Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2

With its budget looking cover, Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 is a racing game that the majority of people probably passed over when it was originally released all the way back in 2005. As someone who has a thing for racing games of this era, I managed to track down a copy and spent quite a bit of time playing it last weekend. I found it to be a fun and decent street racing game and thought that I would share my thoughts with you guys about it today.

The Best Around

There is actually a story in Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 which sees you trying to become the best racer in Tokyo. The main game mode is the conquest mode and this basically is your career mode. You get to name your racer, you are given some money and then you have to buy your car and set it up the way you want. You will be racing in different areas trying to take down the boss of each area. It is pretty fun stuff and the terrible translation is more charming and amusing than it is bad. As well as the conquest mode, you do have other game modes like standard races, time trials, battles and so on that you can enjoy as well.

Making Money At Night

You will be racing during the day and during the night in Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 and this does add a bit to the gameplay. The day races tend to be more these time trail type things with a real focus on up and downhill racing through the various mountain tracks. The night races are where you earn your street cred and make some money as there is a gambling element to the street races that you will be partaking in.

Chicks Dig The Car

There is quite a bit of car customization that you can do in this game. Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 has many upgrades both visually and under the hood that you can get for your car. I found that acceleration and handling was the best things to invest in early on. The game can get pretty tough so you will have to make sure that you are upgrading your car wisely. The handling does take a little while to get used to. I went into this thinking it was an arcade racer, but I would say that it does lean more towards being an arcade racer, but it does have sim elements about it as well.

A Sign Of The Times!

Playing Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 now, I do have to say that it looks a tad dated, but to be fair this is a PlayStation 2 game that was released back in 2005. I think the game looks much better during the night tracks and each area of Japan that you will be racing in does have its own distinct look and feel. It also has a pretty awesome European dance music kind of soundtrack and that fits the racing action perfectly.

Pros:

• I thought that conquest mode was a lot of fun
• You get to race in many different areas of Tokyo
• The car customization aspect is fun
• It is not the shallow arcade game you may think that it is

Cons:

• I did find that the controls took a while to get used to
• The visual presentation is not the best and that may put some people off