I never played the original Jet Grind Radio and I was very skeptical about this game. It looked too cute to be much fun. I was dead wrong! Because I was unsure, I rented the game. After playing for about 5 hours a night for 3 nights, I knew I had to own this game. Gameplay If you are a huge THPS fan and you want more of the same, look elsewhere. The trick system in JSRF is much more simple. Some may not like that but I do. Tricking is only one part of the gameplay but is a blast. This game combines exploration, tricks, and some role playing into one. The flow of the game can be very fast which makes the fact that their is no time limit much better. You can enjoy exploring the whole map, finding hidden "Graphiti-Souls" and paint graffiti all over. I have spend more time just tricking around the maps trying to figure out paths and trick combos and seeing how much air I can get even after completing every goal on the map. Its hard to explain why its so enjoyable but it just is. Even after you finish the entire story based game you can still try to get all the bonus "Street Challenges" and grab all the "Graffiti Souls" on each level. When you do that, you can then take skill tests on each map and try to get a "Jet Ratting". Some have complained that the game is kind of short but since I am trying to finish all the goals on each level as I go I am going to get more that 40 hours of gameplay just finishing the game. And then I will probably go for the "Jet Rating". OK, no game is perfect and JSRF is no exception. There are a few times when the goals of the map can be annoying. To reach some of the tougher goals (which are optional!) you need to make some pretty tough moves like a long turbo jump. The annoying part is if you miss the jump you may have to travel around the whole map to get back and try it again. This can get old. This only happens on the optional goals of the map so it does make some sense that these will take more work. Graphics The graphics are simply great. What's even better is the character animation and the "living world" aspect of each level. Despite the fact that the view distance can be quiet far, the frame rate stays very high and their is never any re-draw. The level design is exceptional. The effect of the sparks on the skates and the cloud of smoke when you break are cool and fit perfectly with the game. In general you feel as you are playing inside a DC comic. On VERY rare occasions their is some frame rate drop. I only noticed it one time so far. It was during a battle which at least a dozen foes. This may just be a bug. I can forgive this since it only happened one time and it never took away from the gameplay any other time. Sound Sounds of the characters including voices, grinds, breaks, etc. are all very well done. The only voice acting is the DJ and its pretty high quality particularly for a game. Then their is the soundtrack. 30 Techno songs which all sound great. I was blown away by the sound on a 5.1 Dolby system. One song (which other strangely like) annoys me and you can not edit the soundtrack or skip songs during play. Although 30 songs is impressive I would have loved to see even more that could be unlocked.
By warriortyson | Review Date: Mar 31, 2006 | XBOX
Jet set Radio Future is the sequel to Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast, which was a very innovative game, not just having great graphics and an amazing soundtrack, but having a simple, yet completely original game play s... Read Full Review
From beginning to end this game keeps pulling off fantastic standards. You quickly learn the controls and even if you don't, Roboy will teach you. The missions are pretty easy but the Jet Rankings will challenge you, ... Read Full Review
