Simply Static Reception So Far
Today marks the re-release of Jet Set Radio for members of Sony’s Playstation Plus service. The rest of the world should start seeing the game beginning next week.
With the release, three reviews have been issued so far. One, from the Official XBOX Magazine‘s Francesca Reyes, is quite positive, awarding the HD re-release a 9 out of 10:
Amid endless waves of grumbly-faced shooters, Jet Set’s intoxicating cocktail of idealized youth culture, ridiculously joyful absurdism, and tough-love gameplay feels like a much-needed shot in the arm. It’s quirky enough to turn off the unadventurous, but for the rest of us, it’s every bit as relevant as it was in 2000.
Two other reviews, however, were not so kind. The first, from Polygon’s Arthur Gies, criticized the game’s control mechanics and poor camera, awarding jus a 5 out of 10:
I exceeded the limits of my patience with Jet Set Radio HD after about six hours. I had played the same level seven times, instructed to follow a rival gang in order to tag their backs and chase them off my gang’s turf. After an hour of chasing, and missing grinds, and being knocked over by the faster skaters, and colliding with level geometry — and watching giant pieces of the stage disappear and reappear in the distance — I had almost taken the other team out, only to miss a grind. I watched my jump sail past the rail and I rolled into the level exit. My skater was recovering, and refused to respond to my inputs. As I exited the level without completing it, I had to let my controller go — at high velocity, in the direction of the floor 10 feet away. That wasn’t where I stopped playing, but at that point, I was finished with Jet Set Radio HD.
The second, from Game Informer’s Matt Hegelson, had the same complaints but a better score of 6.5 out of 10:
While the premise – explore the environment and tag graffiti spots – is solid, the moment-to-moment gameplay isn’t enjoyable. Your skater controls like a tank on ice skates. This lack of fine control is exacerbated by camera problems and the barely controlled chaos of the rampaging cops and urban traffic. Too often, you fall off a ledge just to be hit and carried off by a bus or run into an off-camera police officer. Grinding on rails is automatic, so you’re magnetically attached to the rail until you choose to jump off, which takes away the feeling daring and creativity that you get from coming up with lines in Tony Hawk. The graffiti tagging, which has you tracing movements with the analog stick, sometimes doesn’t register correctly, leaving you standing there as the police close in. The trick system is shallow and isn’t compelling in its own right.
If you’ve played the re-release already, afford your comments below.
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My days of playing Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast were pretty minimal. I never actually owned the game during the time when the Dreamcast was still available in stores. My friend was the one who had it, and we’d play it together, and I always found the controls frustrating.
Between 2007 and 2010, I made it a mission to locate old Dreamcast games, mostly because in 2002 my place was robbed, and that included my Dreamcast collection. Since then, I’ve managed to find games I didn’t even own back then. Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, and MvC2. And I finally managed to play JGR on my own spare time and eventually beat it. So, what does someone who played an old game very recently has to say about it without the use of nostalgia? I can totally understand why the game gets so much positive marks from fans. It definitely is quite a stunning, visually appealing game with a kick ass soundtrack, though I HAVE been listening to the music long before I ever played JGR. It does a great job showcasing the pop culture of Tokyo and then some.
That said, the controls ARE pretty frustrating. That I can remember when I played it way back with my friend. I keep screwing up when trying to jump from rail to rail, only to miss, and probably get hit by a car in the process, which feels way more punishing then it should be. Mind you, I did learn from all of this, and now I do most missions with ease, but it’s not exactly welcoming for new folks to just jump in and start tagging up the place. And while it’s not at all like a Tony Hawk game, it will be compared to such because it carries SOME similarities. Yes, if you compare it to one another, Tony Hawk has more content and more depth with its trick system whereas JGR does it all automatic, but that’s because it focuses more on players having to get around to do some tagging, once the game allows it to.
I did get Jet Set Radio for the PSN last night. I didn’t do too much with it yet, as I got it late night and only tried the tutorial, but from my experience, it feels pretty much the same, only in widescreen with the sharpest and brightest colors yet. And in 1080p too. I was surprised to see a new Playstation game actually go that far rather then just sticking with 720p. It still runs in 30fps though. Not a big deal, but I wanted to see SEGA go the limit and hit 60fps. Oh well, there’s always the PC version.
I want to go on, but I don’t know how much I can type here much less wonder if anyone is even going to bother reading my opinion in the comments section.
@MM2
Obviously you dont get what we are saying. This is a re release of a Classic critically acclaimed Dreamcast game, just transferred to HD. Practically everything is the same from the Original.
So…what the fuck with all the complaints?
The Camera? Obviously game informer has to find something in every platformer about the camera, even Super Mario Sunshine.
Plus it makes me think that the reviews arent even aware that it’s a digital re release of a Past game.
Plus judging it by difficulty and not game play it’self? Unfair.
