JET GRIND RADIO (DC)


Pump it up, da Prof is in da house

By WILLIAM BARKER

If you've been reading our news lately, you'll already know about the unnerving trend of developers leaving half-finished DC games in the lurch. For the most part this is to free up expensive developers - fair enough. If they think they're going to sell more games elsewhere that's their prerogative.

As such, it's reassuring to see titles of Jet Grind Radio's ilk reach the shelves. One of those games that will undoubtedly inspire others to greater heights, this title never becomes tedious. The ideas are fresh and the concepts absorbing.

This game, to be unequivocally blunt, is awesome. And the sad thing is that only the likes of Sega could ever have a hope of bringing gamers a title like this. The game didn't sell too well in Japan, but what more needs to imparted about their interesting taste. Dating sims and horse racing games? Yehaw.

Year after year we see the same old stuff come out on PC, PSX, N64 and DC too. Nobody is safe. Let's see - we have had nine Final Fantasys, 12 Sim Citys, 72 Marios and don't even get me started on Pokemon. It's not until something as cool and definitive as JGR smacks you over the head with a 50-pound mackerel and screams "Is that all you got, punk?" that you realise things are getting a little staid.

The game revolves around a radio station and its bizarro DJ - Professor K. I say bizarro because at one stage in the game he unleashes a horde of tree frogs. It's all part of the story, which is quite surprising really, seeing as how the Japanese are quite conservative and all. Players take control of a gang of young roller blader's, the GGs, who are out to protect their territory. This 'territorial' aspect is approached with much innovation, as graffiti is how one marks one's surroundings. Now, this is taboo in Japan, so a game that sports this activity as a means of progression is pretty hardcore.

But you won't have the liberty to skate around completely unhindered, as the boys in blue will be after you. Not only will you have the 'five-oh' on yo' ass, but undercover cops too and even a privately funded army! Things can get pretty intense when you see khaki-clad, bazooka-wielding paratroopers dropping from the skies, wanting only one thing - your head on a platter. The originality of this title is matched only by its inventiveness, with every new level showing players an increaslying diverse game-world. It gives me shivers…

Before players can get into the thick of the game, passing tutorial missions is obligatory. These are pretty easy to start with and are interspersed every two or three levels too. You watch your guide go about the streets of Tokyoto skitching off cars, grinding vast amounts of coping, wall-riding and spray-painting in mid-air. This is how you unlock new characters too. Fun and educational, a double-whammy, one might say.

Once you've got the basic controls down pat, it's off to Shibuya to claim your turf. You must tag all the 'hot-spots' in each level to finish, but this is far from straight-forward. You must first find ammo for your anti-establishment, anti-social yet artistic pastime. Run out mid-spray and you'l be shaking your head in disgust. Some of the bigger tags also involve some Capcom-esque quarter-circles to paint the town a smarmy green and yellow - Ha-do-ken. Then there are the other gangs, who can cause havoc with your taggin' plans. Smash them over though and they'll soon learn whose the baddest sugar-daddy.

Of course, there are the aforementioned authorities to dodge too, which on its own is excellent fun. Skeet here, dodge there, duck down that alley and skitch on cars to avoid those dangerous dogs too. Hai, hai, hai!

When people first see and hear JGR they will want some. People, and I don't mean just gamers, will want to pick up the controller and play this game until their thumbs spurt blood. Seriously, the punch this game's audio/visual presence packs is amazing. You may remember the preview we did of this game a few months back where we talked about cel-shading. The look is so unique that even boring gits like politicians will dig it. Smooth frame rates and stylised environments will grace your TV screen. The visuals are best described as ultra-hip and the environments can be likened to Crazy Taxi in terms of explorability.

Jet Set Radio, the underground beat-station manned by none other than Professor K, brings music to you constantly. He mixes tunes into one quasi-continuous artistic masterpiece. The mix is hip-hop, electronica and indy-pop and never fails to impress. Truly, the mix-masters at Sega have outdone themselves - a JGR album wouldn't go astray either - this rocks!