ic-games Review - System Rush - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - System Rush - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

System Rush

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Ideaworks3D
Publisher: N-Gage
Reviewed: N-Gage
Genre: Racing
UK Release: 22nd Sep 2005
Article Date: 24th Oct 2005
Difficulty: Hard
Retail Price: £24.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 75%

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Pros

Best played via Bluetooth

Low Price

Addictive in short bursts

Cons

Limited

Poor Audio

Screenshots

4 of 5

System Rush is Nokia’s latest attempt to push the N-Gage as the forerunner in mobile phone gaming. Whilst it’s true that the phone has enjoyed some success with recent games it’s getting increasingly difficult for the N-Gage to compete with today’s technology. The advantage to N-Gage owners though is that developers of the unit have to work that little bit harder to make each title unique and addictive.

Enter then System Rush, a cyber-punk styled, high octane futuristic 3D racer. This game might not be that unique, but what it does do successfully is borrow from some of the most addictive games to see the light of day. Even though this particular title features characters on a hunt to hack global corporations, what you essentially have here is 'Wipeout/F-Zero' with distinctive ‘Tron’ style wire framed graphics.

The single player campaign has you stepping in the shoes of either a male or female hacker called in to bypass some of the best security systems in the world. However uplink this isn’t, you successfully hack a computer by racing the security bots and personal, come first and the hack is successful, place anywhere else and you must race again. It might not contain the best plot but the actual races are addictive enough to warrant the attention.

Before you race (hack) you must first select the company you wish to hack and then you’re instantly transported to the ship selection screen. Any of the five corporations are accessible from the beginning of the game but you must defeat the ‘levels’ they contain in order. Anyone who manages to hack the first three levels on each stage will then unlock the bonus GS area which unlocks even more tracks. All told there are over 50 stages on offer with some distinctively challenging races on the way,

During each race there are a few actions you can perform to get the upper hand. As you near enemy ships you can steal their energy. This is known as the “Byte Stream”. When you’re low on energy, slipstream behind or near a rival’s ship and you’ll “Byte Steal” and increase your overall energy levels. When the enemy’s energy is depleted the vehicle is destroyed. In addition to ‘byte stealing’, you can also “bit steal” off the network. These ‘bits’ are loose fragments of code that are found on the network floor. If you drive over these ‘bits’ whilst in Grip Mode you’ll automatically pick them up and increase your speed for a short time. You can also decelerate but more often than not simply holding down the accelerator key (5) and weaving in and out of the terrain is the better tactic,

The story is expanded through the use of micro-sites found on the web. These micro-sites represent the corporations you are hacking in the game and have urls related to the corporations’ names. Prior to the game’s launch, these micro-sites will look like standard corporate sites representing the corporation. However, as the game rolls out and people start to play through Story mode, player stats begin to feed into the micro-sites and change the content. This gives the perception of actually hacking corporate sites through playing System Rush.

The graphics might not look spectacular but the wire frame style does seem to fit the feel of the game. There is a distinct different style and theme when you enter a new corporation’s system and that in itself brings new challenges to the table. The club soundtrack however didn’t quite appeal to us in the same way and after a while we were reaching for the mute switch. Now obviously I am in the minority here as the actual soundtrack has been pressed onto white labels and cd’s so you may be able to get some extra mileage if that’s your thing.

Pushed as hard as the games themselves, the N-Gage arena is your port of call once you have completed the single player game. Leaderboards track the fastest lap times and new downloadable content is only ever a fingertip away. Do well in the downloadable tracks and you could access further limited edition ships to race and so forth. N-Gage arena will also allow you to download other people’s ‘ghost’ ships (known as ‘shadow-ships’) for you to try and beat in offline modes, the novel twist here though is that up to three shadow ships can be used in a single race, perfect for you to practise against and something we certainly haven’t seen in any racing game we have come across.

If the N-Gage is your primary gaming device and you are a fan of these ‘Wipeout’ style games then System Rush offers enough to warrant a purchase. Essentially the best part of this game was taking part in blue-tooth multiplayer racing and trying to earn the extra ships rather than the single player experience, but both game modes do offer enough to keep you playing for some time to come.

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