To me, Jet Set Radio is like Star Fox 64. A short but sweet game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master, which allows me to replay this treasure over and over again without ever getting bored.
I'm glad I FINALLY got to this game as it's been in my to-play list since I was like 10 years old. Who knew it would be one of my new favorites.
JSR is pretty much Tony Hawk with skates and style. And when I say style I really don't mean that lightly. This is probably one of the first games to really bring the STYLE to videogames that inspired the style you see in Persona and later Sakurai games.
While the artsyle is obviously responsible for bringing the style to the looks of the game, the style is really boosted by it's soundtrack. Probably one of my favorite videogame soundtracks of all time. There is nothing but really catchy sample funk here and ALL the songs are so good. And I can't wait to play the Sequel and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk just to hear the other tracks.
The stages are full of life and soul. Everything feels so detailed and cluttered in this iteration of Tokyo. Everything exudes a certain vibrancy that just invokes a feeling of happiness.
As for the gameplay, rather than chasing score like the Tony Hawk games, there are objectives in each level you need to complete in order to be successful, rather than just pass a score threshold. I prefer this so much more.
The controls are so simple, you will only ever push 2 buttons in this game. Jump and Tag. But the fact that this game has so many mechanics using just these 2 buttons shows how deep it can get. The skill ceiling is high here as you can either sumble your way completing levels just in time, or gracefully grind your way getting the high score while completing objectives.
It really takes a playthrough or two really master this game, but once you do it becomes an addicting itch that you want to revisit over and over again. As mentioned before, only one other game has done this for me which is Star Fox 64.
I'm glad I FINALLY got to this game as it's been in my to-play list since I was like 10 years old. Who knew it would be one of my new favorites.
JSR is pretty much Tony Hawk with skates and style. And when I say style I really don't mean that lightly. This is probably one of the first games to really bring the STYLE to videogames that inspired the style you see in Persona and later Sakurai games.
While the artsyle is obviously responsible for bringing the style to the looks of the game, the style is really boosted by it's soundtrack. Probably one of my favorite videogame soundtracks of all time. There is nothing but really catchy sample funk here and ALL the songs are so good. And I can't wait to play the Sequel and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk just to hear the other tracks.
The stages are full of life and soul. Everything feels so detailed and cluttered in this iteration of Tokyo. Everything exudes a certain vibrancy that just invokes a feeling of happiness.
As for the gameplay, rather than chasing score like the Tony Hawk games, there are objectives in each level you need to complete in order to be successful, rather than just pass a score threshold. I prefer this so much more.
The controls are so simple, you will only ever push 2 buttons in this game. Jump and Tag. But the fact that this game has so many mechanics using just these 2 buttons shows how deep it can get. The skill ceiling is high here as you can either sumble your way completing levels just in time, or gracefully grind your way getting the high score while completing objectives.
It really takes a playthrough or two really master this game, but once you do it becomes an addicting itch that you want to revisit over and over again. As mentioned before, only one other game has done this for me which is Star Fox 64.