By Sega for Dreamcast

Over the years, Sega has made a mark by bringing consistently imaginative, quirky, fun and above all, different, games to the market. We saw games like Herzog Zwei, Ecco the Dolphin and Toejam & Earl on Genesis, Nights on Saturn, and lately, the Dreamcast has been playing host to all manner of gaming wackiness. Seaman and Samba de Amigo lead the way, and now here comes Jet Set… er, I mean, Jet Grind Radio.

Released as Jet Set Radio in Japan a few months ago, this is a remarkably spot-on translation, although I wish Sega hadn’t messed with the characters voices, but more about that later.

Jet Grind Radio puts you in the booster-powered inline-skate clad feet of a member of the GGs, a street gang bent on terrorizing the people of Tokyo-to (which we are told in the intro is a city very similar to… Tokyo) by laying down some graffiti-sized smack all over the town. There are other graffiti gangs on the loose, and its your job to stop them from spraying their logos on your turf. Gang warfare in this game is carried out when your character shoves a rival spray-banger out of the way and paints over his her logo. Hey, it beats portraying life in a real street gang, doesn’t it?

As you progress through the game, your vandalism attracts the attention of the authorities, who react in some startlingly over the top way. First they send out the generic Keystone Cop types, who all but trip over themselves trying to catch you. Next comes Captain Onishima, who sports a magnum that’d make Dirty Harry stain his jeans with lust. A little bit later in the game they really start coming on strong – SWAT teams, attack dogs, helicopters and even tanks! These people take their anti-graffiti programs seriously! And of course, it gives the game tension, since you’re always looking for an opening to dart in, spray paint a hot spot and get out before the cops are swarming over you.

I’m sure you’ve seen pictures, or maybe played the Japanese version of the game, and you know that this game uses the cel-shading animation technique that makes everything look like it’s straight out of a cartoon. If you haven’t seen the game in motion, though, you’re in for a treat. This is some super-smooth animation and there’s no polygon-breakup to ruin the illusion of hand-drawn, 3D animated characters the game creates.

The music is great – all of the original tracks were retained for our version of the game, and Sega threw in some new music courtesy of Rob Zombie… not quite the first name I’d have tossed out when asked to suggest fitting songs for the U.S. conversion (The Aquabats or Mighty Mighty Bosstones would’ve been more fitting, in my opinion), but it works.

Controls are simple and easy to get used to – just four buttons and the analog stick are all you’ll need to be skating and spray painting like a pro. The camera gets a bit out of control at times, but otherwise the game plays very well.

As for the inevitable Japanese to American translation flaws… yeah, there are a few. I don’t see why Sega chose to change the character voices – they don’t say a whole lot, anyway, and there was just something cooler about the original voices that seems a bit watered down now. Also, some of the onscreen text when levels open and close is small and hard to read against the bright backgrounds. None of this is very important, as it has no effect on the gameplay whatsoever, and that is the important part. In fact, Sega even threw in a new level for us Gaijin Gamers, so my harping on the changed voices seems even more petty. They did keep the original voice of the radio station D.J., and yes, he calls the station "Jet Set Radio" in the American version as well, which prompts me to ask once again, why the heck did Sega change the name of the game, anyway. Jet Set has more pizzazz than Jet Grind… Ah well. This is still a great game, very solid on all levels, loads of things to unlock… speaking of which, Sega seems bent on including some sort of internet component to all of their games and I’m happy for it (I just downloaded another new song for Samba de Amigo – what a great idea!). In Jet Grind, you can log onto the web and download new graffiti designed by other gamers, or post your own using the in-game graffiti tool. How cool is that? Sure, PC gamers have been used to this kind of thing for years, but it’s damn cool that it’s finally catching up on consoles. Hey Sega, I expect some sort of online multiplayer graffiti battle royal in the sequel!

Graphics: 9 (This is great, stylish stuff – sure, it’s no Shenmue and stuff looks quite simplistic, but it’s got flair and most importantly, it lets the game blaze along at high speeds)

Sound: 10 (Music worthy of a music-centered game)

Gameplay: 8 (Controls are great, but the camera interferes a little… oh, all right, a lot)

Replay: 8 (There are a bunch of different characters to unlock during the game, and playing through it with them all will take time. Plus, there are challenges and the whole online graffiti design thing)

Overall: 8 (Chalk up another quirky, genre-busting game for Sega. Go Sega, go Sega, who’s your daddy? It’s Sega, it’s Sega… hoo… it’s late, I’m going to bed)