Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3

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Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3
Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 Coverart.jpg
Developer(s) Genki
Publisher(s)
Series Shutokō Battle series
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release
  • JP: July 24, 2003
  • NA: November 18, 2003
Genre(s) Driving
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (known in Japan as Shutokou Battle 01) is a racing game for the PlayStation 2 and the follow-up to the 2001 game Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero . The game was also released in North America, but unlike the series' previous entries, was not published in Europe. It is the last game in the series to take place on Tokyo's vast highway system. It was later followed up by Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift (prequel) and Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 (sequel), which instead take place in the mountain regions of Japan.

Contents

Story

Two years after the events of Shutokō Battle 0 (and some time after the events of Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2), news of the 13 Devils' defeat has been spread through all of Japan. Tokyo is plunged into chaos, and now two more cities want to compete: Osaka and Nagoya. The up-and-coming racers here will have to beat every team in these 3 cities, to gain the opportunity to challenge the best teams and drivers in each: Speed King & Dejected Angel in Tokyo, Seeks, Genesis R & D3 in Nagoya and No Loser & Darts in Osaka.

The game is split into two parts, where the player must first defeat all bosses on the first sector in each city on a limited play area, consisting of only the surrounding highways and not the longer, more high-speed routes. After defeating the bosses in the first part of the game, all areas of the three cities open up to the player, letting them choose where to race at will, and the full maps unlock, leaving the player free to choose how to progress through the second half of the game.

Gameplay

The premise of the game is identical to the previous variants of the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series: the player cruises the highways of Japan at night, while challenging opponents to impromptu battles. When the race begins, each vehicle has an overhead meter (labeled "SP"). This bar acts as the vehicle's health. The vehicle trailing the leader will have its health slowly drained over time, increasing with the distance between the cars. The meter is also drained by collisions into walls, traffic or other racers. The player can use the car's indicators to let the opponent know where they are going, after which the opponent will attempt to follow the player. If the two battling cars take different routes, the match will be ended as a draw.

At the beginning of the game, the player will start with a small variety of stock cars, most of which are either entry-level sports cars or large sedans. As the player progresses, by beating either a team leader or a "wanderer" driving a certain type of car, they can unlock the car driven by the opponent for purchase. The game totals over 100 cars from 15 manufacturers, including Japanese, American and European brands. Handling characteristics of cars vary greatly. Smaller, lighter cars handle significantly better, but lack power compared to bigger and heavier cars. Cars can be customized both internally and externally, and there is a livery editor where the player can put the sticker of their choice on their car. Up to 5 cars can be owned at any one time.

Throughout the story ("Quest") of the game, the player is tasked to race against and defeat team members and the team leader, who will appear after all other members have been defeated. The player has three locations to choose from, being Shuto Expressway, located in Tokyo, Ring Route, located in Nagoya, and Hanshin Expressway, located in Osaka.

Furthermore, the player can encounter "Wanderer" drivers, who have no team affiliation and often drive completely unique cars, some of which are highly modified. Many wanderers require specific parameters to be met, such as the in-game calendar being a specific day of the week, a certain in-game setting being set a specific way, a certain vehicle mileage having been achieved, or a certain amount of money having been amassed.

Reception

The game was met with mixed reception. GameRankings gave it a score of 64.64%, [1] while Metacritic gave it 63 out of 100. [2]

While critics praised the stellar graphics, impressive depth of car customization and lengthy storyline, it was also criticized for repetitive gameplay, floaty handling model, short rendering distance and poor translation.

The North American version especially drew harsh criticism because of a currency conversion bug that prevented players from completing the game. One of the wanderers, named "Whirlwind Fanfare", located in Osaka, requires the player to have amassed 100,000,000 CR in order to appear. However, the game enforces a limit of 99,999,990 CR, meaning the amount can not be amassed and the game cannot be fully completed without cheating. The sole cause of this bug was an oversight during localization in which CR values for the North American release were intended to be 1/100 of their Japanese counterparts to represent US dollars instead of Japanese yen; the developers forgot to update the CR quota for challenging Whirlwind Fanfare. In 2024, a fan patch was released that fixed the bug. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 for PlayStation 2". GameRankings . Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Yarwood, Jack (11 January 2024). "20 Years Later, It's Now Possible To Beat Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3". Time Extension . Hookshot Media . Retrieved 11 January 2024.
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