Los Angeles’ main kingpin has just taken nine to the chest by a Mexican gang leader named Cortez. This sparks a revenge-fueled turf war lead by O.G. Dupree, the gang’s new top dog. As Buck, you’ll have to race around L.A. while blowing up other gang members’ cars and protecting your territory.
As you can probably tell, story isn't one of 187 Ride or Drive's strongest aspects, and neither is its gameplay. 187is more or less the "thug" version of Mario Kart. You ride around enclosed areas that represent the city of Los Angeles. As you race along each street, you'll roll over weapons that act like power-ups in other kart racers. You begin each race armed with a pistol that does little damage. Eventually you'll come across AK-47's, shot guns and even missile launchers. Each weapon has limited ammo, so you'll have to place your shots carefully, though you can reload if you manage to find anther weapon power-up somewhere on the course. However, given the extremely linear paths courses take, this isn't that hard to do. Seeing as how you are racing through a city, it is disappointing that there are no short cuts to take. As a result, 187 Ride or Die can become very dull after only a few races. Couple this with the bland story, and there isn't a very compelling reason to play through the entire game.
One of the few bright spots in 187 are the multiplayer modes. The gameplay doesn't change much in multiplayer, though the added wrinkles do make it a little more interesting than the main game. In addition to Deathmatch mode, 187 includes an Escort mode that has you protecting a specific car through a track and Po-Po chase, where you try to outrun the police. In The Hit, you take the other side of escort missions and try to blow up a certain car before time runs out. Bomb mode takes a cue from the movie "Speed" and requires you to maintain a certain speed or blow up. One of my personal favorite modes was Minefield. Here all of the power-ups are replaced with mines, making for some really intense races.
