Reviewed: July 15, 2001
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
SEGA

Developer
Smilebit

Released: October 31, 2000
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

10
10
10
10
10

Supported Features:

The government is attempting to silence the kids of Tokyo, but with their Overdrive Magnetic-Motor Skating Shoes, the cops will have to catch 'em first. The pirate Jet Grind Radio program keeps the kids unified and inspired to fight for their rights of expression, which includes graffiti art. Grab your spray cans and design your own piece on one of the immense walls in the 3D, interactive city. You might be forced to protect your territory from adversaries that want to take over your neighborhood. Join up with like-minded hip individuals that will help you keep your area the way you want it. The cops will be after you too, so you'll have to be quick. The 10 cartoon-style characters are pumped up with polygons so they come alive in 3D on Sega Dreamcast. Uniqueness is key to these kids and each character stands apart with exclusive abilities and style. They like to show off too, and with 18 missions, there's plenty of time to impress. It's fast, it's fun, and it's definitely funky.

• Create your own logo by combining colors, letters, special effects.
• Zoom around the three massive worlds and make them your own. Zones within the worlds will be unlocked as you explore further.
• Welcome to the urban jungle. Cars move in real time while pedestrians swarm.
• High-res animations transport you into cutting-edge hip and trendy culture.
• Cool urban industrial soundtrack.
• AI brings balance and technique for each team and the police.

Jet Grind Radio is one of those games you either love or hate. I originally picked this game up the day it released and "hated" it, but with the recent drop in Dreamcast games I was able to pick this game up for $10 and give it a second chance. I soon realized that I had been missing out on a five-star game for almost a year.

Jet Grind Radio is truly an original concept with a unique look and style that is unparalleled by anything else on the Dreamcast. It's comic book style graphics can only be compared to the early 90's adventure title, Willie Beamish, but the gameplay is totally original. This is one of the first (if not the first) in-line skating games, and when you combine it with the controversial art form of graffiti you are in for as much fun as you are trouble.

Yet Jet Grind Radio is not without controversy. The blatant promotion of vandalism and anti-authority themes has caused several political and environmental groups to step in and question the merits of such a game. Sega has been able to slip this game into the US by placing a large disclaimer/anti-graffiti message at the beginning of the game that you cannot skip through with a mere button press. The simple fact is that most kids who play video games aren't the type who would try to replicate the actions of this game in real life, and the urban youth who are prone to graffiti probably don't play video games.

1. In-line skating

The opening tutorial will teach you the basics of in-line skating, jumping, grinding, and various tricks. Moving is as simple as pushing up on the analog stick and you can get a burst of speed by pressing the right trigger. This allows you to achieve faster grinds on the rails then pull off amazing stunts by jumping at the end of the grind. Controlling your skater becomes second nature by the end of the first or second tutorial.

2. "Tagging" The urban art of graffiti

The core concept of this game is the art of painting small, medium, and large pieces of graffiti on walls, cars, buses, and even other gang members. This is done through a unique system where you approach the area to be painted and hold down the left trigger then swirl your analog stick around in various patterns (replicating the movement of your hand with a spray paint can) to create these "works of art". The larger the "tag" the more moves you are required to make.

Small "tags" can be done with a simple one-tap burst of the L-trigger while large "tags" require a long chain of moves. If you break the chain you don't lose any art but you do have to start the pattern over and you will lose points. Completing a large "tag" in one continuous motion will get you plenty of bonus points and save you precious seconds as you try to stay one step ahead of the police which are never far behind.

3. Dodging authority

Your main enemy is a clumsy trench-coat wearing cop who will always be in hot pursuit. He is armed with a gun that you can easily dodge by hitting the boost button whenever he is near, but he also has a radio and when he uses it - look out!

Apparently graffiti is a serious offense in Japan as you will often find yourself up against armies of riot-cops with shields, tear gas, and nightsticks. Motorcycle cops will try to run you over while you paint and you will even go up against paratroopers, military choppers, and even tanks - YES TANKS! Apparently the government would rather blow a hole in the side of a building than have you paint your logos on it.

