The Fast and the Furious – PSP – Preview

Without even giving me a
look, I can see that Ichiro doesn’t think very much of me but judging by the way
he revs up his engine he’s anxious to give this gaijin a lesson in Tokyo
street racing anyway. Slamming my foot on the gas peddle, I feel the car vibrate
and if I’m not careful I can spin out of control and become a joke in the land
of the Rising Sun’s underground street racing circuit as well as let my crew
down. The Fast and the Furious for the PSP will take you, an outsider,
through a career of drifting and racing for money and fame.

The preview build we
received covers a lot of road and offers a taste of all the things we can expect
from the portable racing game that has been released awhile back on the
PlayStation 2. Inspired by the last movie in the series, The Fast and the
Furious: Tokyo Drift, the game’s main Career Mode puts gamers in the role of
a young outsider who comes to Tokyo to participate in a number of underground
crew races. You’ll be guided by your only American friend who has been living in
Japan for a long while and learn through him the rules of the Tokyo underground
racing scene.

You start Career Mode by
showing your new friend your skills out on the a strip of highway and if you win
the race you’ll earn some extra cash to either buy a new ride or purchase
upgrades in the tuner shop. The import scene is well represented in this game
and you’ll find a number of interesting options to make your vehicle one
seriously tricked-out car. You can purchase upgrades that enhance your car’s
engines performance as well as install nitrous and better suspensions for better
handling. In fact, the upgrades can get really elaborate to the point that you
can own a car specifically retrofitted for drifting and another made for
destination-based races.

Tuning fans will also
enjoy that fact that you can customize your car’s appearance in a large of ways
by adding a wide variety of vinyls, paint and even decorations (Pac-Man
and Tekken fans will not be disappointed by the little figurines you can
hang on the rear bumper). You can even go as far as having a Tekken
character (like Nina Williams) or Pinky (from Pac-Man) splashed across
the hood or roof of your car. The fact that you can own a number of cars to
customize and tune them anyway you see fit will definitely please racing and
tuner fans. There are also a large number of cars as well so expect to find
everything from a Ford SVT Focus to a ‘06 Honda Civic EX 1.8.

Much like EA’s recent
Need for Speed games on the PSP, The Fast and the Furious offers an
open environment. This means once you’re happy with your newly customized car,
you are free to explore the highways and streets looking for challenges,
participating in crew races or head into a car dealership to purchase a new
vehicle. There are a number of dealerships that sell everything from Nissans to
Toyotas and these spots are scattered throughout the huge map. You’ll also run
into other racers and like the Need for Speed games or even Midnight
Club 3: DUB Edition, you can flash your headlight with the D-Pad to
challenge a rival to a race that will take you from Point A on the map to Point
B.

The preview build offered
a number of racing events gamers will be participating throughout the game.
There are drifting events that, like the movie, will have you competing against
rivals in what the game calls Street Sweeper. These battles require a steady
hand and applying just the right throttle and are actually quite challenging.
There are also Tag Run races where you hook up with another fellow crew member
for a relay-like race where two racers dash down a track then race back to “tag”
your teammate. You’ll also take on crew bosses like Criss who drives for the
Daily Driven crew. The boss Destination Race took me through the Aqualine Bridge
and there is no second race in this game.

While the preview build
included a multiplayer mode fit for up to four players and three of the Career
Mode’s event races, the multiplayer mode was Ad Hoc so those expecting online
through Infrastructure Mode will be disappointed. The game’s visuals are not as
sharp as they should be but at least the car models look great flying through
Tokyo’s highways and streets. While the controls work decently, these cars
handle realistically enough so if you add too much throttle your car will spin
out of control.

So far, the biggest
problem happens to be the frequent and lengthy load times that will hopefully be
toned down when the game is released. Other than that, The Fast and the
Furious is looking to be yet another entry in illegal racing genre that
delivers fast and furious racing action.

Expect The Fast and the
Furious to be released sometime soon.