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A La Tony Hawk!?!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

To tell you the truth, I didn't like the Tony Hawk games very much. In fact after about an hour of that game I was ready to throw my Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, or Playstation across the room if I had to play any more of it!!! It wasn't that it was a bad game. It just had NO point to it WHAT SO EVER!!!! And that is why I didn't pre-order Jet Grind Radio right away. I thought right away that this would be the same this as Tony Hawk! Boy was I wrong! While Tony Hawk was about nothing but performing tricks, Jet Grind Radio is a game that takes place in the future!

Where the government has too much controll, and teenagers now have only one way to express themselves! No it's not music. It's graffity. You have to spray-paint your logo everywhere you go, while avoiding the cops, F.B.I, Air Force, assasins, and watch dogs!!! Sound fun yet? There's more. You can also creat your own logo's, get a bunch of new charicters to play around with, and perform tricks just by pressing the A-Button!!!

While Tony Hawk gets old very quickly Jet Grind Radio keeps you intrested till the end! [...] You can't go wrong!

...WOW...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Hi there fellow gamers. Early in the days of my dreamcasts birth i borrowed a certain game from my bro. That game was Jet Grind Radio. It was the most funky fun fast paced street rollin game i had ever experienced. The toons kept me goin and eluding the police as I "tagged" walls, billboards and even other gang members with my own sign. This made me happy, very happy! I myself have a history of skateboarding. Although i was never the best i did feel passion for it. And in the case that u play as roller bladers in the game it didn't bother me the least. I often despise fruit booters (roller bladers)but the way the game was set up and how the controls gave me the real feel of grinding vanquished my conflict with the sport. If a game can make a guy like me respect fruit booters it's sure as hell is a good one! Visuals-The wonderfully textured backdrops give the cell shaded characters a beautifull look. --8.5--
Originality-This game is one of a kind, who'd ever think of goin and taggin stuff on blades?! --10--
Gameplay/Mechanics-The collision detection is spot on, lockin on to the rails is a breeze! The control is tight and easily adjusted to. The camera tries its best to compliment the player and it does a fairly well job. --9.5--
Sound-Not only does this game have the funkiest songs and beats, it has it's own unique set of sound effects. The police chasing you is very gratifying when they yell "hup!hup!hup!hup!Hup!" and the detective cracks me up every time. --9.5--
-OVER ALL- -9.5- (not an average)

Proof that the videogame industry is starting to rot

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Why does a game like this, so grand, so fantastic, so SUPERIOR sells like crap while anything that EA puts out (sometimes good, sometimes bad, but never as good as JGR) sells 50 times more than this?

Quite honestly, everyone Dreamcast owner has to buy this game. It has originality (You hear that, Nintendo?), it has gameplay (You hear that, 989 studios?), it has presentation (you hear that, the other 11 Sega softhouses?)

The main idea of the game is that you skate around town spray painting the walls and running away from the police (helicopters? Tanks?) It sounds like a THPS clone with some Grand Theft Auto elements, but it's far from it. You don't have to worry about doing tricks because they're done automatically. All you have to do is run, jump and spray. While I was disappointed at first, I was thankful near the end of the game. It would've been downright impossible having to worry about pressing the right trick buttons while trying to run away from the police.

The story starts simple enough. A small Turf war going on on Neo-Tokyo. Too bad Smilebit got a bit carried away and decided to make some sort of crazy mob group who wants to take over the world and you crush their plans by spray-painting on the guy's forehead. "Oh no! My forehead! My plans are doomed!" What the heck?

The only downside to this game is that it only takes 10 hours or so to finish. But I must've spent over 70 hours just for the infinite grinds (try to find them all!) and different combinations. Plus hidden graffiti and hidden characters. When I think about it, this game couldn't POSSIBLY be long enough. It's just too much fun.

The graphics introduce Cell-shading. It draws a thick black line around the models and along with colorful textures, makes the game a moving cartoon. It's amazing result has been copied OVER AND OVER by other companies, which makes me angry at Sega for not having copyrighted it before the game came out. Other games like Fear Effect try to emulate cartoons by using only lighting and colorful textures, and it's obvious that Cell-shading is much better at this. Sadly, there are times where the framerate drops, and there are a couple of small colision detection problems in the game. But they come very rarely throughout the whole game.

The sound is incredible as well. Great songs that vary from Techno to J-pop make the soundtrack (over 20 of them!). They are great, but Sega of America insisted upon adding some 5 other american songs that have NOTHING to do with the game AT ALL. Bunch of colorful japanese teenagers running away from stereotypical police in an animé setting. Music, DRAGULA BY ROB ZOMBIE.... Why Sega? WHY? The voices are nice as well, but they consist mainly of one-liners said by the characters while jumping. The narration by Professor K and sometimes Combo is done perfectly.

I would've gladly forked over one hundred dollars for this game. Buying it for (...) was the greatest move I've ever made in videogame-buying this year. Right now I'm downloading this game's MP3s so I can make a soundtrack CD.

