After getting pumped up for this game for months, I’m sort of confused that my end opinion is “yeah, it was pretty alright”. One thing for sure, though, Team Reptile absolutely nailed the aesthetics here. I think a lot of people trying to emulate Jet Set Radio’s stylings, musically and artistically, don’t realize what made it work for JSR; it’s not cohesive, and it’s not supposed to be. It’s less of a complete look and sound, and more a general-purpose love letter to street culture and its many, many branches. Techno junkies, peace-love-unity ravers, skate sadboys, gangsta wannabes, B-boys, girls and everything in-between, all together despite – or because of – their differences.
BRC has clearly taken notes, drawing its soundtrack from diverse genres and sourcing art from some brilliant creatives in very distinct spaces.The game’s definite improvement over Jet Set Radio is is its plot. JSR… kind of didn’t have a plot. It had a world, it had characters, but the real rising actions of the plot basically only began halfway through the games, and it really just amounted to “man, cops suck”. BRC actually starts off with a captivating intro, some actual themes are happening, and it gets you invested in what’s going to happen next. It’s not perfect – there’s some abrupt shifts in tone, and the writing is a bit too sparse for the side characters, leaving them feeling a little underdeveloped. It is thoroughly intriguing, however, and becomes a big motivator to see the game through to the end.
BRC is incredibly accurate to Jet Set Radio. This, unfortunately, carries over to its flaws. No one really wants to admit it – it kind of feels like spitting on a grave at this point – but Jet Set Radio and Future were a little jank. There were just times where the rush of the fresh aesthetic and banging tunes gave way into frustration at imprecise controls and level design that refused to play to the mechanics’ strengths. BRC massively reduces frustration, at least. The only level I found myself getting actively upset at was Pyramid Island, due to the old “miss a jump and lose all of your progress” goof that all 3D platformers just insist upon. I think my main issue with the gameplay is that the core’s there, but nothing’s really built up around it. The controls feel deliciously responsive, finding and building combos is very satisfying, but… that’s about it? More or less, the entirety of this game feels like your first hour of playing it, but in different locations. There’s no big mechanical shakeups or alterations to the formula. Your 3 modes of transport are functionally reskins, with very slight tweaks. Even combos start to get dull when you realize that your manual, in combination with boost tricking, is a practically infinite combo extender. When you figure out how this game’s scoring works, it just doesn’t resist at all, no shakeups or added twist given.
The game is also annoyingly insistent with throwing you into combat scenarios, and combat… well, you press buttons until the cops fall over. That’s really it. You have 3 attack buttons that do the exact same thing, and it feels like hitting wet spaghetti against marshmallow. Barely any feedback is given for landing a hit. Your HP automatically regenerates, and there’s really no challenge as long as you remember that your character has functional legs. If you try to just ignore them, though – well, you can’t, because the story loves forced combat encounters, and there’s turrets that’ll pull you around and mess up your platforming. And your reward for covering the place in graffiti – you know, The Objective Of The Video Game – is more cops.
And they respawn infinitely unless you go to a restroom to reset the heat meter, which, by the way, is a 10-second unskippable cutscene. Team Reptile, for the love of god, your previous game was a fighting game, you lot need to take your own notes.This game gives me the same vibe that the original Mirror’s Edge did. Gorgeous games with strong foundation, but there’s not a lot being done with it. They’re both games where the core movement systems are brilliant and crisp, but then they throw a bunch of cops in your face and you have to take a little cutscene break to get them off. There could be something brilliant in these mechanics, but it’s not in the spotlight as much as it should be. Despite my complaints, though, I did come out enjoying my time with the game. There’s such clear passion being put into this game that it’s impossible not to smile your head off with it. After 21 long years, I’ve finally been fed, but I’m left wanting more.
JSRF on roids, stims, and caffeine. You’ll lose your head playing this masterpiece.The music. The graphics. The style. The dances. It’s everything you’ve been wanting in a sequel for all these years. Even the tutorials are straight out of JSRF. Except, it’s even better. The controls feel super solid. It maintains the “floatiness” of the old games while still feeling precise. The battles have a lot more weight to them — it’s not just about spraying your enemies, it’s a full flashy-combo beat-em-up.Game works great Btw. Don’t think twice. Buy it.
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