Metropolis Street Racer Critic Reviews

Pick this game up today and you'll still be playing it months from now, without ever once feeling bored. How many games can you say that about?

The combination of incredible graphics, outstanding control, flawless sound, and the groud-breaking Kudos system make this one the kind of game that will thrill racing veterans while converting new fanatics by the carload.

Quite simply brilliant. I have not been held by a game like this for a long time, it is addictive, compelling and quite marvellous to play.

Bizarre Creations haven't done much but develop Metropolis Street Racer, mapping out San Francisco, Tokyo and London in fantastic detail for what I can safely say is the best racing game that I've ever played.

Both the graphics and the driving model are spot-on, but the game is also full of great new ideas, like a time of day setting that corresponds to the internal clock of the Dreamcast, a fictitious car stereo that lets you "make your own CDs" and a brilliant point system.

Forget "Lemans," forget "Ferrari F355," forget "Gran Turismo 2," and forget "Ridge Racer V," this is the new king of racers.

The kudos system, overall structure, and addictive qualities of this game easily transcend any minor flaws.

This game has a great sense of progression, difficulty and refinement throughout, and while it may be too difficult for people with little patience, it is one of the most rewarding gameplay experiences in the history of the genre.

It is not only the best racing game on Dreamcast, it's the best racing game ever.

Everything you could possibly want from a driving game.

Visually MSR is second to none with highly detailed environments...Likewise, the AI can be bullish at times, but with cunning driving you can beat them at their own game.

MSR is like a lover. Sometimes you'll spend hours and hours enjoying its company, finding much pleasure in what it can give you. But, when something irritates you about it, it'll spill over into hours and hours of mind-numbing irritation, and there'll be moments when you decide that you've just had enough and don't want to touch it again.

But I cannot help but note that with the length of the development time why were there some faults with the game? Regardless, with detailed graphics and an innovative scoring system, MSR earns the Joystick up.

And your cars? Well, eventually you'll get some nice ones. Just set aside a month.

What MSR fails to do is generate any real adrenalin rush.

It's a solid Dreamcast racer, but advancing to the next level can be frustrating. Access to more cars in the beginning, customizing, and level advancement should have been tweaked.

Metropolis Street Racer is a beautiful racer with accurate physics and tight control, but the kudos system makes it far more challenging than it needs to be.

Those who are easily frustrated will be turned off, but those who are willing and patient enough to spend some time to master this title will not be disappointed.

Bizarre neglected to focus on polishing MSR's overall driving experience. Not that MSR is a bad game, but there are at least a few other Dreamcast racers I would have to recommend before it. "Test Drive: Le Mans," anyone?

A universe of drifiting and cornering, accelerating and power-steering, peppy music and decent graphics that, while worth a visit from time to time via a rental ticket price, it's too unrewarding and punishing a formula for the hardest of the hardcore to plow the cash for.