Namco/EA
Eutechnyx
PS2
Street Racing
1-2 (offline) 1-4 (on)
£39.99 R.R.P.
Out Now
Fast and Furious - Tokyo Drift - PS2 Review - 22/06/2007

The film could easily be attributed as starting the car modification street racing craze that is the bane of many a seaside town. The movie’s great art direction and compelling visuals captured the imaginations of a whole culture, leading to a number of copy-cat movies, but more interestingly for us it presented something to be recreated by a new genre of driving game.
 
 
  This was all a good five years ago. Since then we have seen a number of racing games trying to capitalise on this market with varying success. EA’s Need for Speed series probably represents the most successful and fleshed out of these games. With new and more powerful consoles EA’s series is seeing an unprecedented level of customisation that not affects not only the look but also the performance of the cars.

The question is, what can a Fast and Furious game deliver to rival the years of development of these doppelgangers? The short answer is that whilst the game would have been fine and acceptable when the film was first out, arriving late to the party without anything special to single it out means that it provides a rather lacklustre experience. Whilst this isn’t a glowing report there is still plenty here to enjoy, so let’s dig into the game proper.

These are the games that focus on the look and aesthetics of the cars just as much as the driving experience. They look to capture the grass roots feel from the movie that represented something bubbling up from the streets.Being a movie franchise game, you might expect it to recreate the plot of the film. However, it is to be applauded for escaping this pitfall. Apart from the odd ascent to some locations and vehicles the game pretty much cuts its own path. The franchise is drawn on to flesh out its world with the driver names and Tokyo locations from the film. This works well to create a game that is obviously cut from the same cloth as the film, without being pedantically tied to every little detail.

The game progresses via two game modes; grip racing that pits you against an opponent on the Wangan Tokyo highway and drifting challenges around winding Touge hills outside Tokyo. In each race you face a particular driver, car and crew which makes for some good varied racing with over 80 different crews and 40 drivers. This variety is obviously included to offset the tracks themselves which are largely similar, and can be hard to distinguish from each other. You can select the races from the main Tokyo map or drive to them directly via an over-world environment that seeks to hold the game together. This over-world is not as convincing or populated as in Need for Speed and without incentives to take the long route of driving to your destination you soon learn to pop-up the map and simply warp there at the press of a button. In addition to the races in the main game you will be happy to hear there is the provision of an online head to head mode that enables you to race against three friends, provided they are suitably equipped.

The most enjoyable part of the game by a long chalk is the cars themselves. Namco obviously had plenty of money to spend, as in addition to the movie franchise they have also roped in many manufacturers and parts suppliers. This means that you are able to customise your particular ride to your heart’s content. What’s more is that these adjustments and tweaks are all visible when you get back on the road. It gives you a real connection to your car as you see it slowly become the customised beast of your dreams, if that‘s not too Freudian for you. Additionally, time has been well spent on the touch and feel of the driving. Each car delivers that key commodity of weight and momentum that is essential if the player is going to believe that they are able to both understand and control these powerful machines as they try and persuade them around the track.

If you throw the back end out for a corner you get a real sense of needing to get the reverse lock on to keep the hunk of metal behind you. To help with this is a gauge that shows how much force is being exerted in the drift; this really enables some fine balancing around the corners and does away with the mystery of why you lost it on a particular bend. It is interesting that Need for Speed have gone for two physics models, one for drifting and one for racing whereas Fast and Furious manages to squeak by with just one. To their credit it means that the driving experience of the game feels more coherent, and avoids switching between models for different challenges.

This single physics model does mean that normal street racing can feel a little fiddly particularly when cornering. There is something a little disingenuous about the car’s ability to turn any corner into a skid, no matter how well you pointed the car into it. Many times I felt like I was undone in a race because of the lack of traction between tyre and road rather than by a lack of driving prowess or understanding. Again Namco seem to be somewhat aware of this issue as the variety of cars provided offsets some of the frustrations of the physics models. Each of the cars you drive has their own distinctive feel and character. You should be able to find one that suits your driving style and requirements, or at least one that provides the bare bones upon which you can build with the extensive customisation.

Overall the game delivers a great experience of flying around a track in a large metal object. What it doesn’t manage so well is to believably connect this experience to the track that is speeding beneath your wheels. Ultimately the frustrating handling undermined the game for me, although I think this depends on what you are looking for from a driving game. Those of us who are happier with an arcade racer will not quibble so much with the finer points of its handling and be able to enjoy what is at heart an excellent and well rounded racing experience.

- Paul Andrews