Jet Set Radio HD reviews roll into view, all the scores here

The Polygon review is poor with the reviewer showing his poor gaming ability; I’m an average gamer and didn’t have as much trouble with the original as him.

The Game Informer review is equally poor comparing the game to Tony Hawk when it is a completely different type of game by design. JSR is a arcade style score attack type of game and isn’t about the tricks.

Are people actually taking Polygon seriously?

For reals?

I know this sounds radical but people are allowed to find faults and dislike games for their own reasons.

I’m currently reviewing the game. I’d much rather play Crazy Taxi. There are loads of little problems, and the core of the game just isn’t that fun. How do you decide to do a jump off the lip of a curve as opposed to your character righting themselves up for a landing? Answer: you can’t, as far as I know.

The camera is bad, and when you try to push it down to get a better view while you’re playing, it goes back to neutral instantly-fantastic.

In the bigger multi-sectioned levels, you’re left to explore for the “exits” to the other sections. There’s no indicator, and you can only look at the map of the area you’re currently in. In a game like Dark Souls, where exploration is part of the experience, I’m okay with that. In a timed arcade-style game though, this just feels unfinished.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts for now. There are plenty of other flaws, but I have to get back to playing the game.

@1 I couldn’t read the review tbh. The terrible page layout was to distracting. What’s with the random left or right alignment and massive chunks of white space?

@4 I don’t see why needing to find the exit is an issue. Part of the arcade-style design is trial and error with the core of the game being scoring maximum points along an optimal route through the level.

@6 So, I just beat a few of those sections where you have to race an opponent to a tagging location. So, wait, the game wants me to beat this NPC to a tag whose location I don’t know? Sounds pretty logical to me.

I found that you can look at the map to figure out the location, but that’s just really inconvenient to pull it up every few turns to see where you need to go.

Basically, these missions weren’t designed well. There should have been markers telling you which direction you need to go. Instead, you have trial-and-error or stop the game and look at the map. Neither of these are acceptable imo.

Only a fraction of my time with the game has been fun. This is coming from someone who loves Dark Souls and Sin and Punishment 2 (beat hard mode). So this has nothing to do with me hating Japanese and/or difficult games, as some on forums have tried to indicate of reviewers who are bashing JSR.

@7 Older games required the player to learn the layout of a level or e.g. the enemy attack pattern in a shooter through trial and error. Part of fun of conquering those games in the past was memorising these details; it’s part of the design and it’s fine to not like it but it’s hardly a flaw.

In your example of the use of the map, it’s an issue if the game was meant to be only played through once but it isn’t due to the arcade nature. After playing the level a few times one memorises the layout and the tag points and the map is no longer used. The old school score attack was fun but the old school search for a perfect playthrough was why I loved the game: figuring out the best route, trying out different approaches or short cuts to see what works and what doesn’t, trying out jumps or wall slides or whatever to find the limitations of the environment and skill were what kept me coming back.

@7 – so you’d basically want the game to hold your hand for you. I can’t believe how spoiled gamers are today. This game’s design was always one of its strong points and I, for one, can’t wait to play it again. You shouldn’t be able to review the game if you can’t understand it.

Comparing it to Dark Souls? Jesus.

So many great Dreamcast games. Wish they would do a PSO v2HD remake for xbla/psn. PSO2 looks interesting anyways.

@8 There are differences in trial and error in games. For example: In Donkey Kong Country Returns, when you’re doing time trials, you can restart the level if you feel you’re not doing well enough. In JSR, you have to wait until the NPC reaches the end location, or you have to lose all of your hp; there is no reset option.

@9 I wasn’t comparing the game to Dark Souls. If you had some reading comprehension you’d see that I was bringing up Dark Souls because there are gamers out there saying that reviewers who don’t like JSR don’t like difficult and/or Japanese games.

As for the hand-holding, I’ll say this. A game can be extremely frustrating, as long as the fun it provides is equivalent or higher.

Also, it’s funny that you bring up me needing hand-holding. Have you played Dark Souls?

@11 – and that is the time you take to learn the layout of the level. You accept that you’re not going to beat it this time, so you look around, you learn what you have to do next time.

@11 I’ve not played JSR for many years but I assume that since you mention reaching an end location that you need to reach multiple locations? You’ll have to explain it if I have mis-interpreted. Either way one can spend the time learning the location and routes so that subsequent tries are easier.

I honestly don’t remember being particularly frustrated by this game at the time but I know I played it to death.

@12 – ah, “reading comprehension.” Fun. You suck at a game so you’re going to slander it, and when someone calls you out, you claim I just can’t comprehend what you’re saying. You must make for a wonderful reviewer. I’d totally trust whatever you’d have to say.

