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by Publisher
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 A few years ago, Tokyo Extreme
Racer Zero made the PS2’s first generation hot list and garnered a
legion of racing fans that were looking for something a little
different. It was, quite simply, the right game at the right time.
Capitalizing on the underground racing trend made famous by the real
deal Tokyo hot shots and the inflated Hollywood egos of The Fast and the
Furious, TXR0 hit the shelves a few months before Gran Turismo 3 and
proved that an arcade/sim racer mix can work if you are willing to take
a few risks. And now, just a few months before the release of Gran
Turismo 4, Crave Entertainment and Genki bring us Tokyo Extreme Racer 3.
Unfortunately, this new entry to the TXR series takes no risks, and does
little other than deliver more, albeit a lot more, of the same thing at
a budget price.
 The action plays out like
this: late at night, when the traffic is sparse and the racing is hot,
you take to the highways and search for rival racers. When you find a
potential competitor, you pull up behind them and flash your brights. If
you are determined to be a worthy opponent (your competitive rank is
based upon things like wins vs. losses, time on the streets, the status
of your car, et cetera), your racing display kicks in and the race is
on.
 The racing display in the TXR
series is different from most racing games in that among the
speedometer, tachometer, and various other gauges are two power meters
which look and behave like those in a fighting game. Your opponent’s
meter depletes as long as you remain in the lead, and it depletes faster
if you put more distance between your cars. The meters also deplete with
crashes. If you graze another car during the course of a race, it will
take a slight dip. If you run head on into a lane divider or oncoming
traffic, your meter will be devastated. Once one of the power meters
reaches zero, the race is over, prizes are awarded, and it’s off to find
your next rival. The races are quick and intense, with skill being as
much a factor as speed. Unlike many racing games you can’t just hit top
speed and blaze through the course without a care. A single nick can
sometimes decide a close race.
 Whereas TXR0 focused only on
the highways of Tokyo, TXR3 has broadened its scope to include the
cities of Nagoya and Osaka as well. There are, in fact, two hundred
miles of faithfully re-created Japanese highways to travel. Your rivals
on these mean streets number over six hundred, significantly more than
the previous title, so many, in fact, that TXR enthusiasts will have
days, likely weeks of gameplay ahead of them. And while we are playing
the numbers game, there are also fifteen different licensed car
manufacturers and over a hundred cars to choose from. Following actual
underground racing tradition, the cars consist of everyday names like
Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen, which have been suped up to out muscle
everything on the road. The crazier, flashier, and more outlandish, the
better.
 The gameplay options are fairly
standard, and include Quest Mode, Free Run, Time Attack, Two-Player
Versus Battle, and a Replay Theater. Quest Mode is where the bulk of the
game lies. This is where you prowl the streets, creating rivalries,
tallying wins, collecting prizes, and upgrading your cars to create
masterpieces of high-octane perfection. You begin the game with only a
few sections of the Tokyo highway available for racing, and unlock more
of sections, more highways, and additional cities as you defeat your
rivals. All of the upgrade options can be accessed in the game’s easy
and intuitive garage. Here you can purchase and sell cars, install or
replace parts, and augment nearly everything. Each part and
configuration has a purpose and affects your car’s performance in terms
of power, drive train, body, aerodynamics, and so on. The look of your
car goes beyond a simple paint job and decals. TXR3 includes a skin
editor that gives you much more control over the aesthetics of your
ride.
 That is where the arcade racer
with short, sprint-like races and power bars meets the simulation game
with a nearly infinite array of available modifications, upgrades, and
adjustments. Usually, the two genres don’t mix well, but in this case as
the rivalries get meaner and the arcade action more intense, the
upgrades pay off. Motorheads can take pride in creating the
best-performing, and/or most obnoxious cars on the road, limited only by
their imagination.
 All of this has made the TXR
series unique among racing videogames. The problem with TXR3, however,
is that all of this was available in the last game. Sure, there is more
terrain to cover, more rivals—more of everything, actually. But there is
nothing here that pushes the series into the next generation. This game
has the same strengths and weaknesses, the same problems, as the last
game, and I have the same complaints, plus a few more.
 TXR3 retains the same funky
physics engine that has plagued the series from day one. The control
response is drifty and requires a lot of tweaking to remedy. And while
the various modifications available have a significant effect on a car’s
performance, all of the cars perform exactly the same off the lot, which
of course is not the case in real life. An unmodified Volkswagen sedan
does not perform exactly like an unmodified Mercedes-Benz.
 The environments may have been
rendered with great care and attention to detail, but racing at the same
time of day, on the same type of terrain, in the same cities gets
monotonous after a while. I know that the developers are playing by the
rules of real underground racing here, and it wouldn’t do to have
players weaving in and out of rush hour traffic, but it still makes for
a game that contains no real variety in gameplay, or even in eye candy.
And the graphics in TXR3 are not only sub par to every other racing game
currently on the market, they are worse than the previous game released
nearly three years ago. That is unforgivable. All other aspects of the
presentation are good, though, with the eclectic electronica soundtrack
being one of its standout features.
 The biggest problem lies with
the AI. I championed TXR0 as having some of the best AI that I had ever
seen in a racing game at that time. Opponents were ferocious, bumping
and jostling for position, ready to downshift and out maneuver you in
tough situations. The opponents in TXR3 still forego the traditional,
follow the optimal course line with little or no variation route, as
seen in most racing games. Only this time there are obvious starting
points for both your opponents and traffic in each encounter, and when
you restart a rival race you will see that they follow a very specific
scripted path. I am not sure if this is just more apparent to me now
than it was then, racing games and their fans have grown after all, or
if it is specific to this game. I do know, however, that I was not
nearly as impressed this time around. One would hope that the AI would
improve over the years, not languish and become stale.
Finally, there is the added problem that the TXR series is not nearly as
unique as it once was. Games like Midnight Club 2 and Midtown Madness
are similar in style or intent. While those titles may not offer the
kind of in-depth modification system that TXR3 has, they do offer online
gameplay. So does the upcoming Gran Turismo 4, which belongs to the
franchise widely considered to be the king of all racing sims. Forget
the obvious advantages to online gameplay, like having real rivalries
with real players. Forget going global, matching your carefully crafted
muscle car against others from all over the world. Instead, TXR3 is
cheap, part of the under $20 set. Granted, there is a lot of game here
for the cost. TXR fans and racing game enthusiasts will likely get their
money’s worth and then some. Still, while the TXR series is getting
bigger, other racing franchises are getting better. I was hoping for
more. I would rather have seen a true evolution of the series than a low
sticker price. Maybe next time.
Jeremy Kauffman (01/01/2004)
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Snapshot
Ups:
Good blend of arcade and sim styles of racing, new cities, lots of cars
and rivals, cheap.
Downs:
Graphics and AI are dated, venue and gameplay can
get monotonous, nothing new added to a series that is starting to fall
behind the pack.
Platform:
PS2
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