Unlike NFSU, Namco opted to let the player roam freely and explore the city of LA at their leisure. This affords you the option of challenging other drivers in unsanctioned street races. Unfortunately the city is so poorly designed that this feature seems more like a chore than a joy. I assume that the designers realized this as well because they included a “jump” feature which warps you to all of the events and locales on the city map. Namco tells you that SRS takes place in Los Angeles but aside from the little graphic that says “Loading Los Angeles” that appears on load screens (trust me, you’ll be seeing a lot of this) you probably wouldn’t know it.
You won’t be impressed in the way of visuals either. Vehicle models are decent but they lack any sort of shaders to give them that extra bit of oomph. Real cars look shiny and have that special bit of sheen to them; SRS’ vehicles don’t. They look very dull, almost as if they’ve been sitting out in the middle of the desert for the past two years. SRS tries to go for that NFSU perpetually wet streets look but comes up short in most respects. The texture work is really weak and none of the roadside objects are particularly appealing. Other vehicles that populate the roads look like square boxes with no real detail or definition. Activating your high beams will yield a simple white texture that doesn’t utilize any sort of specular lighting or shaders. In short the game looks flat and lifeless. Only the post-race celebrations look decent but it’s nothing amazing. And then there are the “girlfriends” that appear in the game.
If the game had stopped here and omitted the girlfriends feature I might call SRS a respectable entry in the market that was plagued by 3DO’s own financial ineptness. But this feature was planned in the game from Day 1 and it was awful when I saw it at E3 2003 and it’s awful now that I have the final product in my hands. In short, the feature allows you to win challenges which will win you the ire of an import model. After passing the challenge you can have her be the flag girl that initiates races. It goes further than that though; upon winning races you will unlock new videos of the girls acting like they’re dancing against an imaginary stripper pole. God, if you want porn or lurid dancing watch Cinemax at night; don’t pollute video games with it. What’s most insulting about this feature is just how poorly it was implemented. All of the women look god awful in the game and bear little resemblance to their real-life counterparts. Seriously, how could any of the girls in this game actually approve of this? Their virtual chests are just humongous and they lack normal features like, oh, hips. “Girlfriends” is by far the worst and most embarrassing feature implemented in a video game this year.
But don’t get me wrong, “girlfriends” isn’t the only thing pulling this debacle down. The audio engineers decided to do their part by challenging
WWE Day of Reckoning for the title of “Worst Soundtrack of 2004.” There’s one song in particular that keeps repeating the line “Microphone, check. One, two. Microphone, check. One, two.” After about fifteen minutes of non-stop punishment you’ll turn down the music if you’re smart. This is a shame too because the rest of the game’s audio is pretty well done. Every car sounds unique and if you own those vehicles, you’ll appreciate the attention to detail.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where SRS went wrong, especially when there’s so much to choose from. When the poor sensation of speed isn’t bothering you the soundtrack is. When you’re not annoyed by clunky interface you’ll be embarrassed by the “girlfriends” feature. This is a dirty shame because Eutechnyx had a decent idea on its hands, but the end result is far less than desirable. Pass on it unless you’re desperate for a street racing fix.
D
Sometimes you just have to wonder why a game was made. I mean, why pollute an already crowded market with a clone of a vastly superior title? This is exactly what Namco’s latest entry, Street Racing Syndicate does. It desperately wants to be Need for Speed Underground but it falls horribly short, featuring elements and designs that are so poorly implemented that they’re embarrassing.
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