I said in my Jet Set Radio review that it pales compared to this game, its sequel. Lugging my giant Xbox Zero out of its drawer and hooking it up (and nudging it to open the faulty disc tray), booting this game I was instantly transported back to when this game was the coolest thing ever. And guess what, it still is! I even managed to get 100% all characters, all Graffiti Souls, all characters, an unthinkable task in my adolescence.
Jet Set Radio Future is an urban punk simulator. Or no, it’s a skating/vandalism game. Really it’s a 3D platformer with a unique movement mechanic. Traversal involves using your momentum to jump, ramp, and especially grind around different city locations. Just going from A to B is such a joy—even if you mess up a few times—which is good, because the world of JSR is now an open world with large areas all connected more-or-less logically together. No more picking levels from a menu, now if you want to go somewhere you skate there on your rocket-powered rollers.
Each area is either a sandbox arena or a loop which can be raced around. Either way, there’s multiple ways to get around, lots of details to flesh out the world, objectives. You can do tricks while grinding or jumping to increase your speed and unlock collectibles, you can grind up telephone poles and boost with the press of a button. Even basic movement just feels so freeing.
I’m gushing but really this game lived up to my nostalgia. Of course, like the original it’s oozing personality. The characters’ fashion choices, the distinctly Japanese environments (some a bit more bizarre, like the Egyptian-themed plaza suspended between skyscrapers), and naturally the sick tunes. Some do tend to grate on repeated listens, like the lyrical songs Birthday Cake or Aisle 10, thanks to an odd choice to restrict each chapter to only a small selection of tracks.
I can’t help but compare Future to the original JSR and feel very let down that one was remade in HD and the superior one left to waste away. Future has bigger and more levels, the core mechanics are more fun, it tracks your collectibles better and lets you revisit areas, the character stats make more sense, even the plot is more coherent. OK, that’s a lie, they’re both nonsense in that regard. But ultimately JSR is a game with some good design but not worth playing. Future on the other hand is worth holding on to an Xbox Zero for, and Lord knows it’s hard to store. Because it’s SO BIG, right??? Seriously, it’s so heavy it broke the drawer I keep it in.
It’s sad that Smilebit was broken up and the sublime essence of this game was never recaptured. The closest is the arcade game Ollie King, but it’s nowhere near the same level, and have you ever seen a cabinet? Hideki Naganuma has done some hip music for other Sega games, Masayoshi Kikuchi has been involved with Yakuza in portraying urban Japan, and there’s JSR content in Sumo’s three Sega Superstars games (and their handheld counterparts). But we may never again get a new funktastic skating-graffiti-adventure in fantasy Tokyo, and that’s a shame.
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