Initial D: Street Stage [PSP] Review
Become A Downhill Specialist
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Overview:

Initial D Street Stage is a touge (downhill) racing game, based of the popular anime and manga Initial D. If your looking to pick this game up after reading this review, you'll have to import it, I suggest play http://www.play-asia.com. Or, you can go to your local Japanese mall and see if they have a copy. I got mine at my Japanese mall, so I know they have the title there.

Graphics and Design: [8.2/10]

For a PSP game, it has surprising good graphics. I was even more shocked that they are better the PS2 version's graphics. All the cars looks exactly like they do in the series and in real life. There is a wide rage of cars such as a Toyota AE86, a Nissan Skyline R32, an RX7 FD3S and FC3S, and so a bunch more. To put it short, if they drive it in the series, you can drive it in the game. There is a nice range of mountain passes that you can race on. On each mountain pass, you can either choose to drive it uphill or downhill, unless you are doing story mode.

There are plenty of fun gamemodes as well. In the series, Takumi's dad would always place a cup of water in his car when he would go make early morning deliveries. If the cup spilled, the tofu in the back would spill. One of the gamemodes is race down or up a hill and try not to spill the water. The less water you spill, the better you score.

Game-play and Controls: [8.8/10]

The Bad:
One minor flaw that this game has is upgrading your car(s). In order to upgrade your car(s) you have to race people. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. When the race is over, you get a card. That card can either be a performance upgrade, an exterior upgrade, or a useless card that you collect. It gets kind of annoying when you need a performance upgrade and you get stuck with a pointless one. In my eyes, that is the only really issue with the game. Another tiny flaw is that it lacks some of the mountains from the original arcade stages.

Initial D Street Stage is mainly for the fan base of Initial D with the cars and mountain passes from the series. For you exotic car lovers and tuners, I would suggest checking out something from the Need for Speed series. However, you should check this title out if you enjoy racing games in general.

The Good:
Where to begin, I think staring off with the fact that I'm a huge Initial D fan is a great place. If you're a fan of ID, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be hooked to this game for a long while. Believe it or not, some races are actually a challenge. Letting your opponent have a head start then kicking his ass down the pass is a blast. There's nothing better then drifting past the computer or a friend on the last hairpin and winning.

The controls are also very solid. I couldn't picture them any different. It's really easy to steer as well. You'd think it be kind of difficult on the PSP because previous racing games on it were a tad hard. This feels just right. Remember kids, it's not the graphics that makes the game. Just because I didn't give it a 9 or a 10 doesn't mean the graphic suck.

TIP: When racing, race in first person. You will be able to corner a lot better.

Sound: [9.2/10]

The cars sound great (Though some might sound the same. I've noticed that different from person to person.) as does the tires screeching while drifting. I tend to turn most of the in-game sound effects down and listen to the awesome soundtrack. The eurobeat in the game is just amazing. It makes you want to drive faster and always seems to put you in the right mood for each race.

Entertainment: [9.5/10]

Overall Initial D is a great game especially to fans of the anime and manga. Solid gameplay, graphics, and music make this to be a fun title, not to mention one of my favorite racers to date. While you can't modify your car like you can in Need For Speed and Forza Motorsport, it is still an amazing and well put together game.