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Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero
PlayStation 2
Released On: May 28, 2001
76
6.8
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
76
73% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
27% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
76
73% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
27% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
What do caviar, waterbeds, and David Lynch films have in common? They’re all unique acquired tastes - as is the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. Once you’re hooked on the “scene”, though, you’ll never let go.
While the game conveys a good sense of realism, I can't help feel that it's somewhat linear. The tracks become too familiar until more are unlocked. Otherwise, Tokyo Extreme Racer is excellent.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 User Ratings
6.8
50% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
35% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
15% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 User Ratings
6.8
50% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
35% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
15% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero is simply one of the greatest PS2 highway racers, next to its sequel, Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3,
The handling takes some getting used to but after a bit it eases up on its player's, over time with enough tuning the handling can be fixed,
10/10, must play.
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PlayStation 2
The game is about racing on the Tokyo highways, which have been mapped after the actual roads as they were back when the game was made. The game looks somewhat crude but not horrible, seeing as it runs at a very smooth, high framerate and the cars themselves are made in decent detail. The roads and scenery is simple but sufficient.
The cars handle well overall, though the steering can't be called exactly realistic. However the handling model the game uses feels good, it's more akin to arcade games of the 90's than the more recent titles like Need for Speed. It's extremely responsive and sharp given you know how to set up your ride.
The game puts you out on the highways with a low-end car and little money, and lets you figure out what to do next by yourself. Your goal is to challenge rival "gang" members to one vs. one races by driving up to them on the highway and signaling with your lights. After you've taken out all the members ****, the gang leader appears and challenges you. You will move on in this fashion throughout the game, and after every so-and-so many gang bosses, you will be challenged by a member of The Thirteen Devils, a "boss gang" of sorts. There are tons of gangs in the game, and there are two boss gangs who challenge you every now and then.
In addition to gangs, there are wanderers. Wanderers are racers who will race against you if you meet certain conditions. You can find them rolling along the highway among other drivers, and it's up to you to figure out what you must do to get them to race against you. Some don't have any special requirements while others have many.
Races are driver-on-driver flat-out races on the highway. Both you and the opponent have a SP gauge, which depletes if you are behind - the faster the further behind you are - and it also takes a dent if you crash into something (which is a setting you can turn off in the options, if you so please).
This means there are plenty of viable strategies to win races - will you maximise acceleration to dash into first and try to hold it? Will you rely on a long windup with a mind boggling top speed that will trump anyone on a straightaway? Will you try to shove your opponents into traffic or walls? Will you specialise into handling and make your foes bite dust in every tight corner? Or maybe find a balance of all of them?
It's a big part of what makes the game so special - you can do so many things and if you do them well, you will be greatly rewarded for it. The A.I. drivers also all have their own 'personalities' which you might find clues about from the game's "beastiary" of sorts. You can read a small bit of info on every opponent before you meet them, and after you meet and beat them you will be able to learn more, as well as see their car specs and other details.
The game's soundtrack is in my personal opinion amazing. It's pretty much a homage to the Japanese street racing anime series such as Initial D, with fast eurobeat tracks, pumping rock songs as well as more chill electronic music to let you calm down between races. The game lets you customise the soundtrack by picking a number of songs which will be played in different occassions that you can change whenever you please. All the music in the game is original and instrumental.
The cars sound bland at best, which is my biggest gripe with the soundscape of the game. There is a variety of humming and growling and whatnot that changes based on your exhaust type, engine modifications installed and your car's engine type and model. However I've never paid much attention to the details in the sounds since they are all more or less insignificant and quite quiet.
The game is very difficult at certain points, and having no difficulty choices may make some races quite the headache. However with proper skills and knowledge of the opponent's car and the location the game is definitely not impossible. I personally found it the most challenging racing game in a long, long time and also the most rewarding. Every time you take down one of the bosses the game rewards you with a hefty sum of money and sometimes you unlock more parts for purchase.
The game lets you modify your car's looks as well as specs. Don't expect NFS-levels of visual customisation though, there are no vinyls or neon lights or any of that over-the-top stuff. You can modify your body parts, headlights and all that though, and while the initial options are few you will unlock some more as you play the game. The fact that every car model has unique visual parts makes it even better. The performance tuning in the game is simple but top-notch. It's very simple and understandable yet every small adjustment you make makes a difference.
