Tokyo Xtreme Racer

Mann, only Genki could get away with this. Just doesn't have the swag or style of the older games; technically I think the Xbox 360 version from yesteryear is still a better game. Everything in this version feels quite dead; Car sounds; dead; world; dead; music; dead. Cut-scenes; dead. I really expected more; I expected an improvement over the previous ideation at-least. Also the grind is real; I expect many of you will be picking the 86 as your first car as it’s the most iconic; but man you better love that car because the grind to unlock cars is real slow. You can’t just save up and go buy a skyline or supra; you have to unlock the entire Toyota or Nissan tree of slower cars before you can get something like that. Also the AI is severely undercooked; they are VERY “rammy” and will always ram or even go for pit maneuver on you; this is very un- Shutokō imo. It becomes the same game of either dusting your opponent; or if they are ahead have them turn in on you and ram you; you push back; get past and hold them off because they will just try the same move over and over. It’s good to have Daikoku PA and the Bayshore and Yokohane Line return to the series have not driven these roads since the PS2 days but it feels really little too late; these lines are very long with no PA’s and very sparse rivals; so it leads to a-lot of ‘empty’ driving. This leads to another issue; oil and water temp; many times you go out for a night you can only do 3 races tops before needing to head back to garage. This is with the stage one cooling; and unlocking stage two seems to be another serious grind. My poor little 86 is dying after going down Bayshore line just once; but I can’t upgrade it until I beat all the rivals along this route? Damm what a slog. Also pretty much all the assests from the Xbox 360 version are the same here all the decals and designs from 10 years ago are just re-used with nothing new added; no new ways to customize your car: I understand Genki is a smaller studio that specialize in “this” but they have seriously been left behind at this point. At this stage if you love this game series and have been with this franchise since the PS2 or Xbox 360 era; you can skip this one; the memory of the 360 version is better than the realization of playing this game.