San Francisco Rush 2049 - Sega Dreamcast

If you're a fan of the Rush series, you'll be happy to see that the basic gameplay hasn't changed much. All of the races take place on tracks that feature wild colors and many twists and turns. This time, however, the setting is a futuristic San Francisco that resembles our present-day one only vaguely. As usual, the secret to winning Rush's races isn't so much driving ability as it is finding all of the shortcuts on a given track. This time around, you actually can make your car glide (by activating hidden wings) whenever it catches some air--a cool feature that feels somewhat underutilized. In addition to standard racing, Rush also offers five other play modes, including ghost (in which you race against an image of your previous best lap time), circuit, battle, and stunt modes.

In battle, you and up to three other friends drive around huge arenas furiously while trying to blast each other to kingdom come. Your cars can carry a host of odd weapons including chain guns, mines, and mortar. All in all, fans of Twisted Metal or Vigilante 8 should have fun with battle mode, as the arenas are cleverly designed, and the action is fast and furious. It's almost worth price of admission alone.

As in previous Rush editions, the stunt mode offers arenas that'll test your control of the cars' already ludicrously exaggerated physics. You'll perform impossible maneuvers in arenas that defy even fundamental laws of architecture. The more flips, spins, and death-defying landings that you pull off, the higher your score.

I was a little surprised at the lack of aggression that was shown by computer-controlled racers, which seemed a bit lax in their efforts to stop you from passing them, and instead almost behaved as if they were on rails, and oblivious to you stealing the lead.

Also, while the graphics show amazing amounts of detail and color, at times they'll show a definite slowdown. No, it's not quite bad enough to ruin a race, but it's noticeable and does show some sloppiness on Midway's part.

After the race has been won, you'll find, for near-mindless arcade racing/gliding/blasting/stunts, that San Francisco Rush 2049 is a highly playable arcade racer that'll make fans of the series, both old and new, happy that they own a Dreamcast. If you've never played a Rush game, this is an excellent intro to the series. --Mark Brooks

Pros: Bright, colorful, and highly detailed graphics Many different gameplay modes Four-player battle mode Cons: Irritating slowdown during races Computer-controlled racers are not aggressive