*walks away Humming the Bassline*

Good game....its a must play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is hands down one of the best games i've ever played. Sega dreamcast may be dead, but the games still live on. This game is a definite must for anyone who owns one. Whether its the cel shaded graphics, ingenius story line, or creative gameplay, this game owns.

An Absolute Classic...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

...but not without its faults. Jet Grind Radio is getting comparisons to both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Crazy Taxi--and it's obvious as to why. The jumping and grinding the rails, the tricks, and the skating vibe has more than its share of Tony Hawk in it. The arrows that direct you, the nonstop action, and the way it plays is very much like Crazy Taxi. So is Jet Grind Radio basically those two games put together? No! Definitely not. The characters and the graphics are superior to those two games put together, and the tagging element is original. My biggest complaint is the control--it's pretty lame. The A button is to jump, the R button is to accelerate, and the L button is used to both guide the camera and tag. The three left over buttons aren't used. Duh, Sega! It's so frustrating using the L button when trying to tag the bosses (I'll get to this later) and instead it refocuses your camera. There's no brake button either, which isn't too important, but would have been nice. What also bothered me was the lack of a two player option. WHY would Sega not put that option in here? Jet Grind Radio could've been one of my all-time favorite games had there been the option of two players. Ah, yes...my nemesis that plagues video games everywhere--the camera. It's bad enough that there's a cheap camera/tag button, but the camera has a way of screwing up like they always do. But what about the good points, you say? There's plenty of those, let me tell you... While I usually shy away from starting my praises with the graphics (they're not as important as gameplay, ya know), I can't really help it here. The graphics in Jet Grind Radio are simply astonishing. The cel-shaded world of Jet Grind Radio is unbelievable. Just watching this game looks like you're watching a cartoon--actually, that would be an insult the game. Jet Grind Radio looks better than the cartoons US companies put out (not on par with anime, but we can't have it all, I suppose). It makes Disney look like crayon books in motion. Unbelievable, I tell you, unbelievable. Next would be the gameplay. Addicting comes to mind, so does amazing. But the word that describes Jet Grind Radio best is FUN. I haven't had this much single player fun for my Dreamcast since, well... when was the last time I had this much fun? Yes, this is more addicting than Shenmue, and I think it belongs up there in ranks with it. I can't tell you how much fun it is grinding down a rail at top speed, leaping through the air like a superhero, and then tagging the wall. Sweet. The music to Jet Grind Radio is more quirky hip-hop than anything, and it easily fits the game (and, yes, I like it). There's some cuts from real artists such as Rob Zombie (why did they label him industrial though? Duh!), Jurassic 5, Mix Master Mike, Cold, and more. Some are complaining about this since (most of) the J-pop is gone from the import--I say good riddance, as I hate J-pop. But the music in this game is catchy (and even though I am a Rob Zombie fan, it still seems odd putting him in this game. Still a good [remixed] song though), and I enjoyed it very much. The characters are great, too. My personal favorite was Cube, of course (us Goths are neglected in games, so it's nice to see one in here--plus she's cute, heh). She has become one of my favorite video game characters of all time--she's cool, she's hip, and, well, she's a Goth. But I loved ALL the characters in this game, they all have an irresistable charm to them, and even the bad guys were great (Love Shockers!). One has to wonder why Beat is the main character though (I love the guy, but him over, say, Cube or Combo? Please). I would have prefered having Cube and Combo (you gotta love the fact that Combo skates with a boombox kicking out "phat jams") didn't come out so late in the game though--as they were my two favorite characters--but that's alright, I suppose. Like they should, the characters all have different statistics. One may be better at tagging, one might be faster, while the other might have a bigger life bar; so experimenting with the different characters is key here. Speaking of life bar, something that Tony Hawk or Crazy Taxi didn't have was enemies. At times this can get annoying seeing as how your only real defense is to flea, but they add a challenge to the game. There are all sorts of enemies that chase you--from tanks, to helicopters, to losers running up and tackling you, there's a fair amount of baddies to avoid. Te bosses can get annoying though, as you have to tag three of them onthe back--and like everything else you do, you're on a timer. They always knock you down and take off, this gets frustrating when you need one more tag and they knock you down and you die. The length of the game isn't very long, actually, but for some reason this didn't bother me, as I keep going back to it for more. All in all, Jet Grind Radio is one of the best games for the Dreamcast yet. It has a decent challenge, great characters, great dialogue, the option of creating your own graffiti, and it leaves you with a strong addiction due to its infectious, semi-original gameplay (and hey, there's even some more levels than the Japanese version...although I wish they stuck with the original name, Jet Set Radio). A must own masterpiece that deserves to be in EVERY Dreamcast owners' library. I cannot wait for Jet Grind Radio 2--Sega just better leave Cube in though if they know what's good for 'em.

