What an awsome game
The characters themselves arn't that great but who stops to look?
This is worth getting just to unlock amman ra and his insane song
On hard the racing is intense and nerve wrecking and you will swear when someone lands on you and you will cheer when you find a wetsuit.
The best of this game is to be found on free roam mode where you can just zoom around and ignore your opponents.
Some of the stunts you can do are pretty amazing.
I'd buy this game second hand on the internet somewhere