Recently the concept of street racing has been quite popular among the developers and publishers of the video-games industry. Such titles include Auto Modellista, Midnight Club II, Burnout 2: Point of Impact and the renowned Need for Speed series. Now there's a new competitor on the block from 3DO, called Street Racing Syndicate. This game aims to accurately recreate the experience of street racing through the use of licensed cars, locations, with the added bonus of well known street racing models including Sasha Singleton, Francine Dee, Natasha Yi, Cheri Roberts, Flo Jalin, Kaila Yu, and Aiko Tanaka. This is turning out to be quite interesting.
The game is currently being developed by UK-based develper Eutechnyx, who usually specialise in racing games for the PC and PlayStation. Their most recent work was Big Mutha Truckers.
Street Racing Syndicate provides an array of modes to play with, obviously with street racing as the main focus. The main street racing mode, named “Street Mode”, allows the player to play out over the course of several months in the game, racing in Los Angeles, Miami or Philadelphia, in order to earn cash, kudos and newer, better cars to get you there.
The car’s handling vary on the basis of how you customise and tune it. While the game offers an easily accessible arcade style driving, it is more of a simulation when it comes to tuning and tweaking your ride, offering a more varied experience. The tracks featured in the game a similar to Midnight Club II’s,ended circuits with the ability to let the player choose where they want to go.
The graphics in Street Racing Syndicate so far are very impressive, with the licensed car models recreated quite realistically with an adequate amount of polish, and of course damage is included in the game to add to the realism. The environments are equally impressive, with largespaces offering perfect grounds for street racing, and the graphics maintain their precision. Lighting effects are put at good use whether it is coming from the hot sun beating down on the cars or the street lights in downtown, the game’s quality is not hindered. The frame rate remains constant and smooth too. So far so good.
The game is however still in development, with very little screens available, since Eutechnyx working hard on it. However 3DO is currently no longer available to publish the title, and recently Namco has taken over 3DO's role. Let's hope this game will be able to stand out from the crowd.
The game is however still in development, with Eutechnyx working hard on it. However 3DO is currently no longer available to publish the title, and recently Namco has taken over 3DO's role. Let's hope this game will be able to stand out from the crowd.