All in all an amazing arcade-style racer with great attention to detail. Don't let the simple visuals fool you into thinking the game plays badly. I would recommend this game to anyone who's looking for a challenging and unique racing game!
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PlayStation 2
The huge amount of available roadway and varied collection of opponents will keep you racing for a good long time, but if you’re not a dedicated racing junkie then there’s not much here to catch your attention.
Think of it as falling in between "Ridge Racer" and Gran "Turismo." If you are a car fanatic who would rather spend $1,000 on nice rims than pay off a student loan, this might be the racer for you.
Just mute that terrible music and you'll be set, mmkay?
A little slow off the start. The graphics are great and the highway race mechanic is quite cool and unique. The only issue is the "ai" traffic sometimes freaking out and swerving for no particular reason. The skybox is also quite cool.
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PlayStation 2
Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero, or Shutokou Battle Zero in Japan, is one of those games where the premise undersells the game.
The car list is honestly very good, filled with the classics like NSX and Skyline accompanied with the obscure ones. The rival list is also really good, as this is the first game that Genki put a lot of effort into making each rivals' biographies unique and interesting. In addition, the bosses are also some of the best in the series as they provided a fair challenge, and some of them can even give unsuspecting players a tough fight such as the final bosses of the game. The graphics is also pretty decent for a game that was initially a Dreamcast game before being ported to PS2 due to the Dreamcast being on its last legs. The physics is also very good, as it was surprisingly intuitive for an arcade style of handling for this game. The sense of speed and atmosphere is also brilliant, as if the player really are street racers vying for glory on the Shutokou highway.
There are some issues with this game though. One of the rivals essentially forces you to travel a long distance on the highway, which brought the game's pacing down a little bit. In addition, the localisation for the American version is poor, as it leaves out a lot of information and personality in the rivals' biographies from the original Japanese version. Therefore, it is recommended to play the Japanese version, as the story is more detailed and the biographies are more complex.
Overall, TXR0 is a great game and easily one of the most underrated racing games for the PS2. It has a lot of content, as well as having a good progression as well. In addition, the physics and graphics are really good, couple with great atmosphere and sense of speed as well. Just make sure to play the original Japanese version though, which is called Shutokou Battle 0. Nevertheless, TXR0 is an underrated gem that any racing game enthusiast should check at least once.
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PlayStation 2
I've been playing this game since I was a child and from time to time I still grab it to start all over again only to get the same feeling of clearing a masterpiece.
This series is really important to me and helped me learn a lot about cars and JDM in general. At first, you may think driving on a highway for tens of nights in a row might get dull but actually it only gets boring when you are forced to farm over 3,000 miles for a single rival to appear.
The game is pretty well finished, not buggy and engine sounds are fairly reasonable. Graphics are good and the nightly aura won't get you tired. It's rather relaxing when you're just cruising around looking for new rivals.
Speaking of rivals, those are what make this game series so special. Each single one of them has two profile fragments, which let you know more about their lives before and after defeating them. Most rivals will drive cars that you may build by yourself but bosses and some wanderers have special cars, concerning both performance and visual aspects that you simply aren't able to replicate.
Bosses will appear upon defeating all teams from an area and challenge you from behind. All of them have short intro sequences. Team leaders as well. Wanderers are drivers that don't belong to any team and all of them have certain conditions to be met before they accept your challenge or even appear on the map.
The main objective is to defeat all 399 rivals in order to defeat the final boss. Kinda tough to achieve since every one of them will try to overtake you at all costs. Leaders and bosses have super powerful cars so defeating them will require blocking skills and patience.
It's a great game, full of cars to try and customize as you like. The huge variety of opponents will keep you busy for hours and longing for more after you finish it.
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PlayStation 2
Summary Dip into the illegal underground racing experience on the Tokyo highways once again, flash your headlights at other cars to challenge them to races, and compete for money to upgrade your ride. "Zero," the latest game in the TXR series, adds more cars, more rival racers, and a larger street course which replicates 100 miles of actual Tok...
Rated E
for Everyone
Platforms:
- PlayStation 2
Initial Release Date: May 28, 2001
Developer:
- Genki
Publisher: Crave
Genres:
