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Dreamcast | Driving | San Francisco Rush 2049 | Review

There is no Boxart for - San Francisco Rush 2049
  • GRAPHICS: 4.0
  • SOUND: 3.0
  • CONTROL: 4.0
  • FUN FACTOR 4.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.8
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.3
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: San Francisco Rush 2049

Review by cheatmonkey | 11/24/2000 | 14:47:41 PM PST

Fasten your seatbelts Dreamcast fans! Midway's San Francisco Rush 2049 has arrived, and it's better than all the rest.

Following up the boat racing sensation Hydro Thunder, Midway's San Francisco Rush 2049 peels out on the Dreamcast. This arcade style racer is the latest and the greatest in the line of Rush games. The graphics, track design, and extra goods packed into this title make it one of the best arcade racing games on the market.

Mode Mania
Aside from the single race Arcade mode, there's Practice, Ghost Race, Circuit, Battle, and Stunt modes. The Ghost Race lets you race against a ghost image of your best previous lap time, while Practice lets you perfect your technique on any of the unlocked tracks. Circuit takes you through the tracks in regular and mirrored configurations while Stunt mode lets you launch some wild tricks for points using retractable wings on your car to control spin and rotation speed. The Battle Mode is a fun multiplayer Vigilante 8-style vehicle combat game that's actually pretty good. You'll get to blow away your opponents (up to four can play) in a variety of arenas with all kinds of hiding places, ramps and tunnels. Weapons include a chain gun, rocket launcher, mortar, mines, and other damage dealing armament. Overall, there's a lot of depth to the gameplay. The main racing element in the game is excellent, and the Battle and Stunt games add a bit of variety to the mix.

Head Rush
Rush 2049 is all about extreme racing, and the designers took the game to a new high with some wild track design. The game is set in San Francisco in the year 2049, and the game shows off the more notable landmarks and neighborhoods in the city, but dresses it up with sci-fi skytrams, neon lights, and space age buildings. Typical of Rush games, there are a ton of shortcuts, and a few that are tantalizingly difficult to reach, but that's half the fun here. Not only do you have to get to the finish line first, figuring out the best way through each course is essential, and good strategy wins races. Catching big air, winding through a loop-de-loop, or sneaking through a hidden tunnel is the real rush in this hot racing game.

The graphics in Rush 2049 are fast and at times, stunning. The lighting on the night tracks is beautiful, and the architecture on all the tracks is incredible. Wild building designs coupled with narrow streets, wide freeways, and tight corners will keep you on the edge of your seat. The feeling of speed the game conveys is awesome. While the framerate suffers occasional slowdown, the game delivers sixty frames per second in a single-player race, and the graphics still look sharp and fast in a two player split screen race. In four player races, you'll notice the detail level is a bit lower, but you'll be having too much fun to care.

Rush To Judgement
If you like racing games but dislike the simulation aspects of games like Rally and CART or even Sega GT, then Rush is an excellent choice. You can tell the design team had fun making Rush 2049, letting their imagination run wild; it shows through in every aspect of the game. San Francisco Rush 2049 is the best arcade racing game for the Dreamcast, and what a rush it is to play.