Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3

really good iteration of wangan street racing really good iteration of wangan street racing

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This game is a lot of fun to be honest. The graphics have improved from Zero and there is more features this time around. For starters, there is a livery editor that is clunky but welcoming nonetheless. The car roster is also interesting as they are licensed this time around and had a lot of cool cars, though the downside is that the car count and variety has taken a slight step back. Customization also improved upon Zero, giving the player more variety to choose form. There is also two more maps new to this game aside from Tokyo, which are Nagoya and Osaka. Each of them had their own unique chracteristics and challenges, which keeps the gameplay fresh for some time. Once the player goes onto each of the three cities, there is a lot to uncover. The new game engine that Genki introduced in TXR Drift, which has been actually released before TXR3 in Japan, brought along some new changes. There is now a new weather system, which can affect the grip and visibility on the road. Though this system is rudimentary, it does add complexity on racing through the highways and brought some nice visual effects from the bosses. Speaking of the rivals, there are now 600 rivals to challenge and each of them came with their own unique biographies. While some of them can be a bit generic, most of the rivals are a good enough challenge for the players throughout the game. However, there are some issues with this game that brought it down somewhat. The physics are lacking in grip and are quite floaty, which can lead to players smashing into the barriers quite often. This is exacerberated in the rainy conditions, where there is basically no grip and makes the races again certain rivals more frustrating than necessary. The A.I. is also flawed, seeing that they do wall grinding at certain corners and uneven with some rivals. Not helping matters is that the environment do look a bit flat and there is no variety in traffic vehicles, as well as the generic soundtrack. As a result, players will find the later stages of the game a bit repetitive and tedious. This is not helped by how some rivals have certain requirements that makes little sense, more so in the American version. The localisation is also not good, as the translation of the biographies are not faithful and making some rivals quite literally impossible to beat due to their requirements being money-related. Not helping matters is that progression in this game is surprisingly slow, as most players will spent most of their time grinding for enough cash to upgrade their vehicle and the payout from rivals being really small. Overall, TXR3 is a game that has potential, but was never capitalized. While the car roster and additional features are very good, this has been countered by a downgrade in physics, as well as other stuff that bring the game down. However, it is an underrated racing game that everyone should try at least once. Make sure to play the original Japanese version though.

Pretty amazing game , it really gives you the wangan midnight experience , with an amazing collection of JDM vehicles with the unfortunate absence of Honda , it’s still a pretty amazing collection for it’s time , the customization is pretty amazing , maybe better than some of today’s car games , the tuning is pretty detailed , the sticker system is pretty outdated and kinda of lame and hard to use , the physics in the other hand are definitely worse than the past games , it feels floaty and many players describe it as “ driving on ice “ and I couldn’t agree more , tuning your car makes it slightly better but the feeling is still there , the graphics are pretty decent for it’s time and they still kinda of hold up today , I mean it’s a 2003 game ,one thing I’ve noticed are the NPC vehicles, there is no variety whatsoever it’s the same yellow bus everytime which kinda kills the immersion for me , the game progresses real slow , and honestly after finishing the 3 towns Tokyo Nagoya and Osaka they add new racers and new parts of Tokyo , and this is where it gets boring and repetitive, with the slow progression , it makes it slower and it just feels like chore playing , I like the little cutscenes , the ending was pretty dope as well and the game makes you feel that racing is more than just racing .

This game is an empty experience. While the graphics are okay and the physics are quite good, its too boring. The gameplay consists of riding an empty highway and flashing other cars for a duel over and over. It is not hard to beat rivals. There is no car damage. There is not really any way to lose the game. Running into the side-rails emits no sparks. Wangan is a better game series and so is NFS: Underground of course. The soundtrack sounds energetic until you realize the riffs are similar to White Zombie. You shouldn't spend any time with this one on PS2.