Metropolis Street Racer

Written by Tom Clare in Dreamcast Game Reviews, Friday 18 April, 2008

Released: 2000
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Publisher: SEGA
Genre: Racing
Platform: Dreamcast

MSR - No Pandemic But Still Worth Catching

The history books may tell you that Formula One '97 for the PlayStation was just another racer in an increasingly-bloated legacy of annually-updated sports sims. However, those who remember it will testify that the 32-bit era would never see another F1 game to match its excellence, and perhaps not without good reason - it would be the second and final F1 game developed by Bizarre Creations, who would disappear for a couple of years and, in 1999, resurface with announcement of a new racer that would become one of the Dreamcast's most hotly anticipated titles.

Where F1 '97 succeeded was in its ability to simultaneously deliver all the depth and trimmings associated with a full-blown sim whilst also maintaining a level of accessibility and fun. To a large degree, Metropolis Street Racer attempts to replicate the formula, but in a much more extreme fashion.

You want super-cars, insane speeds and real-life circuits recreated down to the last bump, right? Well, you've come to the wrong place. Whilst Gran Turismo proudly proclaimed that it was the 'Real Driving Simulator', the term is perhaps more befitting of MSR, which features relatively little in the way of actual racing (at least 40% of the time you're racing against the clock or a single opponent) - the real battle comes from getting to grips with your own car and then the devilishly-designed circuits. Whether you view it as a hardcore-sim with some tacked-on gimmicks or the least-forgiving arcade racer in history, MSR is strictly one for the purists and demands a heck of a lot of patience to get to grips with.

Dauntingly, it features 250 events spanning 25 chapters, each comprised of one-on-one battles; street races; speed tests; overtaking challenges and multi-race championships. According to the games own statistics, there are over 250 circuit variants, though in truth each just slightly alters the layout and route of the games three large cities, to the point where it makes Ridge Racer's seem positively inventive.

That said, the cities of Tokyo, London and San Francisco are stunning creations. One of MSR's cleverest and most well-implemented features is also one of its simplest - its use of the Dreamcast clock. So logically enough if you play the game at 10pm at night, London will be under darkened skies and make for a rather different experience to racing there at midday. Driving around Tokyo at night really enhances your appreciation for the amount of work the developers have put it - the neons and street lights make for an entirely different visual experience. The only problem is it is noticeably harder to clock competitive times at night, as at speed, the apexes of many corners can become a nightmare to judge because of shadows casting blind spots all over the courses.

Impressively, each city offers it own driving challenges. San Francisco is perhaps the most enjoyable simply because the road is so wide, meaning it's quite forgiving and also allows far greater scope for powerslides. Tokyo offers some devious, tight alleyways to negotiate and London sees you rocketing through parks and up and down stair cases - these two cities can frustrate though due to the appearance of monuments and obstacles in the middle of straights and corners.

Gameplay-wise, the main innovation is the 'Kudos' system - the focal point of the game, it proves at once a blessing and a curse. At the end of every race (provided you fulfil the targets set before hand), you are rewarded points for 'skill' (speed, high-finishes, lots of points, overtaking etc) and 'style' (how many powerslides you can pull off), minus any penalties. A certain amount of 'Kudos' is required to reach the next chapter and unlock new races. The trouble is, it isn't a case of your best performance being counted, merely your last effort - retrying races puts your points on the line and though this isn't too much of a problem as the game pans out, it was a strange and rather needless addition. Penalties can be fairly free-flowing as well; the merest glance of the scenery or another car results in deductions, and failing a challenge bizarrely sees the game 'reward' you with a minus score, essentially punishing you for trying.

Still, it's certainly a clever concept and one that gradually becomes less of a problem as the game progresses. Employing 'jokers' is a nice touch as it can put real significance on certain races, because it doubles the number of Kudos points that you earn. The result can mean opening up several new races at a time - I managed to open up all the standard 24 Chapters by the time I had reached Chapter 13.

Metropolis Street Racer can be immensely satisfying, though you have to be prepared for a long slog in order to conquer it. At first, the tight, winding circuits seem at odds with the encouragement of powerslides and you'll end up hitting lots of barriers and other cars (lucky there are no damage parameters), but gradually as you grow in confidence, discover the fastest lines and shave tenths of your lap-times, you find the games real strengths. It's all about precision and fortunately the handling is very responsive and the mixture of speed and controlled aggression required to pass tasks and get points is tough but enhances the almost-hypnotic 'one-more-go' factor.

Even taking into account its 'Street Racer' title though, the cars are pretty underwhelming. Play for a couple of weeks and the best motor you're likely to have got your hands on is a Peugeot 206, and further progression reveals a myriad of not-especially-good rewards until you get to the last four or five chapters. As iconic as the image of the VX220 that adorns the games cover is, the fact remains that it's a Vauxhall with less than 150bhp to show for itself - and that's one of the better motors you'll get. It can become quite irksome playing through several chapters only to find that the power levels of the cars barely increases at all, and apart from the rear-wheel drive cars which slide with an almost schizophrenic unpredictability, the handling remains almost the same throughout. Even after 'unlocking' a new vehicle, you have to beat the cars own time-trial just to be able to claim it in your garage - and predictably enough, the time limits are tight and it can all become very frustrating.

Perhaps the games most impressive facet of MSR is its graphics, which are a triumph in every respect. The cities are positively loaded with scenery (shown off in the lovely replays) and the tracks manage to maintain a credible degree of variety despite the chronic recycling of many sections, as there are enough landmarks to distinguish them by. With such high levels of detail and razor-sharp picture quality, it's pleasing to note the total absence of any slow-down and there's rarely any hint of tearing either. It's another example of a DC title that is easily on a par technically with games made for rival formats several years later.

The audio-side however comes up a little short, perhaps curbed in part caused by the limited capacity of the Dreamcast discs. Whilst the mixture of American, Japanese and English radio-stations is another nice touch, songs are repeated to such a relentless degree that you'll have heard most of them several dozen times by the time you're finished with the game. The mixture of R'n'B, dance and country is passable, though somewhat ill-fitting in the context of a racing game, as the songs hardly help to convey a competitive atmosphere in the way the Ridge Racer games have in the past.

For the committed there is literally months of play to be gleaned from MSR - the two-player mode is lacklustre and something of a missed opportunity, but there's no denying that it has considerable legs as a single-player experience, to rival even Gran Turismo. The cities are wonderful, the racing tricky but satisfying, and but for a streak of needlessly unforgiving elements, it could have been a classic. As it is, it's still worth a look - but only if you're a racing fan after a heavyweight challenge.

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