Reviewed On: Xbox 360

Available For: Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Vita

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: Smilebit, Blit Software

Genre: Action

Age: 12 (PEGI)

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It may have been the final nail in the coffin for SEGAs hardware division, but the Dreamcast will always have a special place in my heart. Crazy Taxi, Powerstone, Shenmue, and Rez where just a few high notes of gaming goodness to rock my Dreamcast playing world. I have some fantastic memories of the ugly little grey box.

Let's not forget Jet Set Radio, the game that blended cyberpunk with cartoon, and graffiti with saving the world. It even managed to give the campest of sports a morsal of street cred - roller blading.

The premise is a fairly simple one; skate fast around the map, grinding and picking up spray cans, and then use those to tag various surfaces. There's little complicated about it, although both the time restrictions and the energy bar provide a challenge.

It's a formula that worked perfectly for me in the past. I spent hours upon hours decorating the walls of Tokyo City. Over the years however, mechanics of games have changed a great deal, and that's abundantly clear here. The fast skating feels slow, the grinding is awkward and cumbersome, and the tagging controls are often unresponsive. It simply hasn't got the fluidity, grace, nor the mechanics of games these days, Not even a hi-def makeover can hide that.

Although it's dated, we actually have a lot to thank Jet Set Radio for - it was a forefather of the cel-shaded graphical style. It's entirely possible that without it, the Borderlands games wouldn't look the same. Jet Set Radio is a game with fairly legendary status in the minds of many of us. It's been influential, inspiring, and important. However, some old games are best being left as memories - Jet Set Radio is one of those.

SCORE: 4 / 10

PROS: It's often great to see an all-time classic re-made and re-released.

CONS: It's not always great to see an all-time classic re-made and re-released.