Playing this after the first PGR makes it feel like a prototype of what would be to come, but I think in actuality PGR is just this game but more fleshed out.

The Kudos system originates here, and rather than being more combo-focused and giving direct feedback while the race is going on, this game kinda just tells you how many kudos you earned once the race is over. This game also subtracts Kudos for every time you bump into a wall or a driver or something, as well as offers a bonus if you finish the race with no penalties. That definitely sounds like the game would be punishing as all hell but I actually found myself having a kudos surplus by the end, as the quotas for progression are actually quite low.

The game aesthetically is a vibe, with the fun colored lighting and low-poly dreamcast graphics providing a different take on the cities that would later go on to be more realistically rendered in the first PGR game. An interesting attention to detail is the games use of the dreamcasts internal clock to have the time of day be accurately reflected in every city according to the correct time zone. The only problem with that is if you play the game at roughly the same time every day that means there will be little variety in the time of day each city takes place in. The nighttime versions of courses have difficult-to-see elements due to the darkness and there's no time you can set that will make it day across all 3 cities so that's kinda annoying.

The music is incredible and diverse, though that's to be expected considering it's done by the pair of Richard Jacques composing and TJ Davis on vocals. There's essentially a whole section of the OST that feels like a spiritual sequel to the Sonic R OST, and that always gets a big thumbs up from me.

Altogether its a decent racer, probably one of the best you can get on the Dreamcast. Though due to the fact that this game is rather substantially long to go through as well as the fact that PGR is just this game but better, you might just want to spend your time on that game instead. You could even use the custom soundtrack feature in the PGR games to carry the music from this game to those to keep the vibe going.

Reviewed on Mar 27, 2023


Comments