“I exceeded the limits of my patience with Jet Set Radio HD after about six hours. I had played the same level seven times, instructed to follow a rival gang in order to tag their backs and chase them off my gang’s turf. After an hour of chasing, and missing grinds, and being knocked over by the faster skaters, and colliding with level geometry — and watching giant pieces of the stage disappear and reappear in the distance — I had almost taken the other team out, only to miss a grind. I watched my jump sail past the rail and I rolled into the level exit. My skater was recovering, and refused to respond to my inputs. As I exited the level without completing it, I had to let my controller go — at high velocity, in the direction of the floor 10 feet away. That wasn’t where I stopped playing, but at that point, I was finished with Jet Set Radio HD.”
Yea so you couldn’t complete a level you gave up? Just cause a game is hard does not mean it’s bad. Is Battle toads considered a terrible game cause it’s hard as shit?
No! It’s a sacred classic among all gamers.
So you see, the last two reviews were pretty ignorant and just plain misguided,
@ Setnaro X
I read it.
@Ricardo Mendoza: Thanks
Ricardo: My problem stems from the fact that this is what happens EVERY SINGLE TIME an old Dreamcast game/Sonic game comes out without fail.
You people don’t have jobs writing reviews, you’re just sitting here at your computer bitching that the number of a game didn’t get another number / 10, so what the fuck do you know about looking at the things they’re looking for when it comes to analyzing video games?
All I ever see when it comes to the criticisms on this or ANY oldschool game (The Adventures are a hot button too) is that those criticizing those games or hating on them don’t “get it” and obviously THEY must be having the problems. Either that or the reviewer “hates the game/the franchise” where the game came from, so it’s obviously biased.
That, and then you people don’t get done merely just disagreeing them no, it goes to insults or jabs like “HURR THIS IS WHY I DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO REVIEWS.”
You guys can’t into opinions for beans.
JSR is one of my favorite games. I even recently tracked down and purchased an actual original copy to put it back into my collection just recently and the style and joy remain intact.
But fuck all the game has terrible controls. And just because the game is a “classic” doesn’t mean that all gets wiped away. It’s not difficulty or anything intentional. The controls are just balls to the wall unresponsive. JSRF stepped it up so much that going back and playing JSR felt like my controller just wasn’t working.
JSR was a game that built its fame on style, and deserves to be reviewed as such. You can love the game as I do, but it doesn’t make these reviewers takes on it any less valid.
@MMZ
I agree with you to a certain extent. There was no reason to insult people though.
Anyway if they just release a game with no changed except its in the HD format, then it’s the exact same game, Nd you really can’t judge apon it if it already was a good game to begin with. There Are acceptions though. Earthworm Jim HD was exactly like the original game on the SNES and genesis. The problem reviewers had is that the system for platforming in earthworm Jim seemed dated and doesn’t have much to offer compared to newer platformers.
That sort of argument I can understand, if something is out dated and doesn’t really fit into our modern sesablilty,but with Jet, it made sense back then and it makes sense now.
Sure the controll could have been more refined and maybe more focus on pollishing the minor problems the original presented could hAve been called for, but other than that, it’s still as good as the orgins cause it’s litterally the same exact game.
game informer always complains about the camera in every platformer, even ones were the camera wasn’t even that big of a problem, like super Mario sunshine.
nd quitting on a game and giving it a low score cause of difficulty and not really for what the game offers is pretty amature.
Granted I’m not. Reviewer but I am training to be one, Nd I can honestly say that these views were unjust except the first one, though short it was fair. More detail could have been added why the game was given a 9/10 though, just for clarification.
I’m open to other people opinion, but when the opinions are unjust and doesn’t really give the game credit for what it offers, then it isn’t fair at all.
And if you don’t like people complaining, why do you still read these? Wouldn’t be better for you to avoid them?
Reviews are for people unsure about purchasing the game. To get a good sense of what to expect, people should look at reviews provided by complete n00bs, fans of the game, professional reviewers, etc. Many people can tell if someone is simply turning one faulty gameplay mechanic into a game-breaking element, and they can research a reviewer’s background to see how he reviews other games.
I never played Jet Set Radio, though I heard some of the samples in SBTS 12′s soundtrack were taken from this game.
Let’s look at the funk.
I knew it would get bad reviews I totally loved this game but after playing Future this games controls are terrible. I have said from the start if they don’t fix that then the game will nose dive because they are stiff and horrible. Everyone just floats and the game is aimless.
LOOOOOOVE IT though.
I’ve never played it so I have nothing intelligent to say…………………………………………………EY YO, HI
Bought it first day, I’m not going to lie at first the controls are a tad bit weird but the game takes some getting used to. Now it plays pretty damn good! 9 out of 10 for me!
The game could of aged badly, I mean it happens. I remember some frustration with the mechanics when I was a kid and I might be less patient with it now. I’ll buy it and find out.
So, when’s Nights HD coming out?
@Darkgomugomu
Also, hard can equal bad dude. When a game’s mechanics or design are unforgiving to the point of unrewarding frustration then that is bad.
Game Informer is GameStop’s magazine. Of course they’re going to give a bad review to a game they can’t sell.