In a world where games involve shooting down civilians and running over pedestrians, Jet Set Radio is harmless spraypainting fun!

The game really shows off the graphics of the XBox platform. Your world and characters are drawn in a cell-shaded style. You're a skating dude in future-Japan, getting in with the local gang.

There's a bad guy in town, of course, and his dirty cops are out to harass everyone. An underground pirate radio DJ is egging you on to take them out. Your tool for drawing them out is a spray paint can. You go around through the well-detailed world, spraying your symbols on walls to mark your territory.

The interactivity of the game is great. You can skate in the road and cars will slow down or speed up. Skate through the pedestrians to watch them jump out of the way or duck and cover. Skate through a flock of birds and watch them fly up and out, looking like real birds!



You can knock over kiosks and bikes, customize which character you ride as, even customize all the differently sized spraypaint designs you use.

And, of course, there's the skating. You get points for different cool skating moves, from 'Farside Stab Soul' to 'Abstract 360'. Ride the rails, do moves in the half-pipe, even ping off the walls. There's no time limit for most of the game so you can really explore and have fun. Plus lots of secrets make the game worth playing over!

Yes, I suppose spraypainting downtown Tokyo isn't the noblest of possible aims, and the soundtrack gets a bit vulgar at times. Other than that, it's a great game with lots of fun moves and good replayability.

Buy Jet Set Radio on Amazon.com