March 17, 2006 @ 3:39 pm

L.A. Rush Game Review

by: Quibian Salazar-Moreno

Storyline: What? Another arcade racing game? Yeah, there are a handful of them coming out this year. This title, L.A. Rush, is the first in the Rush series to try and get at the hip hop crowd (you know, because of the success of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and all that). For this one, you play as Trikz, a hotshot street racer who recently made it to the top and is living it up at his new mansion and enjoying his collection of cars. At one of his parties, his rival Lidell shows up and basically disses him, words are exchanged and Lidell informs you to watch your back or whatever. So you take off for a vacation and when you return, everything is gone. Your cars are being towed away and your new mansion is foreclosed on. You realize that Lidell indeed does have some connections. So what now? You basically have to start at the bottom, with only the money in your pocket, your first car you ever owned and no idea where your car collection is. You must race to earn money to get better cars and work your way back to the top, but is the game even worth getting that far? Audio/Visual: The voice acting is ok, even though some of the dialogue comes off a bit cheesy. Bill Bellamy voices the role of Lidell and does a pretty good job of coming off as arrogant and annoying. Twista also has a small part in the game as well. One of the big parts of the game that Midway has been promoting is the participation of the guys from West Coast Customs. And yes, they are as stiff and corny in the game as they are on Pimp My Ride. They really don't do much in the game, so it seems more like a selling point if anything. The music is ok, the game features cuts from Twista, Lil Kim, J-Kwon, Big Boi and some unknown cats. Visually the developers did a great job in recreating Los Angeles, it's huge. They include Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, Beverly Hills, even Compton and Long Beach as places you can race. left Controls: The controls are like any other racer. The triggers are for gas and break, analog stick is for steering and the buttons for nitro, changing the camera view and a hand brake. The controls are pretty simple to get even though the steering takes some time to get used to. Hotness: Well, there's a lot of variety as far as the type of races you race. You have your basic sprint and circuit races, you have retribution races, stunt races and acquire races, where you find one of your cars and you race back to your garage without letting your enemy destroy it. This all sounds great but… Wackness: …it gets pretty boring, pretty quick. Even though they have different types of races, they all feel the same. You get the same AI, the same traffic, the same crash cuts scenes (which you'll also get tired of real quick) and a pretty boring story. With so many other arcade racers out there, it might better getting Burnout: Revenge, Need for Speed: Most Wanted or Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition instead of LA Rush for a better arcade racing experience.

Article tags: L.A. Rush Game Review