Street Racing Syndicate

Developer Eutechnyx has wandered into the racing game foray once again, this time with Street Racing Syndicate. Having changed hands at one point, the game still manages to deliver a more than decent street racing experience, though not one which is without some rather noticeable shortcomings.

The most obvious quip one would have with the game would have to be the lack of vehicles Ц though you can collect around 50 "unique" cars to store in your garage, many of them are actually the same car with a different trim option Ц that is, there are only a few makes and models, but each car comes in GT, GT-S, GT-R, and other such varieties. While it's certainly an added bonus if you have a selection of 50 cars plus the trims, when it's more like a dozen or so cars with a bunch of trim options for each the selection becomes somewhat less impressive. Furthermore, taking the time to purchase every trim type of every car in the game seems kind of like a moot point.

Car selection aside, the rest of the game performs pretty well. With what is easily the most detailed set of performance modification options yet on the Xbox, you can install parts from over 15 real-world aftermarket manufacturers, and even add ground effects and body kits (though the selection of these is very limited, and furthermore adds weight to you ride) to your vehicle(s) of choice. If you're looking for a slightly more visual understanding of what these updates do for you in addition to the numbers (your car is rated on acceleration, top speed, braking, etc) there's a Dyno you can throw your ride on to compare it before and after your mods. Not really necessary, but a nice feature nonetheless.

As far as the actual driving portion of the game, you'll find that each vehicle drives pretty realistically Ц a rear-wheel drive 350Z is going to give you a lot more speed but way looser cornering than a front-wheel drive Celica, and the mods you apply to each car alter it's performance as they should. Unfortunately, the sense of speed is more or less pretty realistic too, meaning you aren't going to get any insane rushes like those found in games such as Burnout 3. While it doesn't necessarily detract from the game, it certainly makes it less intense that other games of the sort, and truth be told the game isn't terribly difficult, likely due mostly to the relatively slow driving. Of course this is also partially due to the racing structure of the game as well, which is actually quite forgiving.

SRS presents us with an open city, which you can freely roam or explore through jump points on a map. As explore you'll run across a variety of important things Ц cops, other racers, race events and "city locations" such as the garage or car showroom where you purchase new cars, which are stored in the warehouse (along with your "girlfriends"). Cops will chase you if you run the speed limit and magically appear around you as you try to evade them, though they aren't terribly hard to outrun for the most part. If you do, by chance, get caught, you'll just get a ticket and lose some of your cash depending on your offence Ц for instance, hitting a cop car will run you a little higher than a speeding ticket.

The other racers that travel the map are eagerly awaiting races it seems, as if you tail on and high beam them you'll start a race with them on a predetermined track that's marked off with directional arrows and boundaries. The amount wagered in these races depends on the car you're racing, and range from the few hundred to few thousand dollars. These races aren't very challenging for the most part, assuming you've put a decent amount of cash into your current ride, but do offer a quick way to grab some change.

The race events come in four varieties Ц one on one's, which are the same as those initiated while you're driving around but are instead started when you pull into a target spot near a competitor's car. The other two involve 3 other racers, and are either sanctioned or not Ц sanctioned events can be entered free of charge assuming you've accumulated enough respect points (earned by winning races) and are won by having the most points at the end of the series. You're even awarded cash for sanctioned events, so basically if you managed to pour all your cash into your car you can always enter a sanctioned event to earn some dough. The other events require cash and respect points to enter, but there are more of them and the payouts are often higher (or at least the wagers are).

There are also usually horsepower requirements for the events, and before each race you can wager cash with one of the other three opponents. The wagers come in three sizes Ц small, medium and large (go figure), the large often in the $2000 range, so you can usually earn around $6000 in addition to the event payouts. You can't be too rough on your opponents though, as any damage sustained to your vehicle has to be repaired, and for a price.

The final type of race is the Сrespect challenge' variety, where you earn (yes, earn) your "girlfriends" by completing a task for them Ц hitting a series of markers, following another car or just earning respect points (by catching air, riding on two wheels, drifting, etc). What do these girlfriends do you ask? Well, they change the background picture on your GPS-like map to a picture of the girl you've selected from the warehouse. Yes, the girls are kept in the warehouse with the cars, and in fact each girl has a series of videos for you to unlock, featuring them kind of dancing to musicЕ for far too longЕ watch one and you've seen Сem all basically. They don't really have any personality, just bad voice acting when you start their challenges, and basically should've been taken out of the game.

There's also a "cruise" mode where the computer drives your ride around so you can oogle at it for a bit. This would work a lot better if there were more visual customization options Ц a limited number of decals and not a whole lot of body kits are a bit of a disappointment, but the general visuals of the game are reasonably good looking at least. Nothing new to be sure, but at the same time the courses and cars all look as good as you'd hope, and the audio sounds as you'd expect.

There's also you're basic multiplayer offering Ц online play with up to three others and of course some one-on-one action if you're playing on the same СBox. Unfortunately the courses and cars just aren't varied enough to keep you coming back over and over, but at least you can race real people if you get a bit tired of the somewhat limited AI competition.