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Tokyo Xtreme Racer review

Game: Tokyo Xtreme Racer
Platform: Dreamcast
Genre: Racing
Developer: Genki

Reader review by pickhut

September 05, 2007

Tokyo Xtreme Racer is a racing game.

Intrigued? No? That's understandable.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer is a racing fighting game.

Confused? Yes? That's understandable.

The one thing that makes this title stand out from a lot of other racing games is the way you do battle with your opponent. After you track down a racer on the streets of Tokyo at night, flash them for a race, and begin, you'll notice that the method of victory is different. There's no number of laps to complete and a finish line in sight, the only way to win against your foe is to drain away their lifebar. Now, at this point, you're probably thinking you'll have to hit the car with every chance you get, crashing it into a truck or drag it up against the wall. Sounds fun, but that's not the case, you just simply have to be ahead of the other racer in order to knock off vitality. The farther away you are, the faster it drains. It's that simple. You have one, too, obviously, so you gotta fight to keep your bar from getting empty as well.

It's a very interesting concept for a title like this, and you'll get into it for the first few races, because they can get heated at times. Especially with an opponent's vehicle that's about as equal to your car, forcing you to be as flawless as possible to get ahead. Turning corners at top speeds, avoiding slow-moving traffic that can easily pull out in front of your path, and keeping an eye out for your rival, making sure he doesn't pass you with all this going on.

Intense stuff... for the first 30 minutes.

After that, the novelty, the gimmick, has worn off, and you realize you're stuck with a very lacking racing title. You literally go from one race to another just trying to outrun the other person. There's no variety, no challenges to make things interesting, just that. You figure that Quest Mode, the meat of TXR, would offer some neat features, but it doesn't. It's simply the main premise dragged out to make the mode lengthy. You'll be placed on the streets where you'll have to drive around and challenge other racers to battle. The lengthy part is the fact that you really do have to drive to your other opponents on the closed course, which could be all the way on the other side. Since the track is so big, it'll take at least 5 minutes to get there if that's the case. The other thing that's very repetitive is having to defeat over 100 cars in this mode. Yeah, that won't get old quick...

If all that weren't enough, here's one more thing that'll irritate you: there's only one track. Two if you count the reverse side as a different track. It just seems... rushed. The entire title feels that way, like the developers wanted it out as soon as possible, making it one of the first few titles for the Dreamcast, so they'll get more sales from it. Really, the only thing Tokyo Xtreme Racer had going for it back when it came out was its graphics, which some people thought looked really nice. Though, the only graphical highlights are the main racing cars themselves, everything else looks blandtastic. Half of the time, you'll constantly be seeing gray textures, and the other half, thanks to the night time setting you'll see a lot of darkness. On a system home to better racers like Metropolis Street Racer, Test Drive Le Mans, and even Sega Rally 2, Tokyo Xtreme Racer is easily forgettable.

Rating: 4/10

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