Jet Moto 2

This article was written several years ago, when Jet Moto 2 was still a current title.

I am (or at least was - I Can't find the CDs) the proud owner of Jet Moto for both Playstation and PC. Both versions are truly sweet, though you really DO need a gamepad for the PC version (obviously, you have one already for the PSX version.) Since I Do, I enjoyed it immensely.

I was looking far forward to the action I knew and loved and occasionally cursed ("True" physics MY ASS.) It was more or less the same game, but there are a few problems.

First of all, they tried to do fancier graphics than the last time. I say tried because really, the little ~40mhz R3000 cpu and associated sony graphics hardware can't DO much more than they did the last time around. With an increased polygon count in evidence on almost every level, the framerate has a distinct tendency to get chunky. This is a real problem when trying to manouver through a mass of bikes.

Also, the perspective is as far off as the last game. It was less of a problem then, because there were less sharp, long dropoffs. Now, you have levels that seem entirely composed of same - And it causes some real problems. Because objects don't look farther or closer away, it looks like you can hop onto this particular chunk of rock... and woops! That's actually the one two curves down the track. This is both poor engine design, AND poor level design. One of them should necessarily have covered for the other.

Jet Moto 1, to be fair, had the same problem; But the levels were better suited to the engine. Even ice crusher, which was more than half made up of hopping from ice block to ice block didn't have the above problem, for the most part. (A couple spots were a little tough to figure out but you could learn them easily.) The levels didn't try to do too much with random graphics, etc.

Another problem: pop-in. Apparently they decided they couldn't spare the processing power for the buoys all the time, so every once in a while you watch them appear like reflectors on a curved row coming alive in your headlights. This is distracting at best, and when they mark a curve ahead of you, it can be a Real Problem (tm).

Also, this game suffers from my least favorite feature as well: Needing to unlock tracks. To my credit, I managed to unlock the diamond tracks (pro or whatever) without pausing (IE, no retries, no saves.) not expecting that I would succeed. Unfortunately, the pro level tracks are such a pain in the ass I have little hope of completing them even if I DO restart tracks repeatedly.

Now I find out that the original JM tracks are also in this game, and that you have to beat master level with various racers to unlock them? Bullshit! Don't hide this shit away from me. Now I have to go invest in a game shark. I wonder if sony is in cahoots with the guys who make that thing? This is the kind of thing that boosts game shark sales...

The one thing I *did* like about this game was that turbo is no longer four bursts; It's a meter, and you can use it creatively. If you spread it out, you can use it to help you take off from pretty much all of your hard landings throughout a lap.

All in all, I give the game only a 50%. Jet Moto is a better game for the dollar. It's probably cheaper, too. This game has analog controller support, BTW, but it won't help you because it's so fast paced. Taps to the keypad are more effective by far. Of course, if sony knew how to make a decent analog controller, that wouldn't be true...