Metropolis Street Racer

Background

In 1997, Bizarre Creations were approached by Sega Europe to make a street racer for the upcoming Dreamcast console. This was after Sega's Kats Sato had discovered they were behind the F1 '96 and F1 '97 games on Sony's PlayStation. According to Martyn Chudley, Bizarre Creations' Managing Director, "Kats was given the task of finding out who was developing Formula 1 for Sony. So, at the ECTS [1997], he pulled out the power cable so he could see the [F1] start-up credits". After a meeting with Sega Europe's then-CEO, Kazutoshi Miyake, Bizarre Creations accepted their offer of work. Martyn Chudley stated Sega gave Bizarre Creations an opportunity to branch out after learning they had been lined up for further F1 titles.

Gameplay

Gameplay in MSR is centred around the single-player mode, with tracks and cars in the multiplayer mode being unlocked at the same time as in the single-player game. The premise is that, as a street racer, the player must impress other drivers with quick but stylish driving in a series of challenges. These challenges are in sets of ten (called Chapters - there are 25 in total), with completion of all challenges opening the next chapter (assuming the player has enough Kudos, see below) and unlocking a new car. Each challenge is on a different track, and unlocking a challenge unlocks that track in the time-attack and multiplayer modes.

Challenges

Some challenges (usually the Challenge category) have a time unlock, which allows secret cars or cheats to be unlocked by completing the challenge during a certain time. The challenge can still be completed at a different time, but doing so will not unlock the reward.

Kudos

Kudos (from Greek κῦδος, meaning 'glory') is the currency of MSR. It is earned during the challenges in two categories - Skill and Style. Skill Kudos are earned by completing a challenge successfully. The difficulty of challenges is user-configurable - for example, reducing the time limit, or increasing the head start of opponents - with harder challenges rewarding more Kudos for completion. Style Kudos are earned by drifting - using the hand-brake to skid while turning. A "K" symbol appears when drifting, and becomes brighter the longer and more pronounced the drift is. The more opaque the symbol, the more Kudos earned. Kudos are also awarded for finishing a race without colliding with obstacles or other cars. Kudos are lost if the driver collides with a wall, obstacle or other car (theoretically Kudos are not lost if another car collides with the player, but this is not always the case); or by failing the challenge, which results in a final Kudos total of -25 "K" for the whole challenge. Cancelling a challenge will even result in -50 "K".

Kudos are calculated on a per-challenge basis. Each challenge's Kudos result is stored, and only the last attempt at a challenge is stored. If, for example a challenge is completed with 250 "K", then subsequently attempted unsuccessfully, that challenge's result becomes -25 "K."

Through playing the game, "Joker" cards may be earned. Playing one of these cards before starting a challenge will double the amount of Kudos gained or lost during that attempt.

Cars

In the single-player mode, the player has a garage which holds up to six cars. In order to "buy" a car, the player must complete a challenge in that car - usually completing a short lap within a time limit. The player has unlimited time to complete the challenge, and once completed, can customise the car.

The colour of the car and the opacity of the windows can be changed, as can the number plate. ABS may also be switched on or off, and convertible cars may be set as hard-top, soft-top or open-top for different weather conditions.

Kudos is also tied to player cars. As there are initially only three spaces in the garage, occasionally it is necessary to dispose of cars to make space for better cars unlocked during play. However, disposing of a car also penalises the player 10% of the Kudos earned in that car. This is intended to encourage the player to switch cars less often, or to spend time in their preferred car on lower Chapters later gaining higher Kudos results.

Lack of replay option

The replay feature was removed from all retail versions of MSR due to time constraints. This is despite the fact review copies for magazines included this option and the US instruction manual implied they were present. Pre-recorded demo races are available to watch from replay angles but nothing else. In Issue #16 of the UK's Official Dreamcast Magazine (ODM), Martyn Chudley gave the following explanation for the removal:

"Unfortunately, there was a problem with the replays which the Sega testers discovered near the end of development. We tried for about two weeks to fix this bug but time ran out, so the only thing we could do was remove the replays. We're upset that we had to do that, but with no time left, there was no other choice"

Online functionality

While MSR did not allow network racing, various features can be accessed via the Internet option in the main menu:

Players registered to Dreamarena/Seganet could also access a special MSR microsite using the built-in browser. It contained the following features:

The site also hosted nine 'New Time Trials' billed as "races created by Sega on an exclusive circuit that you can download and challenge" however these circuits were simply the 'Challenge' tracks (Shibuya Challenge, Westminster Challenge, Pacific Challenge etc.) already present in the game. Reports suggest the top 10 ranking for this feature was never implemented.

The microsite and rankings closed in March 2002 with the demise of Dreamarena.

Bugs

The first PAL release had a number of major bugs. Unsold discs were quickly recalled and replaced with a second PAL version that eliminated most of the major bugs, but not all. Sega Europe also offered replacement disks, the final PAL version, free of charge to anyone who had purchased a bugged copy. The US release and the final PAL version were both free of major bugs, although some minor ones remained. Martyn Chudley stated that although Bizarre Creations had fixed all bugs reported to them by Sega (who were in charge of Quality Assurance) before release, some bugs must have slipped through Sega's comprehensive testing plan due to the sheer size of the game.

Music

MSR was also the first racer to have radio stations and DJs talking between music tracks. The soundtrack was composed by Richard Jacques. Some songs in the radio stations are sung by TJ Davis, who also sung songs from the Sega Saturn game, Sonic R.

Sales

According to Martyn Chudley, Metropolis Street Racer sold approximately 120,000 units. The majority were sold in the US with 101,757 copies; in Europe, 13,297 copies were sold on the first two days meaning less than 5000 were sold in that territory post-launch. Chudley described the sales figures as "measly" and cited the Dreamcast's demise, the game's late arrival and the discovery of high-profile bugs after release as the reasons why. He also stated that Bizarre Creations had invested around £1 million of their own money into the game and they asked Sega about putting the game on Sony's PlayStation 2, however Sega declined. Edge Magazine commented during a preview for Project Gotham Racing that releasing MSR exclusively for Dreamcast was comparable to "The Beatles exclusively selling The White Album on Mars".

Critics

The game was met with very positive reviews upon release. GameRankings gave it a score of 88.59%, while Metacritic gave it 87 out of 100.

Brandon Justice of IGN gave it 9.1 out of 10 and said that it "has a great sense of progression, difficulty and refinement throughout, and while it may be too difficult for people with little patience, it is one of the most rewarding gameplay experiences in the history of the genre." However, Shane Satterfield of GameSpot gave it 7.7 out of 10 and called it "a beautiful racer with accurate physics and tight control, but the kudos system makes it far more challenging than it needs to be."

Awards

Metropolis Street Racer was runner-up for Graphical Achievement at the Edge Magazine Awards 2001 held on 18 April that year.