L.A. Rush
L.A. Rush, known as Rush in the PlayStation Portable version, is an open world racing video game developed by Midway Studios – Newcastle and published by Midway Games, released in North America for PlayStation 2 and Xbox (not compatible with Xbox 360) on October 10, 2005, and on October 21 in Europe. It was released for Microsoft Windows on November 4 in Europe, and for PSP on October 30, 2006. It is the fourth and final installment in the Rush series.
| L.A. Rush | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art featuring a Chevrolet Camaro and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. | |
| Developer(s) | Midway Studios - Newcastle |
| Publisher(s) | Midway Games
|
| Platform(s) | Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gizmondo, PSP |
| Release | PlayStation 2, XboxWindowsPlayStation Portable |
| Genre(s) | Driving |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
The game was originally planned to be available on Gizmondo, but got cancelled on February 6, 2006,[1] due to the discontinuation of the console. L.A. Rush features voice talent from Orlando Jones, Bill Bellamy, André 3000 and Twista.
Gameplay
The game features free-roaming with races mechanic similar to those in Need for Speed: Underground 2. The GPS map can have a point assigned to a certain location and then the point shows up on the radar during gameplay. It is also features two missions and two game modes. Other features includes 50 vehicles, 30 different cruise missions (can be playable with another player on the PSP version, when connected with a Wi-Fi), upgrades for cars (available from multiple top-line manufacturers and West Coast Customs) and a hip-hop and rock soundtrack from various artists, such as Twista, Lil' Kim, Skinny Puppy, J-Kwon, and Rock 'n Roll Soldiers.
There are two modes in the game, the Battle mode (which was first introduced in the home version of Rush 2049) lets the players go head-to-head with each other in a power-up-propelled race, while the Stunt Arena mode (which was featured all other home Rush games) is only available in the PSP version of the game, where the player must launch their car off the ramp and fly through the air and performing different tricks. In order to keep up with points, the player must land their car safely on all four wheels.
Aside to two modes, there are two missions available, the Reacquire missions involves the player must recover their cars that has been repossessed from the game storyline and must bring them back to the garage without taking too much damage, whilst being outrun against enemy's cars. The Retribution missions involves property damage where the player is tasked to destroy various things that belongs to the enemy in various different ways, such as smashing through enemy's billboards, destroying a ferris wheel by simply crashing into it, or even taking the enemy's car and let it being smashed by a train.
The game features many licensed cars like Japanese cars such as the Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, Nissan 350Z. Muscle cars, such as the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Charger, Buick GNX, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Pontiac GTO, Chevrolet Chevelle SS. Sports cars, such as the Lotus Elise, Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C5), Dodge Viper SRT-10, Pontiac Solstice, Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. SUVs and Pickup Trucks, such as the Cadillac Escalade, Hummer H2, Infiniti FX45, Nissan Frontier, Nissan Titan, and Dodge Ram Rumble Bee. The fastest car is the Saleen S7, which is the only supercar to be available in the game. Up to 50 playable cars are featured in the game, 30 of them are licensed cars, while 20 of them were Midway concept cars.[2]
Plot
The game revolves around Trikz Lane (Luis Da Silva), a renowned street racer in the L.A. underground scene, who has a lavish lifestyle and a well-known sizable reputation, owning a mansion in Beverly Hills and a large collection of cars. One night, he throws a party in his mansion, while being interviewed by the journalist from Rides magazine, accomplished along with his friend, Ty Malix (Orlando Jones), the duo explain the journalist about how they got started street racing and won their first ten grant of money using Trikz's car, which itself referred as the "go-kart", a Nissan 240SX (S14).[3] Ty later stated that soon would be appreciated that the car will be featured on the next cover for Rides magazine. Soon, the crew from West Coast Customs, Ryan Friedlinghaus, Quinton "Q" Dodson, Michael "Mad Mike" Martin and Dana "Big Dane" Florence approaches and greets the duo, the crew then asked Trikz about the modifications for his car before they left him and Ty to continue the interview. As the crew leaves, Trikz and Ty were later being met by a local race promoter, Lidell Rey (Bill Bellamy), who is hosting on a major series of street races across L.A., known as the Lidell Rey Street Slam, and is not particularly fond of Trikz. Trikz later tells Lidell that by the end of summer, he would let him pay for his new vacation spot in Maui, Hawaii and has plans to steal Lidell's girlfriend, Lana. Lidell tries to tip the scales against him, telling Trikz that changes are coming, before he drops an amount of pennies from his hat into the floor and leaves. As the journalist asked Trikz for the preparation of the upcoming races, Trikz told them that he will be always prepared once he finished his vacation in Saint Barthélemy for two weeks.[4]
Two weeks later, Trikz and Ty comes back home from their vacation, only found out that their mansion is now on the ruins, the whole place is deserted with nothing left inside, the cars that are stored in the garage were missing, all but only left is Trikz's 240SX being sat abandoned in the driveway.[5] While left entirely curious about the empty mansion, Trikz later saw a tow truck reposessioning Ty's Hummer H2, the duo tries to catch up, but unable to do so. Suddenly, a car pulled over in front of the mansion front doors, the driver hands over a paper to Trikz before drives away, Trikz realizes that his mansion has been robbed by Lidell, Ty reveals that Lidell uses his connections in order to rob Trikz's mansion and steal all of the cars whilst Trikz was on vacation. The duo later plots a plan to get payback against Lidell by entering a various series of street racing while recovering the lost cars that have been stashed across Los Angeles.[6]
Reception
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Many reviewers have been critical of the game. One common criticism is that the option to customize the cars was poorly realised; players cannot modify them themselves, instead, the car is automatically upgraded by the West Coast Customs crew. GamesRadar says: "Roll your vehicle into the garage and they'll kit it out with what they feel like".[7]
L.A. Rush has also been criticised for not including every area of Los Angeles; for example, the San Fernando Valley was excluded.
Not all reaction was negative. The realistic handling in the game was welcomed by some as being comparable to the handling in Juiced and Need for Speed: Underground 2.
Nominations
| Year | Result | Award | Category/Recipient(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Nominated | Satellite Awards | Best Sports/Fighting/Racing Game |
References
- L.A. Rush Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/924096-la-rush/critic
- https://uk.ign.com/articles/2006/09/19/rush-progress-report
- http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/10/28/la.rush/
- https://www.campuscircle.com/review.cfm?r=1642
- https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_larush_ps2
- http://www.gamesradar.com/reviews/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=37668&subsectionid=1605