[94/100] The Fast And The Furious: Streets 3D [ENG]
Game Title: The Fast And The Furious: Streets 3D Developer: Firemint Publisher: I-Play Game Platform: J2ME Tested Version: 1.1.5 Phone Reviewed: Nokia N73
Tuned Up And Ready To Go!
Story/Background:
Street racing is a form of unsanctioned and illegal auto racing which takes place on public roads. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well-planned and coordinated. Spontaneous races usually occur at intersections where two cars stop at a red light before they begin racing. Well coordinated races, in comparison, are planned in advance and often have people communicating via 2-way radio/citizens' band radio and using police scanners and GPS units to mark locations of local police hot spots. Street racing is reported to have originated prior to the 1930s, due to alcohol prohibition, in some parts of the United States. At the time, smugglers of unrefined and illegal alcohol would try to find ways to make more power and achieve better handling from their engine and suspension. Aside from being the basis of stock car racing, this became common after the war, and as a result, it is credited as being the origin of drag racing as well. Opponents to street racing cite a lack of safety relative to sanctioned racing events, as well as legal repercussions arising from incidents, among street racing's drawbacks. Most duels are drag races.
Design:
One of the merits of "The Fast And The Furious: Streets 3D" (also known as "The Fast and the Furious: Pink Slip 3D") is it's variety of game modes. You can play in two different modes: "Quick Race", and "Arcade Mode". The most important of them, of course, is the latter. In arcade/career mode, you can unlock new trails, tours and types of new cars. In "Quick Race", all of this is chosen at random.
"Arcade Mode" is divided into 4 types. The simplest type is "Road Race". This is usually a quick race, where your task is to reach the finish line faster then your opponents. There is no second place here, as everywhere in the game. Very similar to previous types of street racing is "Cop Chase". It will haunt opponent cops, which you have to be off as soon as possible. A special complexity of this regime does not represent. The next race type is the "Drag Race". Drag Racing is a race which involves two or more competitors who drive in a straight line for a specified distance (usually a 1/4 mile). The driver that covers the most distance between the two cars or reaches the end first is the winner. Fundamental skills in drag racing are the ability to launch with minimal wheelspin and quick shifting skills. And the last mode is "Drift". Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motor sport where the driver intentionally skids the rear tires through turns, preserving vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. As for me, this mode is one of the best in this game, because here you can feel the whole atmosphere of the game.
Gameplay:
The availability of automatic accelerator, in the game machine, makes management easier. You do not need to constantly pursue "gas"; the machine itself is accelerating, but you can only turn around, corner brake and use nitro.
The tracks in "The Fast and The Furious: Streets" are well designed, but even though there are well over 20 different tracks in the game, they get pretty repetitive. The game uses the old trick of opening up or closing certain pathways to reconfigure certain sections of a track while using the same sections over and over again.
Conclusion: "The Fast and The Furious: Streets" is great. With just a bit more variety to its tracks and a slightly better career mode, it definitely could have been better, but it has great graphics, solid sound, and the sort of easy learning curve that makes it a driving game that anyone can excel at.
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The Fast And The Furious: Streets 3D (by I-Play)
(Jul 3rd 2008, 10:36am)
