A memory in HD

 Welcome to Memory beats Reality, the blog where we examine and discuss those old school gaming memories that some of us hold so dear. 

  In the last year or so I've noticed the rising trend of HD remakes for some of our beloved last gen titles and one recently announced at E3 has caught my attention. That, being the upcoming HD remake of Jet Set Radio (formerly released as Jet Grind Radio). Now this game was, by far, one of my all time favs on the Sega Dreamcast and I recently came by a copy of it on ebay so I decided to fire it up and see if it was still as good as I remember it.

  For those of you who don't remember, Jet Set Radio chronicles the adventures of a gang of "rudies" known as the GG's who are graffiti artists and in line skaters battling other gangs for supremacy in the districts of Tokyo-to. Also the title "Jet Set Radio" seems to refer to a pirate radio station of the same name ran by DJ Professor K who periodically gives you updates on the GG's. I should mention that this last part strikes me as a reference to the D.J. from the 1979 film The Warriors.

  Overall, this game still holds up very well. The controls are tight and the gameplay is still very addictive. The color scheme of this game is also very bright and cartoony which gives the whole game a very manga esque appearance. (F.Y.I. This game is also credited as being a pioneer in the use of cartoon-like cel shaded graphics). But above all one of the biggest draws of this game is it's ultra wacky soundtrack. The tracks being a mixture of several genres including j-pop, funk, rock, and even a little metal. In closing, this game is a blast and when it is re released on PSN and Xbox Live I highly recommend downloading it. Especially if you never played the first time around.

Comments

  1. Harley JacksonJune 20, 2012 at 9:24 PM

    Excellent first post man. I will definitely be getting this when it comes to XBOX live.

    ReplyDelete

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