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System Rush Review
Written by Señor Cha Cha on Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Stylish vector graphics and addictive gameplay.
The extremely boring story.
As a somewhat proud N-Gage owner I've been seriously diggin' the recent wave of quality software, the most recent game being System Rush, a futuristic racing title that's similar in spirit to Nintendo's legendary F-Zero series. Pumped full of slick vector graphics, a bevy of online modes, and over 50 different races, it's just what the game doctor ordered for a system that's in need of some hits (and a good kiss). I just wish its writers crafted a good story to go along with the addictive gameplay.
Isn't that the deal with all futuristic racing titles though? I mean come on. Do you actually care what Captain Falcon's saying in any of the F-Zero games? The dialogue as well as the narratives in general are beyond lame, and System Rush's story also tumbles into the pit of monotony. In the game you play as a "white hat" hacker (whatever the heck that means) who must go inside networks and cleanse them of malicious activity using something called a logic bomb. There are two characters to choose from, the sexy Asian Ikko or the bald guy named Vert (of the haricot verts). Regardless of who you choose, there's nothing to see here, even though I will give developer Ideaworks3D some major props for the artwork. The stills that appear during some of the cut scenes are well done and look pretty good on the system's narrow screen.
Just like the other games in its genre, System Rush is all about the racing, and the actual gameplay winds up being its best feature, because what we have here is a solid engine that's capable of some snazzy effects. I'll get to the graphics in a bit, but in short the game has a very TRON-like feel to it that helps to pump it full of personality. There's no denying that it's one of the system's finest looking games.
Selecting from several different types of high tech craft called Co-Vecs (which stands for Code Vehicles), you'll barrel down 15 different tracks making sharp turns, narrowly missing what appear to be mountains and dodging falling rocks (which are of course commonly seen inside of all computers), and avoiding enemies. There are also numerous pickups to check out that'll give you boost, replenish your Co-Vec's energy, encase your ride within a firewall (a shield that protects your craft from track damage), and one that slows down your opponents. Then there are various Track Boosters, points in a level that, when run into, give you an advantage such as sling shooting you across a piece of track or propelling you through the air.
You can also steal energy from your competitors and the network itself, so there's a lot more to System Rush than just plain old racing. However, none of this stuff makes the game unique, because after everything that the developers have accomplished, it's still Nokia's F-Zero for the N-Gage. Nintendo cornered the market and it's just extremely difficult to look at this game and not be reminded of the legendary series, though keeping with the tradition of those games, System Rush is fun to play. The engine doesn't experience many frame rate dips (though they do occur), and the action is quite speedy, so much so that if you don't slow down your Co-Vec will be sliding around all over the place, though even with a liberal amount of sliding you can still finish first in most races.
That's the one major issue that I have with the single-player campaign/Story Mode. There were numerous times when I screwed up and through some careful maneuvering managed to come in first. The game did become more difficult as I progressed, but it didn't make me sweat. However, considering that the N-Gage is a phone/game system, chances are you won't be playing it on your couch all of the time. The difficultly shouldn't be so insane that you can't gain an edge while standing in line at a bank or racing on a train. If it were too difficult, I would probably wind up tossing my N-Gage into a drawer...from across the room.
I love a good value, so System Rush's plethora of modes makes me smile. Not only does it include a Story Mode but also a Free Hack Mode where you can race on any of the tracks unlocked in Story, GP Mode, which is sort of like Free Hack except you compete in a series of races, two-player head-to-head via Bluetooth, four-player shadow racing and Hack TV (upload and download replays) through the N-Gage Arena, and there's also a two-player GP Mode (Bluetooth) that you can unlock. Lastly (no wait, there's more), you can hop onto the Arena and post high scores as well as vote on other players' highlights.
As I previously mentioned, System Rush has this whole TRON thing going on and it works extremely well. The vector graphics look great on the tiny hand held and each track has its own personality, so if you're competing in South America you'll race underneath these weird looking Mexican wrestler masks, and if you're in North America you'll see the Statue of Liberty.
Drab story mode aside (all cut scenes can be skipped), System Rush is a highly enjoyable sci-fi racer that adds some much needed flavor to the N-Gage library. It's not as exciting as other games in its genre, but considering the platform, Nokia and Ideaworks3D have done a great job. Its official release date hasn't been announced but expect to see it on store shelves September 2005. System Rush may feel like an F-Zero clone, but damnit, it's a good one.
