Preface: I was sick and still am, but I wanted to get something out for this blog :) I had time to play some games, time to review em!
Sequels
Sequels! You have a beloved franchise/IP and well, you can only play the same game so often. If people like it, why not make another one? Use the same characters, improve upon what is already there, or at the bare minimum, more levels!
I think I would count games in the same series as sequels, the original Sonic games did well, they did direct sequels and now they have been making them to this day. It just makes sense.
Sadly, some sequels do not do that good, some are cash grabs, the worst case I would know is that the FlatOut IP got bought out and the company that bought it made the terrible sequels capitalizing on the good FlatOut name.
But enough, let's get to the games I want to talk about :D
Jet Set Radio: Future
I already talked about my fondness about Jet Set Radio, and I finally got around to playing the sequel more!
And, in which category of sequel does it fall?
...
It's even greater than JSR!!!
They improved on every aspect of the game, without losing any charm. I will write some negative experiences to give a nuanced review, but don't let that distract you from the fact that I absolutely love this game, 10/10.
And, as said in the previous article, this game isn't sadly readily available. It only came out on the original XBOX, with no remakes or remaster or ports to modern consoles. We can still hope with the New JSR trailer that came out in end of 2023, but I wouldn't count on it. Licensing of music is always a hard topic, I assume that will and would make problems (I think that's the reason the original JSR got delisted, but who knows, could also be that they want people to only buy the new one)
In this last article, there was this footnote, I put it again: This is what I followed to set it up on my system (Steam Deck -> Arch -> It will work on Linux): Guide to emulating JSR on Steam Deck
Now onto the actual game! As said, they improved upon everything, the gameplay feels more smooth and way better in my opinion. I also have to preface with saying, I'm not the best at the original JSR nor at JSRF. I'm playing with a XBOX 360 Controller.
You don't have to manually press the trigger the entire time to build up speed, you just use the analog stick, speed will build somewhat automatically. It is more pleasant on your hands. My hicup at first was that I thought I knew everything from the original game, so I didn't do the tutorial at all. You can talk to Roboy in the garage, he will let you change graffiti, characters, save and also teach you the basics of the game.
Well, I didn't do that, and completly missed out on the tricks mechanic at first. Pressing X on a rail with the right timing while grinding allows you
to perform tricks, which also speed you up! With Y, you can do a trick which changes your direction. You can also do tricks in the Air with X and Y, the timings with those is harder in my opinion, but it feels super cool when you pull it off!
You can also slow down with the analog stick in case you need to spray a graffiti, during normal riding you can press the analog stick to do a sort of slide that also slows you down shortly so you can get the graffiti fully. The graffiti where changed so they don't have you stuck in place for like 30 seconds, you just have to ride past and spray during that time.
A boost mechanic was also added. Every character can carry 30 spraycans, obviously you need them to spray enemies and graffitis, but you can also use ten of em to give you a boost! This is sometimes needed to reach graffiti souls.
JSRF gameplay, collecting a Graffiti Soul (no boosting was needed here, rather clinging onto the half pipes to gain speed)
On the topic of enemies! You now have an open world you can ride around, no more fixed levels. It's rather big and varied! And, you actually do not get chased by the police the entire time. Combats are now separated, if the police wants beef with you, the area you can move in gets locked off and you need to defeat them before you can do anything else, you also cannot spray graffitis during that time.
You can now spray every enemy like you could spray Onishima in the first game, you need to knock them down first by running into them, there are some harder enemies where you need to use the aforementioned boost.
I welcome this change because now you can ride through the world, spray, enjoy the music, pull of cool tricks without being interrupted. I was annoyed in the original JSR when I couldn't reach and finish a graffiti cause I kept getting bombed and jumped by police, unable to defend myself.
I gotta say though, I'm sad there is no more Onishima, the new police commander is called Hayashi. He is still insane and wants to shoot you. With a gun. But I miss Onishimas insane screams. He is still cool and at least Hayashi got way crazier gadgets to kill us with (like the Terror drone) >:). I'm currently at the point where the Golden Rhinos get introduced, but I haven't played further, so I cannot say much about it yet.
Story wise, it uses the same/similiar characters, they all got more futuristic redesigns and some got renamed (Mew is now Rhyth). It doesn't continue the first game's story, it does it's own but with similiar themes and some new gangs.
Professor K is cool and charming as ever :D
The music carries to even higher heights, it is already great, but the music makes it peak. Just when you start it up and you hear "The Concept of Love", you know you are in for a great time!
Hideki Naganuma didn't miss with a single track, the original once got remixes and the music not by SEGA is great too, fits perfectly! Guitar Vader is featured again aswell. I'm fond of Aisle 10, it has that cool funk.
It inspired me to make a song in a JSR direction, which you can find here: (opens in a new tab)
Shortly, on the negatives! In some police fights, like on Hikage Street, I really got annoyed, it took me way to long to defeat the Terror Drone, because I kept jumping or falling of the rail grind square tower thing. In Sky Dinosaurian Square, it took me a while to tag all these noise tanks (the tagging missions are back, but I feel like they improved (or I just got better at the game)). It just took long sometimes to go along the entire rollercoaster again. But generally, I had very little gripes with the game. One time, I was stuck and wondering where to go, I didn't see the last exit out of the garage cause the UI somewhat blocked it 😅
So, all in all, JSRF is brilliant, it has the coolest presentation, with the graphics and the music, it just feels epic, it's hard to put in words. If you liked JSR, you will love this! Definitely recommended!