Please do tell me what site you review things for so I can recommend people not rely on it for their reviews.

@13 The game just isn’t fun enough. That’s simply it. It’s not fun enough to make up for the annoyances, and even if it didn’t have the annoyances it still wouldn’t be that fun to me.

To make the game more enjoyable, I would make the skaters faster and more agile. Then I would make the level design flow a whole lot better.

And yes, I’ve played both Dark and Demon’s Souls. Love them.

But I wouldn’t compare them to a game that isn’t even particularly difficult until you get to the later levels. You might as well compare Call of Duty and Street Fighter.

@15 Wow, Clupula. You tell me that I’m comparing it to Dark Souls (I didn’t). Then when I call you out on your poor reading comprehension, you say that I suck at games, and this is after I tell you that I’ve beaten Sin and Punishment 2 on HARD mode, and that I love Dark Souls (hundreds of hours clocked on it).

Simply lovely.

I guess everyone should all just love the same games. Otherwise THIS happens.

Who is the one lacking reading comprehension, hmmm? Last time I checked “a game” was singular, so I didn’t say you sucked at all games, just at this one.

aww, it looks like there may be a gap between console, and PC versions. The official page has it listed as simply, “2012″ while the other two platform releases have set dates.

I’m pretty sure nobody outside the gaming press has been able to play this, so everyone else should just STFU.

@19 I’m progressing in the game. I’m at the level where you take a lift to higher buildings (looks like New York).

@21 – it was available for PS+ owners yesterday.

@16 It’s fair enough that you’re not a fan of this type of gameplay and that is what I think is reflected in the negative reviews.

@24 It’s not that I’m not a fan of this type of gameplay; It’s the execution of the game that I don’t like. I enjoy games from just about every genre there is: FPS, 3PS, TBStrat, RTS, point and click, action-adventure (Zelda), flight, stunt games (Tony Hawk, Joe Danger, SSX Tricky).

Why does the camera have to shift to show the cops disappointed that I got away while I’m in the air and trying to do things? Also, that slows the pace down.

How about the race with Beat where you skate towards a Hollywood-looking fake backdrop, the camera shifts, and your controls get jacked? I understand that this is an earlier 3D game, and DMCry was one of the first games that I know of that fixed the camera change/control issue, but we still have to compare this game to games being released today. Also in the race with Beat, the first half is super easy, and the latter half is the challenging part, making the first half just annoying to re-do. The game has numerous things in it that should be changed in order to make it a “perfect” game.

@25 I’ll give you the camera execution but I don’t think the lack instant restart is bad execution imho. I’m not saying it’s perfect so it’ll be interesting to see your review.

@25 – While i disagree with you that a re-release should be compared to game released today, I will agree that, as much as I loved the game, it was never a “perfect” game, but so few are. The closest I’ve ever seen to one would be Metal Gear Solid 3.

@27 The reason I think it should be compared to games of today is because it is now in direct competition with them. Otherwise, you can always say that a game was good/great/whatever for its time.

I can agree with you on MGS3, well, at least the subsistence version. I wasn’t a fan of the camera in the original. Subsistence though? It could easily be in my top ten. The Fury and The End are amazing bosses.

@Clupula Stop defending it already. It’s a shitty little game, it was back then and it is now.
I hate how people defend something out of pure nostalgia. I remember I really liked Mortal Kombat 2 back when it came out, but now i wouldn’t argue about facts, such as cheating AI and shitty combat system.
There are old games like God Hand, that are well-made and well-designed at the core. And there are games like Jet Set Radio. It is a turd, but it’s painted in bright cell-shaded colors and plays nice music. It’s still a turd though.
Makes one wonder why won’t they remake, say, Shenmue II or any other game that is good overall.
Remaking Jet Set Radio is polishing a turd.

@29 Love the trolling, keep it up good sir.

@30 Sorry, but how is this trolling? Do you not agree that controls are not functioning well or designed well to begin with? Or that missions are extremely poorly designed? This is worst kind of trial and error type of game that mostly died out completely at this point.

Mgs3 was definetely perfect. it’s hard to beat that annoyingly cumbersome attempt at stealth utilizing switching camo at the press of a button, constantly dropping framerate, inferior writing, hysterical voiceovers and last but not the least pompously insulting soundtrack.

@31 Yes I disagree as does Clupula and many others.

@28 – When I replayed MGS3, I actually set it back to original overhead camera, but I do completely understand why people prefer to be able to control it at all times.

But yeah, I don’t think there is a game out there that can compare to MGS3. Everything about it is just awesome. Especially the boss battles. The battle with The End is just brilliant and I think the battle against the Boss, with that James Bond-esque theme, is probably my favorite last boss battle in the history of gaming. Then there’s all the little touches, like the strategy involved in having to pick the right camo to having to fix your wounds to all the really funny codec conversations you got from trying weird things (three things sadly missing from MGS4, but most of that can be written off to Ryan Payton), there is so much love and care put into that title.

