or gang members that try to keep you from completing your job. As you spray paint more and more things, more bad guys try to stop you. As some graffiti jobs take longer than others to complete, it’s important to have a pattern to spray in -- do the big ones first, then the middles, and finally the smalls.

Every once in a while someone will challenge your gang to either a race or a test. In the races, you’ve simply got to get to a certain point and spray paint something before the other person. It’s usually damned difficult. In the tests, you’ve got to pull off different stunts that the challenger will show you. You don’t have to do them, but since each gang member has different stats (graffiti ability, health, and technique), it’s important to have as many choices as possible.

It’s really hard to quantify what makes Jet Grind Radio so enjoyable. At times it’s extremely frustrating, fighting the crappy camera and trying to make seemingly impossible jumps. But you’ll want to try over and over and over, and that says something.


Difficulty:

Most of the levels are simple enough to beat, but as you get further into the game, they become quite difficult to complete in the time given. You’ve got to plan out your route, getting all the largest signs before the major reinforcements come in, but you’ve also got to make sure you have enough time to hit everywhere. One of the very last stages, which has you spray painting signs on the tops of buildings, is renowned for its frustrative qualities, but in the end, it’s all beatable.

Game Mechanics:

The controls are generally spot-on in Jet Grind Radio, although it’s easy to overshoot rails when you’re jumping between them, and the camera will often make you do things you weren’t trying to do. Since the direction that the analog stick takes you is relative to the screen, not the character, once the camera starts spazzing, it’s difficult to keep going. It’s a travesty, but in the end, doesn’t keep Jet Grind Radio from being the fantastic game that it is.

Ultimately, Jet Grind Radio is one of the most original experiences you’ll ever have on a video game system today. It’s like when, back in the late 80s and early 90s, new genres were still being developed. The first few offerings had their rough edges, but they were still amazing, and one can only marvel at what can be done in the second iteration. Multiplayer support, a tighter camera, and tighter controls are the only things that can really be done to make Jet Grind Radio any better. As it is, any self-respecting Dreamcast owner should have this game.

Now.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

Sega Dreamcast Q*bert Sega Dreamcast NFL 2K

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated