The Fast and the Furious was an awsome racing movie, yet the game just dosnt quite hit it.
In the beginning as usual in most underground racing, you begin with someones ride, then you take his ride and try to win the race. After you win the race, youll get money then be able to buy a new RIDE for yourself and take on the challenges that awaits you in Japan. The gameplay is simple, if anyone or any gamer has played Tokyo Extreme racer 1,2, and 3. Youll know how the game elements are made. In the beginning of the game youll have the option to make a profile and select few adjustments to your type of controls. There is your typical campaign mode, multiplayer mode, and other options that you can view upon. Something new in the campaign mode is the drifting which wasnt in any of the tokyo extreme racer games. Your typical buttons in this racing game is the X button to accelerate, and the Square button to brake. You can hit the NOS button with the L1 trigger on the controller or Triangle to change the camera to a front view of your car.
There are 2 different types of race modes you can get into with other racers, the first one is where you just race in the roads of japan and see who can win the race by taking the lead. But its not just any simple race where ya jsut hit the button and ya 1st place. Youll have to manuever across city cars, trucks and trying not too hit anything on your way. If you do end up hitting objects or walls, your car will dramatically drop in speed and your opponent can take the lead by far. You can catch up to the opponent if you have NOS or you didint slow down dramtically. To win the race, youll need to be ahead of your opponent by at least 160 - 170 km/m apart.. Now when you have won the race, youll be earning money depending how how fast ya beat your opponent or how stylish you won. The 2nd type of race mode against your opponent is the drift mode. Youll be able to race your car against challengers in the hills and beat them by drifting your way in front of them. When you take the lead, youll have to maintain the position till your far enough from your opponent or to reach the bottom of the hill to win. There are up hills and down hills racing depending which you like to take on. Depending on how many races you do, it can be boring after a while of racing on the streets.
But there is another mode that is available in the menu which is the mulitplayer mode. This takes you on lan, online, and coopertive mode to play with or against your friends. You might get some lag issues depending which area your from and what type of connection you have to play online. One of the most greatest features is fixing up your ride and making it look just like the Fast and the Furious cars. From neon lights to crazy decals, youll be able to take the rides you have and modfiy them in the shop depending which car you get. There are all sorts of differnt parts from EDM, KONIG, AEM racing gears, etc. These parts are purchased through the shop to upgrade your performance or looks of your car. Many different levels of perfermance are available right off the spot for you to choose depending on how much money you have collected. Top notch Parts can be expensive if you want the better performance which means youll have to race more to collect more money.
Another point in this racing game is there are all sorts of licensed veichles for you to choose from. Youll get cars like Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Ford etc.. in the beginning to purchase your first ride. When you get farther into the game, youll be able to afford new rides in the car shops. Graphics in this game are mediocore depnding on if you have a HDTV wide screem or not. If you have a simple 19 -22 inch tv, you might not get the full quality pictures of the game. Another thing in this game is that it does not support widscreen and you wont have the option to turn it on or off in the game options. Even though most racing games now a days have crazy graphics that look unreal with glossy lights and reflections that are on the car, are not in this game. Youll be racing at night and never in the day, so dont even bother looking for the sun. You can get different types of looks, colors, size, on your car depending which kits or rims you get. They should've been able to improve there graphics alot by now since, namco has made a lot of games for the past 4 years since the ps2 has launched. It seems this game was just rushed through and spending enough time building on the graphics to improve it.
The different types of tunes you can get wihle playing this game, can be a mix of R&B, Rock, Techno, and even Japanese tracks. The beats do keep you involved in the game but for a short time and can get boring fast which might make the player turn on their own music. Depending on how you tune your car up with specs or the ride you get, youll be able to hear the blow off valve going off each time you change gears. Other then the tunes and sound effects of the cars, you wont' hear people chatting or birds chirming even though you are driving in the middle of the night in JAPAN city. Lets just say in the nights of Japan city no one sleeps and in the streets of Japan, its usually packed with people walking around. I can only recommend this game that are fans of the drifting genre or Tokyo Extreme racing games .
If you looking for a more challenging racing game, i suggest you just wait till GT HD pops out or Need For Speed: Carbon which comes out in November for a better drive.