Race Supreme
Check out some head-to-head street racing action in this gameplay movie.
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Earlier today, at a Konami press event in San Francisco, we had an
opportunity to spend some time with a work-in-progress version of the recently announced
Street Supremacy. The PSP-exclusive street racing game, which was
released as Shutokou Battle: Zone of Control in Japan last year, lets
you race the highways of Tokyo behind the wheels of licensed cars from
the likes of Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subara, and Toyota. We spent some time
with the unimpressive Japanese game last year, so today we were eager to see if any improvements are being implemented for the North American version.
The good news is that, unlike its Japanese counterpart, Street
Supremacy will support wireless head-to-head races between two players.
The bad news is that based on what we saw of the game today, not much
else has changed. The car models look great and the Tokyo highways look
decent enough, but the controls are quite unresponsive, and even when
you're using nitrous boosts to reach speeds well in excess of 100 miles
per hour, there's really no sensation of speed whatsoever--particularly
when using the behind-the-car camera. It'll be a real shame if these
problems aren't addressed before Street Supremacy's release, because
the game boasts some quite interesting gameplay modes and really
comprehensive car customization options.
Street Supremacy's career mode, for example, sees you joining a street
racing gang that's vying for control of the Tokyo highways. The game's
map is divided up into 15 areas, and as you race between them your
performance will determine whether or not you can claim control. The
races themselves are one of the most intriguing features of the game,
because instead of being tasked with crossing a finishing line before
your opponent, your goal is simply to deplete your rival's "sprit
points" as quickly as possible. Spirit points are represented at the
top of the screen in much the same way as energy bars in a fighting
game, and you'll lose them any time that you collide with a wall or
another vehicle, or fall too far behind your opponent. This can make
for some very enjoyable races if the two drivers (and their cars) are
evenly matched, but it also means that races can be extremely brief if
one of the competitors makes just a single mistake and falls behind.
The disappointment of having a race end after only 30 seconds
or so is compounded by the fact that Street Supremacy's load times are
both lengthy and frequent. We spent more time than we care to remember
staring at loading screens when we checked out Shutokou Battle: Zone of
Control last year, so we've got our fingers crossed that Konami and
Genki will find some way to improve the load times ahead of the game's
North American release. We'll bring you more information on Street
Supremacy as soon as it becomes available.
Source:
GameSpot