Playing bumper cars on Tokyo's highways! Go wreckless driving!
The answer, for the most part, is yes.
Graphics: 6/10
TXRO is not GT3 and its not Tokyo Street Racer 2 on the DC.
The game’s cars are all designed accurately but they’re not photocopied (ala GT3). The cars get some improved reflection mechanics but they lose the AA mechanics they had in the DC version.
Another problem is the relatively bland ''arena'' graphics. The game can't really be blamed for that since the whole point is to street race, during the night, on Tokyo highways. Not a bad looker, but could have been better.
Sound: 5/10
The sound is pretty bad. The engine sounds are almost all the same. The BGM is generic and a little bit irritating at times. Screeches and other effects could have been done better. And, to top it all off, the game doesn't seem to offer too many ambient noises to begin with.
The sound will do, but nothing more.
Gameplay: 7/10
There is really not that much to say about the gameplay.
It happens more like a fighter than a racing game. You pick a car from the huge selection. You go out onto the streets, come up behind an opponent, flash your headlights, and then you race. You each get a health bar that can be altered by either: 1) Passing the opponent and keeping the lead, 2) Being rammed in objects at high speeds. Winning allows you to gain money, which you can use to enhance or ''trick-out'' your car or buy a new one.
There are tons of parts to buy and you can acquire more by defeating certain opponents. There are also a lot of decals, colors, rims, etc. from you to choose but not nearly as many as in the recently released NFSU. All of these up grades come at a cost, of course.
The racing mechanics are pretty good. The physics are floaty and they feel a little bit arcadeish at times, but this is to be expected from a game that doesn’t tout the slogan “Best Racing Simulator Ever”. In general you will have more trouble controlling a $500.000 car than a $500 one. However, don’t mistake this for a arcade racer, it offers almost all of the simulation essential (hitting a wall puts you out of the race, going into a turn with 110MPH does the same, etc.) offered by such series as GT. For the most part though, this is the best street racing simulation ever.
The actual game happens in Tokyo and it's districts. You unlock more districts, parts, cars, etc. as you beat the bosses and gangs from each district. To be honest the game offers a plethora of opponents to beat. You have district gangs, town gangs, ''wanderers'' (lone-wolf racers), etc. However, all of these opponents can only be engaged in 1v1 matches. There are no races with more then one opponent, which is very realistic, but it’s also extremely boring. Furthermore, the games modes offer little variety. There are test tracks, multiplayer, some DVD extras, and of course the career mode, but other than that, you’re stuck with fighting opponents 1v1.
OK, OK, so the game has many faults, but then why did I give it an 8 you ask? Even with all these flaws the game recreates street racing better then any other game out there. It has tons of parts, cars, real opponents and gangs, and an actual street-racing environment. And, unlike in Need for Speed: Underground, you buy each individual part and can adjust the cars suspension, turbo, breaks, etc. Also, there is a lot of gaming to be had here: Beating all the wanderers will take you about 3 months I'd say. Even finishing the simple career mode takes about a month.
Oh, and as a closing statement, yes, there is traffic on the streets.
Multiplayer: 5/10
Nothing special here other than vs. battles. You are allowed to bring cars from your garage in your vs. challenges though, and of course you can choose from any of the already unlocked cars. Really though, this is not the meat of the game.
Overall: 8/10
TXRO is the best street racing sim to date. Unlike NFS:U it's actually a simulation game and not an arcade racer (even with some of it's not-so-GT physics) and for $14.99 or less, you can't go wrong.