Jet Grind Radio
Graphics -9.5
Sound - 9.5
Control - 9
Replay - 8.5
Overall - 8.7
Classifying this game into one category is probably not posible. I mean, you're on rollerblades, you roller around graffitying like the punk hoodlum that you are, all the while dodging the evil law guys who want to kick your ass for painting on stuff that isn't yours. They'll come at you with mighty little clubs at first to try and beat you down, but as you progress, they realize clubs aren't exactly the best weapon to catch someone on roller blades.
This game is surprisingly fun.. but unless you really like it, it may become tedious once you reach a point where the levels become really hard. Most likely though, you're going to want to try this game, and may probably buy it. If you like adventure games, then chances are you'll like JSR. It's almost like an adventure/sport game, but graffitying the streets isn't really a sport (maybe in the US it is, not sure) A neat feature of JSR is the create-a-paint mode. You can create your own paints, and make em look jazzy too, without much fuss. If you put 10 minutes into a single spray (and have atleast a tinge of artistic ability), you'll be spraying the city with some nice looking graffiti you can be proud of. Of course, the cops still won't be proud of you until your ass is on the ground (well, they probably would be laughing at you then.. err.. anyways!)
Graphically, the game looks kinda like Futurama, but better. The motions are life-like and the explosions just look awesome. When you get shot at by a tank or other enemy that tries to kill you, you'll see the nice smoke effects. Should you decide you like the second hand smoke of bombs, you can get a really close up look. It won't look much better though, cause it's just that good to begin with. Just picture a 3d cartoon running nicely on your DC to see what JGR looks like until you actually try it yourself.
The sound in this game is just awesome... well, the actually sound is what you should expect, but the music is great. It'll appeal to almost everyone who likes music. I like rap/hip-hop, and I was surprised it didn't sound bad. Some of the songs I couldn't stand however, so that's why it got a 9.5. If it had a way of changing the tracks in-game, then it probably would have made it to the 10 mark. Still, probably the best music in any game to date.
Controlling your punk around town is easy. You skate around like you'd think you would, with the ability to jump, speed up/slow down, and grab on to the backs of cars. Since you have some sort of magic skates, your jumps can be stupidly high at times, but really, since it has some of that adventure in its blood, you'd expect no less. The speeding up has something to do with magnets in your shoes. You get about a 2-3 second burst, and will know you're bursting when you see blue sparks flying from your feet. Then you'll have to wait about 4-8 seconds before you can burst again, depending on how long you bursted for. You don't gain much speed when you burst, but it is usually enough to get you to higher places when timed right. Grabbing on to cars isn't really useful unless you're going up a hill, or just a lazy s-o-b street punk.
There are slightly different story paths you can take in JGR, but may not even notice. One time, our punk dog was taken by the robot punks. I didn't get to the robot punks in time (cause i chose to go after the heartbreaking punks) and when I did get my dog back, he had a thing on his head and moo'ed instead of barked. The first time I played, nothing like this had happened, and I'm guessing we got to those robot punks early, so they couldn't take my punk dog, and make him stop punk barking.
To determine who should buy this game isn't easy. While there are some tricks you can do, it's nowhere near THPS 1-2, and when it comes to the adventure part, it probably isn't as good as Mario 64 (which I really like btw). But, it manages to combine the 2, add some arcadish physics, and create a great game. Definately worth checking out.
The Drop