Got this today and I've had a brief look at it.
If you're familiar with the series, then it's pretty much business as usual. If you're not, then it's something of an aquired taste as it's not really a proper racing game, plus most "races" take place on very straight roads, which not everyone likes...
Anyway, like any game of this type, you start off with limited funds to purchase your first car, with the aim being to win more money to spend on upgrading your existing choice, or just buy a better car altogether so you can compete with the higher-ranked opponents you'll come across as you progress.
Winning battles also raises your "level" much like an RPG, which is important as some rivals won't entertain you if you're a low-ranking noob. The battles take place on the highways of Tokyo, at night. It would be wrong to call them "races" since there's no actual finish line. Instead, both you and your rival(s) have an "SP" (Spirit points) meter, which will deteriorate if you are behind in the race, or if you collide with other cars/barriers. The bigger the gap between you and the race leader, the quicker the SP meter will be depleted. The winner is declared once someone has no SP left.
The ultimate goal is to seek out and defeat all the rivals in the game to be come the "daddy". Which will probably take ages if the console versions are anything to go by.
On a technical level, the game is good, but not spectacular. The PSP is definitely capable of producing better graphics than what's on show here, but for the most part, it looks good enough. The framerate is probably comparable to WipEout Pure's - ie: reasonably solid, but not perfectly smooth, and the car models are very good and instantly recognisable.
The music is good, and the presentation is slick with nice animated menus and loading screens. The loading times are quite lengthy but not too bad. The menus are a mixture of English and Japanese, but mostly Japanese, and take a little while to familarise yourself with. There's nothing too difficult though and a bit of trial and error-ing will get the job done.
I'm a fan of Genki's games, so I knew what to expect, but if you like NFSU etc, then you'll probably like this as well. Overall though, my initial impression of the game is favourable.
If you're familiar with the series, then it's pretty much business as usual. If you're not, then it's something of an aquired taste as it's not really a proper racing game, plus most "races" take place on very straight roads, which not everyone likes...
Anyway, like any game of this type, you start off with limited funds to purchase your first car, with the aim being to win more money to spend on upgrading your existing choice, or just buy a better car altogether so you can compete with the higher-ranked opponents you'll come across as you progress.
Winning battles also raises your "level" much like an RPG, which is important as some rivals won't entertain you if you're a low-ranking noob. The battles take place on the highways of Tokyo, at night. It would be wrong to call them "races" since there's no actual finish line. Instead, both you and your rival(s) have an "SP" (Spirit points) meter, which will deteriorate if you are behind in the race, or if you collide with other cars/barriers. The bigger the gap between you and the race leader, the quicker the SP meter will be depleted. The winner is declared once someone has no SP left.
The ultimate goal is to seek out and defeat all the rivals in the game to be come the "daddy". Which will probably take ages if the console versions are anything to go by.
On a technical level, the game is good, but not spectacular. The PSP is definitely capable of producing better graphics than what's on show here, but for the most part, it looks good enough. The framerate is probably comparable to WipEout Pure's - ie: reasonably solid, but not perfectly smooth, and the car models are very good and instantly recognisable.
The music is good, and the presentation is slick with nice animated menus and loading screens. The loading times are quite lengthy but not too bad. The menus are a mixture of English and Japanese, but mostly Japanese, and take a little while to familarise yourself with. There's nothing too difficult though and a bit of trial and error-ing will get the job done.
I'm a fan of Genki's games, so I knew what to expect, but if you like NFSU etc, then you'll probably like this as well. Overall though, my initial impression of the game is favourable.
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