Jet Moto 2
One day earlier this week I was in my local electronics store, and I had a hankerin [ yes I am a redneck] for some racing action. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? A little game called Jet Moto 2. Now, I remembered hearing about this game years ago, but despite its age, I picked it up, and read the jacket. For the low price, I decided to give it a go. Man, I sure as hell got my money's worth on this one. JM2 is a quasi-futuristic racing game set in the near future. Granted, the back story is weaker than a Clinton apology, but who cares? You get to zip around insane tracks at high speeds on an illicit love child of a souped up Harley and a hovercraft. SWEET!
GRAPHICS
Okay, this game is two years old, but the graphics still work fairly well. Each bike has a slightly different graphic reflecting its individual weight and speed. The tracks themselves are fairly varied, but the background graphics are fairly flat. Also, the camera angles are bad...really baaaaad. You have two choices: Nausea inducing first person, or a third person view that is okay, but alot of the times you can't see that track well enough to hang hairpin turns with out falling to your death. On the plus side, the frame rate is very high, and never slows. All in all, the graphics are passable.
SOUND
Ugh. Generic rock noise...braaaaap! Okay, okay, some of the tracks have good music, especially the one that had a "Wipeout-ish" background theme. The engine noises are okay, but its no GT. And the screams as you drop off cliffs are very tinny. All in all, this area suffers from extreme mediocrity.
CONTROL
Now this was a pleasant surprise. The game supported vibrations on my controller. The control is spot one, and changes for every bike that you use to reflect their size and weight. You will notice the difference for each bike. And the amount of subtle control that you can exert over the bike is amazing. You can lean on the bikes to hang tight turns, and roll in mid air if you are about to crash. I must say, that this older title has far better control than some modern racers...*cough* Need For Speed*cough*
GAMEPLAY
There are many strong points in the game. The top one is the track. There are about 14 tracks, each with a varied them. They range from swamps to artic seas to carnivals to my fave, a track that send you racing between heaven and hell. It was excellent. The bikes themselves are unique, and its fun to ram other riders at just the right angle to knock their punk asses off the bikes. Then you run them over...**Drool** The tracks are well designed, with good twists and turns to try even the most experienced racer. Some of the air you can catch on the jumps is insane. I actually found myself shouting "YEEEHAAAA" after hitting a huge jump with the turbo on. Yes, I am a redneck. I think the developers watched way too much Dukes of Hazard. Plus the corkscrews are vertigo inducing. Another high is the bike handling, as you can point the nose of the craft up or down, thus altering the amount of air you grab on jumps. And when you beat all of the tracks on the hard level, you unlock a stunt mode, where to goal is to perform as many stunts as possible on the tracks.All in all, a solid entertaining racer. The only low point is the split screen mode is somewhat cramped, and once you beat the tracks, theres not much else to do. While it lasts though, its great.
SUMMARY
GRAPHICS: 7/10
SOUND: 6/10
CONTROL: 10/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
OVERALL: 8/10
Madgrad
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