The original San Francisco Rush became an extremely popular game
amongst the racing crowd. While very simplistic in it's style, its over the top courses
and insane physics engine kept the game at the top of the sales charts. The sequel, 2049,
takes the series to new heights (pun intended), thanks in part to the power of the
Dreamcast and a whole lot of originality.
Set in the future, quite obviously, the courses have an entirely new feel and look to them. The cityscapes will change quite a bit in the future according to Midway and cars will have the ability to sprout wings and fly after hitting ramps. Novel ideas that will probably never come true, but who cares, it's never been this much fun. The series has never been this fast or this insane. Add in the new trick mode, and you have a nifty little racing game here.
The handling of the cars is the same as it has been for the previous two entries which means taking tight corners is an impossibility as top speed. Those newly sprouted wings allow for take-offs on ramps which let you overtake the competition in spectacular fashion. Tricks can also be performed for added points and for showing off purposes in those incredibly fun multi-player modes. Sadly, they don't really add very much to the game with no actual benefit on the track.
The sound is ear-splitting when played at
full volume. The roar of the engines could easily blow a speaker or two and the techno
soundtrack is the most suited for the series so far. The usual ambient sounds offer
nothing spectacular and are hardly noticed amongst the other sound effects.
Keeping at a steady and constant 60 fps, high resolution cities have never looked better. Nearly pixel-for-pixel arcade perfect, the Dreamcast pushes everything the arcade machine did, and at the same frantic pace. The lighting effects also deserve special mention, highlighting the cars and the tracks
This is easily the best home version of the series so far on any console. Rock solid gameplay coupled with some amazing graphics make this one of the better second generation Dreamcast games so far. Definitely one to pick up ASAP unless you have no interest in racing games whatsoever.
