Gamenikki
Systems
Screens
Summary
pros
- Beautiful visuals
- Great sound
- Sense of speed is well done
- Custom soundtracks are a welcome feature
- Arcade-like controls easy and fun
- Few load times
- Great detail of Los Angeles
cons
- Traffic density gets frustrating
- Lack of money + too many ways to spend it = grinding old races over and over for cash
- Complete lack of control over vehicle customization is a jaw-dropping oversight
- No online multiplayer?!?
final score
5
The Review
L.A. Rush
- Number of Players: 1-4
- Genre: Racing
- Developer: Midway
- Publisher: Midway
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Online: Xbox Live aware, no online multiplayer.
- Supports: Logitech driving wheel controllers, 480p HTDV, custom soundtracks.
With so many games to choose from in the recent street racing fad, it's a shame to see wasted potential. Midway's L.A. Rush is one such fun, straightforward street racer, but a couple of oversights keep it from being a real contender.
Midway has had the popular Rush series of arcade racing games in its stable for a long time, and it would seem to be a natural move to translate that into the console street racing phenomenon. Add to that the use of the West Coast Customs brand and an outstanding representation of Los Angeles, and you've got an automatic hit, right? Well, yes and no.
L.A. Rush begins with a vanilla story about the game's central character, Trikz Lane, and how his car collection has been stolen by his rival Liddel Rey (who is voiced with great over-the-top silliness by ex-MTV veejay Bill Bellamy) in a play for power in the LA underground racing scene. The objective of the game is to regain money and cars by racing on the streets of L.A. The story itself rapidly becomes only a way to move the racing from one section of the city to the next, with only the barest of lip service being actually paid to the cohesion of the story. Since this is just a racing game though, we're not too concerned with story, as it's really all about the racing.
In what may have been a none-too-subtle poke at Los Angeles' legendary traffic, the streets of L.A. Rush are jam-packed with traffic, to the point of being quite frustrating in a very close race. While the extremely entertaining wrecks are fun to watch for the first hour or two, as you progress through the game they simply become grating. Get used to them, however, as you'll be seeing a lot of them.
Nearly every red light you run during a race will have at least one, if not several lanes of cross-traffic to avoid, and at times there simply isn't a way to do so. This can make all the difference in the last lap of a race if you're only ahead by seconds. Floating red tokens of nitrous are plentiful, to the point of erasing any sense that you'd need to conserve for a last, pardon the pun, rush at the end of a race.
What does convey a sense of urgency in the game is money. The only way to pass one race is to place in the money, usually the top three races, and since each race has an entry fee after the first, you'll need to win in order to move on. Unfortunately, if you fail to place in the money, you still lose your entry fee, which sends you backward in the game to run in races you've already beaten in order to try again. All in all, it can be a very frustrating enterprise, and one that feels like a contrived way to make the game seem longer than it is.
Midway has had the popular Rush series of arcade racing games in its stable for a long time, and it would seem to be a natural move to translate that into the console street racing phenomenon. Add to that the use of the West Coast Customs brand and an outstanding representation of Los Angeles, and you've got an automatic hit, right? Well, yes and no.
L.A. Rush begins with a vanilla story about the game's central character, Trikz Lane, and how his car collection has been stolen by his rival Liddel Rey (who is voiced with great over-the-top silliness by ex-MTV veejay Bill Bellamy) in a play for power in the LA underground racing scene. The objective of the game is to regain money and cars by racing on the streets of L.A. The story itself rapidly becomes only a way to move the racing from one section of the city to the next, with only the barest of lip service being actually paid to the cohesion of the story. Since this is just a racing game though, we're not too concerned with story, as it's really all about the racing.
"...Add to that the use of the West Coast Customs name recognition and an outstanding representation of Los Angeles, and you've got an automatic hit, right? Well, yes and no...."
As a racing game, Rush's controls definitely show their arcade roots. Too-quick response, impossible power slides, and iffy collision detection all rear their ugly heads at one time or another, as well as some rather obvious rubber-banding as cars you've literally flown by catch you with ease, and vice-versa. Since the game never purports to be a racing simulation, these are certainly acceptable flaws, but the collision detection especially is a downer for an otherwise passable racing experience. The game's different cars don't really differ from each other in feel, unlike other recent titles.In what may have been a none-too-subtle poke at Los Angeles' legendary traffic, the streets of L.A. Rush are jam-packed with traffic, to the point of being quite frustrating in a very close race. While the extremely entertaining wrecks are fun to watch for the first hour or two, as you progress through the game they simply become grating. Get used to them, however, as you'll be seeing a lot of them.
Nearly every red light you run during a race will have at least one, if not several lanes of cross-traffic to avoid, and at times there simply isn't a way to do so. This can make all the difference in the last lap of a race if you're only ahead by seconds. Floating red tokens of nitrous are plentiful, to the point of erasing any sense that you'd need to conserve for a last, pardon the pun, rush at the end of a race.
What does convey a sense of urgency in the game is money. The only way to pass one race is to place in the money, usually the top three races, and since each race has an entry fee after the first, you'll need to win in order to move on. Unfortunately, if you fail to place in the money, you still lose your entry fee, which sends you backward in the game to run in races you've already beaten in order to try again. All in all, it can be a very frustrating enterprise, and one that feels like a contrived way to make the game seem longer than it is.
Written by: Dan Spidell