It actually took me a while to pick up MGS3, because MGS2 was such a disaster, it turned me off to the series. MGS1 was my favorite game for a long time and then 2 was a mess. But I kept hearing how awesome 3 was, so I finally picked it up and I was blown away by how good it was.

Just absolute perfection. I know there are some people out there who prefer to play dumb “shit go explodey so I happy” franchises, but give me Metal Gear any day over that.

@29 – you are entitled to your opinion of it. I enjoyed it a great deal when it first came out and I’m looking forward to playing it again.

I will agree that sometimes nostalgia does cloud our judgment. I very much regret downloading Sonic Adventure on my PS3. I really liked it on the Dreamcast but, jesus, has that game not aged well. It is entirely possible that Jet Grind Radio will be the same, but as for the assertion that it was a shitty game even back then, that is your opinion.

Boss battles in all Mgs are exceptional, from the one (or two) trick pony AI to the cheesy voiceovers and the ability to skip them completely (so much freedom).

Not to mention, there really is a million ways to play Mgs3: you can, for instance go the clunky stealth way, and you can go guns ablazing, using the amazing auto aim feature (you can also stand still and play it the shooting range way).

Fantastic videogame, didn’t even have proper levels with every scene loading separately.

@IrrationalGamer, they’re just lost in their nostalgia.

A great game is great forever, no matter how many years have passed. Jet Set Radio simply hasn’t aged well at all.

I don’t know why they didn’t release JSRF instead – its the far more polished of the two.

@36 – as I said previously, do you do anything except troll on here? I never see you actually adding to a conversation. You make unfunny, snarky remarks like an internet Dane Cook, but never actually participate in anything resembling a discussion.

Not to mention, it’s pretty funny to see someone who constantly sings the praises of Halo, of all franchises, talk shit about anything else. If ever there was a series built on a foundation of mediocre, that has only survived based on hype, it would be Halo.

Anyway, you’re dismissed. I won’t be responding to anything further you have to say, so have at it, son.

@37 – So many things I’ve heard about Future, though, made me not want to try it. I’ve been told there are no police trying to stop you and that they got rid of the time limit. Those were two things that I think made the original as fun as it was. Is it true that those were removed?

#38

Yes I do, lots of things. I’ve just added about twice more to this conversation in contrast to your ‘bla bla bla so much details’ and ‘bla bla bla so intelligent’ inane musings. You being butthurt over people putting it certain way doesn’t mean I ‘m trolling. I’m not.

As I said to a similar Mgs zealot, to save you some time suggest stating ‘No you’ instead of a butthurt attack at what you apparently believe is my fav series..

Smh.. ‘Oh you say mah fav toy is mediocre.. here’s one for you: No yours is”..

Although, either way if there truly was a mediocre series surviving for the sole reasons many have that terrible taste and that devoted to teh Kojima and teh Sony, then it’s Mgs 1998 onwards..

Halo? Brilliant AI, amazing multiplayer and unparalleled Forge. In addition to all other things. None of which to be found in the shitty mess that is Mgs. Queue a certain nutcase in 5.. 4…. 3 .. 2.

Anyway, off you go Clupula. Run along and have some intelligent battles with teh End with his computer controlled laser sights.

Has he mentioned Halo yet?

Oh wow. Please stop using “teh” ironically. It makes you look even more insane.

Seriously..

It’s unparalleled how certain people think Mgs resembles in any way intelligent gameplay or decent storyline. Or half arsed cinematics at that.

CoD has better AI, Thief from 98 has more intriguing stealth and Syphon Filter from the mid 90s had more fun shooting.

James Bond didn’t have neither tackiness, melodramatic bullshit nor abysmal acting. James Bond was funny. Mgs is the epitome of nerds’ computer software paradise.

Person tricking himself into thinking Mgs is in any way intelligent is trolling his own mind.

—
Nope, Halo being a successful series from evil PC destroying, Playstation spoiling Xbox was predictably attacked at the slightest notion of Mgs being shit.

I mentioned James Bond.

Next up I’ll be mentioning Splinter Cell, Bayonetta, Final Fantasy *and* online multiplayer.

@43, I can appreciate your urgency to clarify your position on MGS, but this is a thread on Jet Set Radio and thus far you have not mentioned it once. It could be said your derailing the thread with a single minded purpose to critique a game that was mentioned in passing.

Not intentionally of course. You obviously are just passionate about your hobby.

There was a four paragraphs long essay, which I just couldn’t ignore rather then being passionate.

Something many seem to overlook, I never really start these sub topics. (Practically never)