Jet Set Radio Review
10 years ago, I was sat in a shared house in Brighton playing Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast when a friend walked in and – I’m not lying – dropped a cup of tea on the floor in shock. “What the hell is that?” he sighed, staring at the screen and lost deep within a sugary kind of confusion. “You feckless oaf,” I thought, and promptly skated into a tree.Last night, I was sat in my own house in Brighton, playing Jet Set Radio’s new HD release on the 360, when another friend walked in. No tea this time, but otherwise it was the same reaction. “What the heck is that?” Okay, not quite the same reaction, because we all cut down on the swears when Will Smith asked us to. Also, I should really get a lock for that front door.My point isn’t just that you should always knock when entering a room because somebody might be hanging a picture in a delicate spot or pouring themselves a brimming tumbler of Absinthe while summoning one of the minor demons of the underworld. My point is that Jet Set Radio – a game about rollerblading street gangs who stick it to the man by burying Tokyo-To beneath artful layers of spray-paint – retains the power to astonish and amaze and bedazzle and beguile.Read more…