An eyeful of artistic wonder

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Rating:A
While the Sega Dreamcast will always be known for its niche following of specific licenses, and projects that were well thought out but never received the commercial accolade they so deserved, it is by sifting through the grains of sand and finding specific games of this long gone system that we find a hugely underrated, and classic game in the wake of Jet Grind Radio. Featuring a cast of characters that never seems to get old and the continuous joy of tagging graffiti and running away from the police becomes increasingly more enjoyable as you collect graffit souls that open up newer and bigger tags. While I personally prefer the quicker pace of Future, don't let that fool you into tinking this game is not as enjoyable, it's just not as polished, and as quick paced. In this iteration, spray-painting is accomplished by doing motions on the controller similar to StreetFigthers fireball motions, etc. The music is as equally impressive as the visual style, which at the time of this games release was one of the original titles to featre cel-shading, a technique employed just recently to Capcom's Killer 7, with excellent results. Perhaps a game like this deserves to stay as an underground success, but it is unfortanate that we will probably never see a third game in this excellent series, after the lukewarm sales of JSRF. Oh well though, at least we've got the two games, but who knows maybe one day SmileBit will grace us with another excellent entry into this forgotten artistic masterpiece of a game.

Definitely a fun game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for Christmas and I haven't put it down since. I haven't even touched NFL2K1 or Shenmue since getting it. Don't get me wrong, I really love NFL2K1 and I have only played Shenmue for like 10 minutes since getting it, but Jet Grind Radio has got to be one of the most addictive games I have ever played. It's a lot like Crazy Taxi but in my opinion much better. The graphics are excellent, the music is by some of today's hottest artists including Rob Zombie and Professional Murder Music. Every single stage I play I learn something new that I can do concerning tricks. Man, if someone doesn't take away the controller from me soon, I just may not see the light of day again!

This game kicks butt

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is such fun to play...I'm not much of a Dreamcast fan but I make an exception for this...it's addictive! I really like the graphics and the different characters (especially the fact that there's a good range of female characters - not always the case with games) - and the game is just fun! However, I take one star off because it's just too short - I can complete it in a day now (when I get time) - I think they could have packed more into it and given us a multiplayer mode. Other than that, it's great!

Way cool, but the control is just a killer sometimes.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The good things about Jet Grind Radio have been pointed out over and over: it's one of the most stylistically cool games to ever be released (the Wipeout series and Grim Fandango are certainly in the same category). Everything from the music, to the fonts, to the story, to the stylized graphics, and the much copied cel shading technique add up to one of the most pleasing game experiences around . . . until you start to actually play the game itself.

1. The camera has a mind of its own sometimes and with many of the levels having sharp corners, hallways, and other places to get caught behind, it's a nightmare to navigate some of the levels (especially when being attacked by a mob of enemies). With precise jumping being such a large part of the game, this was almost a game-killing problem.

2. The same button is used to switch the camera to a face-foward view as is used to use your graffiti skill. So, sometimes when you are caught in an awkward place and need to reposition the camera to find a way out, your character will instead face the wall.

3. When fleeing enemies to "safe spots" where they cannot get you, the action will be stopped (usually mid-jump) to show a short vignette of the bad guys yelling at you and stomping their feet because you escaped. Not a problem except that this interruption usually occurs MID-JUMP and often results in you screwing up the landing, falling off the place where you jumped to, or otherwise screwing things up. I can't imagine how this "feature" made it through usability testing.

4. In a game that promises fast rollerblading, controlled jumps, and pinpoint accuracy, I'm surprised that the levels are so cramped and offer next to NONE of the free-flowing jumping and skating that happens in Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk's levels are big and complex, but are also relatively easy to navigate. Some of Jet Grind Radio's levels feel like mazes. It's just not very fun to skate in someone's living room.

5. The control is difficult to master. Whereas Tony Hawk allowed anyone to pick up and feel relatively competent relatively quickly, Jet Grind Radio is a study in tediousness. The characters pause for one to two seconds after coming to complete stops, everything they touch seems to cause them to wreck (and the levels are designed so that many items are deliberately in harms way), they can't outskate any of the enemy gang members (who must be tagged on three of the levels), and mostly, I felt like I was skating underwater. Just not a whole lot of fun.

6. Slowdown. It'll happen.

In summary, this is yet another Sega product that was a great idea, but which is just unpolished enough to be disappointing in execution. I'm sure there are many people who will be able to look past the problems this game has, BUT this is at best a flawed classic.

Great game. Great soundtrack!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a good example great gameplay and music. Perhaps the most memorable soundtrack since Tony Hawk. I don't know about half of the artists, but the music does blend great with the rebellious fun of graffiti.

For the most part, the game is fairly easy to pick up. Primarly, you will be grinding on many surfaces to "tag" areas or run away from authorites. In some stages, you will also get to tag rival gangs. Believe me, its like pinning a tail on the donkey and the donkey is running. Other than the fact that I almost got blisters from doing all the tricks, you will have a blast with this game. Man, I wish there was a full soundtrack to this!

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