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Street Racing Syndicate

Posted by Kenny.

After very nearly hitting the trash bin, Street Racing Syndicate was rummaged from the remains of 3DO by the good folks at Namco. After months in limbo, SRS has finally been released, providing a solid racing game that is, while not completely spectacular, may be worth a look or two from true racing aficionados. It definitely takes a few chapters from EA's book on Need for Speed: Underground, but at the same time it manages to write out a few pages of its owns.

For those who are wondering about the premise, it goes like this: you buy cars, upgrade them and customize them, then unleash your machine in the underground racing circuit to gain fame and respect. A year ago this would have been a novel idea, as it is now though we're stuck with nothing to say but ‘Been there, done that.' However, although the idea can be given this platitude, I think it's further from the truth when it comes down to gameplay. I found Street Racing Syndicate and Need for Speed: Underground to be very different games with key distinctions that may dissuade or entice you depending.

Right off the bat, the racing style to SRS is different from NFS:U. EA's rendition is all about the speed and simplicity of burning rubber; Eutechnyx took a different approach with SRS, giving a considerably more simulated feel to racing. Don't get me wrong, the mechanics are of the standard affair, turning left and turning right, speeding up or slowing down. SRS is just a little more unforgiving, with the execution of proper drifts a slightly more seldom occurrence. You can also feel it with your car, with the lack of anything but a bare bone system. At the beginning of the game your vehicle chugs along like a jalopy, and as you accrue new parts the performance can be seen very clearly. Unbalanced or ill-planned changes to your car can force some drastic improvisations to your driving style. I for one am an advocate of this form of racing, and SRS manages a convincing mix between arcade and simulated action. You get an overall better feel for your racing monster, and while it sacrifices the label of pick-up-and-play to do so, in the end you are rewarded with a deeper racing experience than EA's offering.

After the introduction race, nearly all similarities between SRS and NFS:U should be cast aside. This game definitely borrows, but at the same time you can tell the developers wanted to do their own thing. Eutechnyx tried something new with the menu system, sticking you in the middle of Los Angeles and having you ride to specific locations. So to perform in a series you must drive to a crew meet, or to repair or customize your vehicle, take a pit stop at the auto shop. This idea, which ultimately is just a gimmick, still manages some wondrous things to the interactivity of the game the first few times out. But like all things, it grows old and eventually you'll find yourself missing the simplicity of option-based menus.

The separate destinations are as follows: The crew meets contain series' where you compete with three opponents to gain cash and respect. Street challenges are a one-on-one showdown for a hefty wager. Respect challenges involve macking the chicks (more on that later) by performing specific tasks. The auto shop is the place to repair or customize your ride. The warehouse is the central area to change vehicles and girlfriends (once again, more on that later). And pointless cruise zones exist so you can view your ride in auto pilot. All the while you can drive through the city, egging on traffic or challenging other racers by flashing your headlights at them. All things considered, when compared to the measly multiplayer that only offers simple races between you and a friend, there's at least some variety to all of this.

The setup for navigating through the game was a good idea, but with a few glaring implementation flaws. For example, I can't understand for the life of me why there is only one warehouse, one auto shop, and a cruise zone that are all marked the same on the map. It took a good day of playing just to understand how the map worked. It also becomes a real hassle driving across the county for a tune-up or to reach a crew meet or respect challenge. By the time I reach any of those, I've already stomached enough racing for the day. It doesn't help that police cruisers patrol the streets, restricting speed limits and reckless driving. Now, that wouldn't be so bad if:

a) The police were easy to avoid (which they're not).

b) Police cars did not just magically materialize right in front of you.

Even worse is when you get a combination of a) and b). After I get caught for bashing a car that looked at me funny, I then perform some inhuman driving to avoid the resulting police cruiser that pursues me. And after yours truly escapes the grasps of one cop, there's a 90% chance another one will pop up in front of me. This causes me to floor the gas once more, escaping custody of yet another cop, only to have still more pop up. What started as a quick race to avoid a single police officer eventually turns into an interstate chase against the whole law enforcement department.

