In high school I briefly roomed with a dude who had this on his PC. Having recently played the three Genesis titles on a trip down memory lane, I decided it wouldn't be complete without this, and after being very underwhelmed with the former, I'm very glad I played this! This is what the earlier games wanted to be but couldn't because of hardware limitations. Much farther draw distance, tighter controls and better handling make for an infinitely more satisfying experience. There's still some cheap bullshit in terms of hazard placement but it's a lot less common, and thanks to the better controls, whenever I crash I always think "ah well, I screwed up" rather than blaming it on the framerate or the hit detection. In another welcome upgrade, the other racers now feel much more like other people - they crash a lot more often, and either stay out of your way or attack you aggressively depending on how you treated them before. This, combined with the much more solid racing mechanics, make a 'pacifist' run of the game not just possible but actually rewarding (of course, the combat is very fun too!)
Besides the stuff that the better hardware made possible, this game has something that is so glaringly missing from the earlier entries that I'll have to retrospectively dock them each half a star: variety of road widths. There are a lot of city segments here with wider roads in which the focus is on zooming in and out of multiple lanes while avoiding denser-than-usual traffic, as opposed to the three Genesis games in which every single track was comprised of narrow two-lane roads that get progressively snakier and snakier. The track variety is very welcome here, and I much prefer the wider roads: the action is much more fun when you can focus on the hazards and the combat without worrying about flying offroad and crashing at any moment. It's no coincidence that the Pacific Coast Highway (the narrowest and snakiest track) is the one I found most frustrating.
The great game feel is supplemented by a banging soundtrack (though more tracks would have been welcome). The cutscenes are endearingly cringey - one of my favorites involves a cop goofing off with donuts and coffee, and a Rasher riding past and smacking the coffee into his face - his look of utter betrayal is priceless. The heavily stylized art is a departure from earlier titles and is a bit of an acquired taste, but very distinctive nonetheless.
The game is still not perfect. I don't understand why they didn't have a separate button for nitro boosts; it's too easy to accidentally activate a nitro by doubletapping the accelerator. More notably, the physics for when two or more racers cluster together is finicky and difficult to predict. But this was the first game in the series where upon completing the last level, my reaction wasn't "whew, I'm done!" but instead to buy the most expensive bike and go a few more rounds. Excellent stuff!
Besides the stuff that the better hardware made possible, this game has something that is so glaringly missing from the earlier entries that I'll have to retrospectively dock them each half a star: variety of road widths. There are a lot of city segments here with wider roads in which the focus is on zooming in and out of multiple lanes while avoiding denser-than-usual traffic, as opposed to the three Genesis games in which every single track was comprised of narrow two-lane roads that get progressively snakier and snakier. The track variety is very welcome here, and I much prefer the wider roads: the action is much more fun when you can focus on the hazards and the combat without worrying about flying offroad and crashing at any moment. It's no coincidence that the Pacific Coast Highway (the narrowest and snakiest track) is the one I found most frustrating.
The great game feel is supplemented by a banging soundtrack (though more tracks would have been welcome). The cutscenes are endearingly cringey - one of my favorites involves a cop goofing off with donuts and coffee, and a Rasher riding past and smacking the coffee into his face - his look of utter betrayal is priceless. The heavily stylized art is a departure from earlier titles and is a bit of an acquired taste, but very distinctive nonetheless.
The game is still not perfect. I don't understand why they didn't have a separate button for nitro boosts; it's too easy to accidentally activate a nitro by doubletapping the accelerator. More notably, the physics for when two or more racers cluster together is finicky and difficult to predict. But this was the first game in the series where upon completing the last level, my reaction wasn't "whew, I'm done!" but instead to buy the most expensive bike and go a few more rounds. Excellent stuff!