That's one heck of a single-handed tag.

A couple of years ago (early February 2002 to be exact) unitdaisy and I were perusing The (now-defunct) Gaming Intelligence Agency and happened over character designs for the (then) upcoming Xbox game Jet Set Radio Future. Upon seeing the redesign of the character Gum, all we could exclaim were: "Panty shots??" Having been great fans of the creative & stylish original Jet Grind Radio, this news greatly marred our anticipation for the sequel, especially while I was in the thick of finishing the first. It is now two years later and I have finally scratched Jet Grind Radio off my 'unfinished' list, purchased an Xbox as well as a copy of Jet Set Radio Future (not necessarily in that order though - guess the sequence over in our forums!) hoping to feel some of the glory and fun that critics bestowed on it so many moons ago. Unfortunately, while Jet Set Radio Future is certainly an adequate game, the tweaks made in the sequel rip all the thrill that once existed in Jet Grind Radio.

For those unfamiliar with the first in the series, the premise is simple. There is turmoil in Tokyo (or Tokyo-to if you prefer), and only a group of inline-skater punks armed with graffiti cans can overcome this adversity and set everything right via skating throughout the city and tagging everything in sight. Couple this plot with responsive, but as simple as starch gameplay and brilliantly stylized designs that are gorgeous paused but ten times more vibrant while in motion, thanks to its pioneering use of cel-shading, and you had a must-play experience. Jet Set Radio Future follows the same narrative formula but changes and tweaks practically every gameplay detail. While the primary focus is on skating and tagging, the manner of execution has been greatly speeded up. In fact, that's what most of the changes in Jet Set Radio Future serve to do - keep you on your toes, keep you involved and have you skating through levels faster than you could imagine. You move at a much more rapid clip in Jet Set Radio Future, especially when you lean on the newly created boost button, the equivalent of strapping rockets onto your skates for the simple price of ten graffiti cans. Likewise, the tagging system has been altered - instead of parking yourself for a minute or two to construct a tag through an elaborate, multi-button, analog stick twisting affair like in Jet Grind Radio, with a few squeezes of a shoulder button you're finished. Faster? Yes. More shallow and less fulfilling? Definitely. Oh, and then there are two most drastic changes in the game:

• The time limit that used to exist for each level is now gone, and
• Combat is no longer integrated to your tagging environment

Light speed, or some simulacrum.

Some of the most enthralling moments in Jet Grind Radio consisted of seeing the cops running after you in the background while you were tagging something, watching them coming right at you, knowing they'll be pouncing on you at any second while you desperately attempted to finish spraying. You'd start to panic, fumble a bit with the stick, gaff a few moves and then try to speed off before getting clobbered by the cop's nightsticks. Moments like that are non-existant in Jet Set Radio Future - either you tag graffiti or you tag your enemies, the two are completely segregated. The enemy fight sequences are at best dull and at worst, frustrating and feel like padding to keep the tagging from becoming monotonous, but unfortunately it is never interesting enough to succeed. And the lack of a time limit? Well, now each level becomes a long, drawn out affair possibly lasting hours if you want it to, especially if you get completely lost (which happens all too often thanks to the completely useless map provided. Note to Smilebit: Just putting X, Y and Z axis lines on a blob of blue and calling it a map does not, in all actuality, make it a map.)

So, subtract the time limit and enemies (and add a completely useless level map) and what point is there to the newly-found speed? That is the fundamental flaw in Jet Set Radio Future - it's fun to rip through, but the incentive is severely lacking. You can slowly skate through practically every scene, minus a few skate-offs against rival punks and one mission where you have a ~59 minute (yes, you read that correctly) time limit. Velocity appears to mean much less in Jet Set Radio Future than the first; if you so much as nudge up against a telephone pole you're off and running across the roofs of the city. That oversight is almost a blessing as the levels are built to the sky and you'll be climbing, and falling, for hours.

Combine this with an iffy camera that likes to hide between walls and impede any view of what actually lays in front of the character, in favor of a more 'cinematic viewpoint' and you end up with an environment you end up having to tread carefully in, despite the fact that everything else about the game is geared towards speed. It's a frustrating duality, and one that becomes the focal point for the user. Even when enemies are unleashed within the levels, at times when you have miles of pipes to skate on and ruthlessly spray down your rival, you just end up confronting them in a square, dull-as-dishwater room. And the one level where you actually need to skate complex rails to take the enemy down the game briefly turns into a rail shooter, and not in a fun 'screw genres' Devil May Cry way. For all of these deficiencies, it should be noted that Jet Set Radio Future is visually stunning - at times it perfectly encapsulates the 'comic come to life' look. The cinematics are brilliantly composed, hundreds of times more dynamic and enganging than the simple 'panel' look of the first's. Unfortunately, it's too bad that the frame rate can't stay static. Hiccups and stutters are frequent enough to be distracting, especially when hauling yourself from area to area. Hideki Naganuma's brilliant soundtrack work from the first game returns but sadly they're just the same tracks from the first, dryly remixed. Thankfully, there are a handful of new tracks, none of which I found completely appalling (as opposed to some of the tracks added to the American version of Jet Grind Radio) however, the number of repeat songs from the first game is just too disappointing, especially when the The Latch Brothers manage to suck the energy from the original compositions completely dry. Finally, to add insult to injury they changed two of unitdaisy and my favorite characters (yes, that prologue was worth reading!):

So, Gum goes from modest dress to clevage city? And that's right - Sega's gunnin' for the panty shot vote!

And Beat, poor Beat. Your laissez faire attire has been abandoned for a more riské raver, 'have no shame' look.

And while the twist that they add with Cube from Jet Grind Radio is ...interesting, it certainly seems a bit out-of-character considering the first game. There are some higher quality designed new characters (such as the more conservatively garbed Jazz) but the 'sticker shock' of the newly designed carry-over characters is done seemingly without motivation, except that it may have seemed more appealing to what Sega views the Xbox demographic as.

Simply put, Jet Set Radio Future feels like a bit of a mess. It's a hodgepodge of ideas that try to create a slick, fast-paced action game where you glide on air through everything, where tagging everything (including objectives) are effortless. Unfortunately, the actual result is a dull mess of ambiguous vertical level design, poorly drawn objectives (you try coughing over a few lines of pivotal dialogue and then attempt to deduce your next step witout a game FAQ), boredom and listlessness instilled by non-existant time limits and 'cage match combat'. While Jet Set Radio Future is certainly a tolerable game, it most certainly doesn't live up to the potential that a Jet Grind Radio sequel could have. Speed was a nice direction, but you have to have some substance and motivation behind it, or else it's all for naught.