Jet Set Radio HD Review

Posted By Gabriel B. about 9 months ago

Jet Set Radio HD Review

Back in the day there was a game that mystified a young boy from Missouri as he looked through an issue of “Tips & Tricks” in the corner of the local supermarket. The game used a new thing called “cel-shading” and had a unique style that the boy had never seen before in a video game. The game was bright and lively and had a fast-paced style with its novel gameplay that had you skating around Tokyo fighting other garishly dressed gangs by doing graffiti. That boy couldn’t play that game back in 2000 but luckily, twelve years later, Sega would re-release this game on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.

Well, personal anecdote out of the way, let me say that I was pumped to play Jet Set Radio after all these years and, for the most part, the game still holds up, though it does have a few issues that haven’t improved in time. The game, for those who don’t know, has you control a gang of rebellious teens known as the “GGs” who skate around Tokyo-to, listening to a crazy DJ named Professor K, expressing themselves against the controlling government with their graffiti, and gaining territory from other gangs by tagging landmarks. While contending with colorful gangs like the Love Shockers or Noise Tank, the GGs also have to look out for the maniacal Captain Onishima, a cop who has no problem employing beat cops, SWAT teams, and military ordinance to bring down the rebellious youth.

Professor K, keeping the revolution informed while playing some of the freshest beats this side of the pacific.

There is more to the plot than that but it’s far better to experience the insane depths the narrative reaches first hand. Besides, the gameplay and levels are where the real action is. Jet set Radio HD has you going to levels set in the three districts of Tokyo-to and pulling off sweet tricks and covering landmarks and people in graffiti (or “tagging”). The trick system is admittedly over-simplified and is pretty shallow but it definitely doesn’t hurt the playing experience. While the main gameplay is pretty similar through the entire game, there are several variations. For example, while most levels have you dodging police, there are a few levels where you have to fight the other gangs directly by chasing them down and tagging them. You also have the opportunity to go up against other skaters in special levels where you have to copy their tricks or beat them in races; succeed and the skater will join your crew, which will give you more options for dealing with future levels. Finally, if you reach the end, there is a boss battle that can only be described as “epic.”

Of course, most of the levels are pretty awesome as you tear across Tokyo-to, raising hell and spray-painting targets. Sure, the game starts pretty bland with a bus station level, but just a level later you can go to much more interesting parts of the city and eventually you’ll be skating in the sewers and even performing tricks atop skyscrapers. The levels are all great and they have lots of things going on to make sure you’re interested. Then of course there are the police attacks, which can range anywhere from police dogs to attack helicopters. The attacks increase in magnitude as you successfully tag more targets and it is a huge kick to watch as Onishima becomes more and more flustered and calls in increasingly bigger guns to deal with you. The attacks also force you to carefully plan your tags as bigger tags take more time to pull off, meaning you might need to abandon a project midway to escape (progress is saved, though it will hurt your score) the cops.

MY GOD! He is listening to funky beats while he performs minor vandalism! CALL THE JSDF!!!

Speaking of tags, JSR vets will be pleased to know that all the tags are back and there is still a custom tag maker you can use, though unfortunately, this feature hasn’t been streamlined from the old days. While this feature will probably only be used by veterans of the game, it is nice to see again. Yet another thing that hasn’t changed is the game’s difficulty, which not only comes from the time limit each level has, but the all-out aggression that enemies are capable of. While this can be off-putting to new players, it is refreshing to have some old-school difficulty again.

What’s also nice to see is the return of the old soundtrack. Jet Set Radio had one of the most unique soundtracks in any game and it still stands up today. With a mix of J-pop, Hip-hop, Techno, and Acid Jazz, the game brings a lot of music genres to the gaming worlds that aren’t normally used and contribute to the surreal setting of Tokyo-to. The first time the song “Sweet Soul Brother” played, I practically exploded in glee and I found myself suddenly breaking into song and belting out one of the many great tracks from the game even when I had set my controller down for days.

Back in the day, you wouldn't believe how many people tried to make pornographic tags.

Since this is a re-release of an old game, you’d think there would be some bonus features and Jet Set Radio HD does have some, though not enough to be an automatic deal-maker. In addition to some unlockable songs from the game’s sequel, Jet Set Radio Future (Don’t worry, “Birthday Cake” isn’t one of them), there’s a rather nice 10-minute documentary about the original game that interviews members of the development team. It’s a shame that the documentary isn’t longer, because it is actually a point in this releases’ favor. A downside to this re-release though is actually the HD upgrade. While both the environments and the character models look good on their own, there’s a lack of cohesion between the two. While this is something that can easily be overlooked after a few hours of playing, it definitely doesn’t flow together as well as the original Dreamcast version.

However, what are likely going to be deal-breakers for a lot of new gamers are the controls and camera. When Jet Grind Radio came out, game cameras hadn’t been perfected yet, so a camera that got caught on corners or zoomed in too close were just something that happened. Unfortunately, Sega decided to not try and fix this issue for Jet Set Radio HD and instead hoped that adding a button that centers the camera on your character would be enough (it isn’t, and whoever decided to make it the same button as the tagging button should get a stern talking to). The controls are also a pain to get used to and can feel unresponsive for the first hour, leading you to messing up tags and missing grinds. Once you do get used to things, you can start enjoying the game, but that first hour is pretty painful if you haven’t played the game in a while and both the in-game tutorial and the one in the menu aren’t very helpful.

The Noise tanks, the most awesome gang in the game.

Overall though, while Jet Set Radio could’ve aged better and the HD conversion and bonus features don’t raise this game to “must have” status, it’s a solid enough port of a great game whose style, heart, and fun still shine through. If you miss your old Dreamcast or just want to experience a blast from the past, give this game a try.

A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes and played to completion in about 8 hours. The title was played on the Xbox 360 (XBLA) but is also available for the PlayStation 3 (PSN) and PC (Steam).

Jet Set Radio HD Review

By Gabriel B.

It might be showing its age, but this game still brings the funk.