When I'm not in jail though (actually you just pay a fine), I'm hitting it up with the ladies. SRS includes a number of different females who sit at respect challenges, waiting for you to impress them so that they can become your girlfriend. Wow, just like real life. As you pick up chicks by successfully completing their designated respect challenge, each girl gets stored at the warehouse (which I now lovingly call the brothel). From there you're given the opportunity at any time to stop off at the warehouse and choose which of the fine women you've ‘collected' that you would like to ride with. As your girlfriend rides with you, you can impress her by completing series races. Impress her enough, and she'll reward you with something ‘special': a nice little dance at the back of the warehouse. Sound good? Sure, if girls dancing (sometimes awkwardly) to no specific beat in front of a blue screen is your thing. We can all thanks the folks at Eutechnyx for this ‘neat' addition, but I have to say it lowers the taste of the game and I did not find it amusing at all. What I did find funny though, was the fact that you can pick up new girlfriends while you're already cruising out with another lady. Of course nothing as good as a catfight ensues, as girlfriends immediately get teleported to the warehouse, but I get a kick out of imagining the girl in the seat next to me shifting uncomfortably as I pull up to the curb and start flirting with another chick. A polygamist's dream come true!

The next best thing (if not better) than a hot girlfriend is a really sweet ride, and SRS fills you up the exhaust pipe with offered customizations. To begin though, you need to pick a car brand, and quite a few are offered. Naturally it starts off with the majority of the newer lines locked, but you're still given some nice choices, from Nissan to Toyota . From there you can upgrade to your heart's content. The problem is that the setup is not so user-friendly, making the task of tweaking more frustrating than it should be. For those of you who know nothing about threaded coil suspension or cold air induction systems you're pretty much screwed, since SRS does not take kindly to the automobile inept. I for one have no understanding of this sort of thing, so I went with the tried and true formula of purchasing the most expensive part on the counter. It quickly became apparent that this strategy would not work. My pricey tires could not cope with the hazardous speeds with which I tore through residential areas, and the weight reduction kit on my vehicle made it so light that on occasion I would cartwheel my ride, tossing everything inside (including my girlfriend) like a Christmas snow globe. That forced me to look at each stat of each new part and determine what would be best for my car. Ouch, that was painful since there's a one second load time to go back and force through each performance stat.

What is neat though, is the performance of your vehicle after upgrades. The best thing is that SRS allows you to return to older races with your newer rides. It's akin to an RPG, where you level up so high that not only can you hand the last boss his ass in 7 seconds flat, but by then you could probably punch the entire planet to pieces. It is always fun to enter a 150 horsepower series race with my 550hp behemoth. I always laugh when those poor saps are stupid enough to wager $2000 against me. I could probably beat them if I only had one tire attached to my car. With my monstrous machine, I could have sworn that I tore the fabric of the universe and went back in time on occasion. The game is still tough though, with 350hp cars giving my 550 a fair challenge. There are some neat quirks to the AI, with techniques like pressuring opponents through tailgating or riding up alongside them. It's still just a race though, and doesn't feel like anything beyond that.

It's clear the game was not fully optimized for the GCN, yet in the very least SRS is manageable. The frame rate is solid, and while it's not the best looking racer on the market... ahem, at least the frame rate is solid. The problem with this title's visuals is the inaccurate lighting system it incorporates. The light is too soft on vehicles, making them look out of place in nighttime scenarios (which accounts for 95% of the game) but looks fine in a place Miami, where it is perpetually bright. Another problem is the wretched replay video system. I mean, it's nice to see an interactive camera zoom in and out, making things more interesting to watch, but for heaven's sake at least keep the camera on my car! Too often did the camera choose to film some scenery far away or the pavement right in front of it. I could hear my car in the distance, but I'll be damned if I could see it. In its defense, the game does feature some nice streaking lights, and some implementation of car damage, but all-in-all it's not a package people get excited over.

This game gets an N-Philes score of C+.

Street Racing Syndicate is a solid racer with some intriguing ideas that unfortunately were not enough to sell the game to me. Not enough work was put in to the GCN version, which only helps to hinder a game that is ultimately mediocre in its execution anyway. If you want a nice balance between simulated and arcade racing, than SRS might be your thing. I preferred the racing engine of this game over NFS:U, and while that accounts for a lot, it doesn't stand for everything. You'd be surprised how important an overall package is to making a game a convincing purchase. Other than that, the rest is excusable, except for the girls that are (I never thought I'd say this) completely tasteless and totally unnecessary. A cheap way to cater to your pants rather than your mind.

Posted in: Reviews