Run over of what the game has:
- Music translated pretty well. Most of it has been "remixed", but only so they could make it shorter so it could loop easier and take up less space -- but it's hardly noticable anyway. It still sounds pretty good.
- Control is exactly like "RC Car" movement in Click and Create. That is to say, you press forward to accelerate and down to slow down, left and right rotates your direction -- once you accelerate you don't slow down naturally, you are always moving. Pressing the R button makes you dash for a "limited" time. I say that because it actually lasts quite awhile. I'll never get used to B being Jump and A being spray. I always end up hitting A to jump or L or B to spray. As far as I know you can't change button setup.
- Graphics are alright. Nothing to write home about but they translated most of JSR's look to the GBA pretty well. But... when it's not actually 3D, well, it's pretty ugly. Sprites themselves look really basic, even if they WERE trying to emulate the "cell-shaded" style.
- Cutscenes are annoying because you can't skip them and they force you to read the text. (IE - it displays text for 20 seconds and you can't skip it.) They're also kind of ugly because the still images they show looked like they got someone with a terrible capture card to get'em straight off the Dreamcast version.
- The timelimit, even on the first level, seems to be REALLY harsh -- I actually ran out of time on my first go. On the first stage. That's really really dumb, I think, as the time limit is one of the worst aspects of the game and I actually welcomed it's removal in JSRF.
- At any time from the pause menu you can change the music you're listening to, to any song in the game
To tell you the truth I haven't gotten past the first stage. The first time I ran out of time and the second time Onishima and his goons cornered me and anally raped me (seriously -- if he shoots at you while you are tagging, you don't get knocked back or anything -- but you still lose health.).
Although I have to say, so far it feels like this game has lost alot of the JSR Magic it had on the Dreamcast. It's just not the same. The music's there, gameplay's there... but... it feels so... lame. I'm STILL getting used to the control... and it's not just control either. It's all those little touches Jet Set Radio had on the Dreamcast. The bustling city full of people, which would dive out of your way if they saw you coming. The mini-cutscenes to show the arrival of the Cops and Onishima.
DJ Prof. K's over-the-top voice and lyrical news updates. All the style, all the substance... it's gone. All you're left with is a watered down Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and a tagging system that doesn't work half as well as it did on the Dreamcast. It's not to say that it's a bad port, it just... feels bad. It feels... rough around the edges. You can feel something's missing from this game. Early on people talked about how Sonic Adventure 2 felt like it was missing it's "soul" -- well, this game feels the same way. It feels shallow.
Look past all that, though, it's still technically Jet Set Radio, Souless or not.
