Street Racing Syndicate is an intense street racing game. Originally scheduled to release last year by the now defunct 3DO, it was picked up by Namco and just recently released. SRS introduces many new additions to the street racing genre.
Graphics- 9/10
Street Racing Syndicate has some pretty realistic graphics. You can see the reflection of the building on the wet shiny road while you are driving. The cars look just like their real life counterparts and you can make them look however you want with tons of designs. Many of the courses have their own special look, so it doesn�t always feel like you are racing in the same place, like in Need for Speed Underground. The only downfall in the graphics department is the fact that there is no graphical effect that makes it seem like you are going fast. A little blur effect when you start going fast would have helped make it feel a lot more realistic. There is a slight effect when you use NOS, but it is not the type of blur effect I would like. Overall the graphics are very good, but a few tweaks could have made them slightly better.
Sound- 7/10
Street Racing Syndicate has all the little sound effects in place that makes it sound like you are actually in the car. Everything from the engine running to the sliding on the wet cement sounds great. The game includes a nice size soundtrack, but most of the songs aren�t that good. The voice acting during the cutscenes are good, but some of the girls� voices can annoy you. Overall the sound is solid with a few downfalls.
Gameplay- 8/10
In Street Racing Syndicate�s main story mode, you start as a nobody trying to become a big player in the street racing scene. The more you play, the more you gain respect and money. You can use that money to upgrade or repair your car. One thing I noticed is that I ended up having to spend most of my money on repairing my car instead of upgrading it.
The best part about SRS is the free roaming environment. You can drive around any of 3 large cities looking for someone to race with. The map system, accessed by pressing select, makes these cities easy to navigate as you can either jump directly to a race or mark it on your on screen map so you can navigate yourself there. I would have liked if everything was marked on the on screen map so you can drive wherever you want without have to choose it from the map first. Things you can do on the free roaming map include: switching cars and checking on your girls at your warehouse, upgrading or repairing your car at the garage, or going to the showroom to buy a new car.
There are many types of races you can take part in. The main race type is the crew meets. Crew meets are where a bunch of competitors get together and race a series of 3 races around 3 different courses. You need to meet special requirements to get into certain meets so it helps keep the game on track. You need to put up a certain amount of money to join a series and if you win, you win that money back and even more. You can even make wagers with a competitor before a race to make some extra cash. You can also race rivals one on one in special challenges on the map or flash your lights at other street racers on the map to race them.
The game�s biggest gimmick is the girlfriends. You have to find these girls on the map and then beat their respect challenge to be able to hook up with them. Then you can visit the warehouse to view a video of them dancing and you can hook up with them. When you hookup with them, they will appear on your pause screen and also wave the flag during your races. If you are hooked up with a girl long enough, you will unlock more videos of them. The girlfriends don�t add much to the gameplay, but are just there to look good.
The actual gameplay in SRS has its ups and downs. One the good side, the steering controls very good, which feels just like driving a real car. You can also see the damage on your car when you get it smashed up a lot. Now for the bad side, the races aren�t as fun as they should be. The biggest reason for this is the lack of sense of speed. Like I said in the graphics section, there is no blur effect to make it look like you are going fast. When you are going the top speed, it still doesn�t feel like you are going that fast. This can make some of the races very boring.
Conclusion
Overall the features in the game are very well done, but the lack of speed during the actual gameplay is what really holds this game down from being great. If you are a big racing fan, I would definetly suggest you pick this game up as it offers many new things to the genre that will keep you interested. If you aren�t that big of a racing fan, you should rent this game first and if you like it enough, then you should buy it.
Overall score- 8/10
Go here: http://www.hypemakers.net/srs/go.php?v=olg to visit the official Street Racing Sydicate website.