You start the game off on your own but throughout the course of your adventure you will meet and recruit other members to join your gang. These new members will challenge you to various races or challenges and if you win they will join your cause. Each of the 10 members has their own unique talents and strengths such as speed, skating technique, and art ability. The look and attitudes of these characters are all designed around a weird mix of urban hip-hop and neo-Tokyo Pop styles.

Jet Grind Radio's levels retain the same openness and freedom-to-explore concepts that you can experience in games such as Crazy Taxi. The huge interactive cities are alive with pedestrians, traffic, cops, and of course plenty of secrets. In addition to collecting the yellow and red paint cans to maintain your health and painting ability, there are also mini-radios hidden around the level that open up new music tracks. Collect as many of these as you can to give you the ultimate choice in music.

The core of Jet Grind Radio is the story mode that puts your gang up against three other rival gangs. You must enter their sections of the city and "tag" the locations marked with arrows within the allotted time. Gang members will be painting their own art and cops are never far behind as you try to bring a section of the city under your own graphic influence. As in reality, a "tag" in Jet Grind Radio represents domination over a territory and rival gangs will attempt to reclaim lost territory. It's up to players to protect their marked turf while expanding their territory with fresh art.

Things get really hard at the end of each city section as you must chase down and "tag" actually gang members. Chasing down these fast skaters is hard but getting close enough to paint your logo on them ten times each is nearly impossible. It is the ultimate challenge but it also marks the end of each mission area as you are rewarded with a piece of the puzzle that figures in to the main story.

The characters, while 2-D, are animated very well with extremely fluid and lifelike movements while skating or even just chillin' at the gang's hideout. Since the game isn't pushing thousands of polygons around you can be assured that the game is running at a silky-smooth frame rate. The art and style is heavily influenced by Japanese culture and it all combines to make for a very original gaming experience.

The movies between missions and cutscenes within the missions are all rendered with the game engine, so you are never taken out of the visual style of the game. It is almost like you are in control of, or participating in your own Saturday morning cartoon.

As with any third-person game in a 3D world there is always some "camera issues" and Jet Grind is no exception. The game is very fast-paced and the camera is always moving around and changing angles. Sometimes it will even break away to a cinematic view to show off a spectacular stunt. Since the direction you move the stick is relative to the camera you can imagine the inconsistencies when trying to land a large jump after the camera has swung around 90-degrees and you are now aiming for an entirely new location. Blind turns are equally as dangerous as the camera takes a few seconds to catch up with your new direction. You can press the left trigger to manually bring the camera behind you and this is a technique you will need to master quickly to remain competitive in this game.

The interface of the game is quite unique. The visual menu system is a 3D replica of your hideout and you can pan around to various parts of your crib to access certain functions of the game. This same system is used when picking the character who will participate in each mission.

You also have the ability to create your own custom graffiti using the editor provided with the game. This certainly has no bearing on the gameplay itself, but it is a great way to "release the artist within", and you can even exchange your custom art with others on the Internet.

If you were fortunate enough to buy this game when it first came out you probably got the free soundtrack CD that many stores were giving out while supplies last. It's probably harder to come by these days, but I highly recommend locating one if you enjoy the music selections this game offers.

There isn't a lot of speech in the game. The occasional HEY or YEA will crop up from time to time but you read most of the dialog in the game. Most of the actual speech is done by Professor K, the super-hip and super-scary DJ who updates you on gang activity and comments on your progress after each mission. His electric-fro and funky Charles Manson-like tattoo on his forehead just freaks me out.

As you progress through the story you unlock the various stages so you can replay them in the other game modes such as one-on-one races, freestyle competition, or timed tagging sessions.

While Jet Grind Radio is a single player experience it does use the Dreamcast's modem to allow you to connect to the Internet. You can then go to the Jet Grind website and update your rankings or even upload or download custom graffiti.