OUR RATING: 6 GOOD About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 6 Visuals: 7 Audio: 5 Value: 7 Quality: 5

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 6 SUGGESTION: N/A

Hot women, stacks of bills, and a car so decked out it ought to be illegal. It's the story of SRS, a game published by Namco, and developed by racing game specialists Eutechnyx. Street Racing Syndicate is the love child of a racing simulator and an arcade street racing game where you lay it all on the line. In theory, it's the ultimate combination; over 40 fully customizable licensed street racers by over 15 manufacturers, hot women, and cash. What more could a testosterone-laden male ask for' Well, Namco spilled a few cups of stupid on the game's blueprints, but what was left legible still makes for an overall competent racing game.

The three modes of play are Street Mode, a.k.a. career mode, Arcade Mode, and of course, multiplayer with Xbox Live (for those who have it) capabilities. The meat of the game lies with the street mode, which is where you gain the women, the cash, and the street cred, across the cities of Philadelphia, Miami, and Los Angeles. It starts out with a friend of yours having some trouble with the law, leaving you to harness the power of the sleek Nissan Skyline GT-R. And like your buddy says, you just can't lose with the car. Then reality kicks in, and you're left to choose a non-nitrous pumping, non-performance charged car from a show room. Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Lexus and Subaru are some of the'manufacturers you can choose from. You set out into what is a fairly cleverly devised free-roam mode, where your buddy tells you to get some cash and pump up your car. The open-ended feel of the roaming mode is a highlight of the game, be it outrunning the 5-0 (the police, for those of you who were wondering) stopping at a cruise zone to watch your car drive around the city in replay-styled glory, or laying down money and taking on random racers who cruise the streets with a glowing 'Race me!' above their cars.

The game map is divided by eight different colors, which include Crew Meets, Respect Challenges, Street Challenges, City Locations and Cruise Zones. These game modes win you the cash to upgrade your wheels and the respect to unlock extras in the game. An interesting feature is that the cops will actually activate your warning meter for the slightest of transgressions. Speeding, driving in the wrong lane, and crashing into traffic are all worthy of a police chase too hot for Cops the TV show. The police cars appear as cars with headlights on your mini map, and when they are alerted to your actions, a meter will come up, tipping to 'escaped' or 'busted' depending upon how far away you are from a police vehicle. But most of the time, the spotlight is hogged by the insanely deep customization. Another strike against Namco: your repair shop/palace of glorious customs isn't shown anywhere on your map, so after scouring the city streets and finding it 10 minutes later, you're left feeling a bit vexed as to why this would ever happen.

Aside from that, the depth and variety in the customization department is unheard of. Though Need for Speed: Underground has a leg up with its less-confusing, sleeker interface, SRS has the more comprehensive of the two. When you enter the garage, you will have three main options. If your car has received any damage, whether in a race or out, it will stay damaged, the garage will tell you how much money is needed to repair the car (you can actually watch the broken windows and doors get fixed one by one in real time) and it's up to you whether or not you want to spend the cash. If your car is in good condition, you can choose from Performance upgrades, Cosmetic upgrades, or the Dyno, a great feature that can show you a before and after graph of your car's performance with every new upgrade you put in it. The Performance upgrades consist of engine tuning, nitrous systems, turbo kits, weight reduction, brakes, body kits, suspension, and tires, among others. All the parts are fully licensed by the companies that started the customizing of cars, and all the parts are varied in price, performance, and appearance. Some of the many companies endorsing the game include Venom, Yokohama, GReddy, and Konig. The Cosmetic upgrades consist of vinyls, which even at the beginning of your career look hot, stickers of parts manufacturers, and paint, which changes the color of your car, not vinyls or stickers. The fact that you can swivel around your car with the thumbstick and check out the engine and upgrades you've put in makes it seem all the more authentic.

There are two forms of racing in the street mode. Sanctioned races, which are monotonous laps through a closed-circuit track, and unsanctioned races, which consist of illegal street racing complimented by insane spinouts, furious cops, and an underwhelming body of street traffic. The sanctioned races are disappointingly boring, with no obstacles, just a multitude of AI racers who are easily taken over and beaten. The unsanctioned races are a far cry from enjoyable or exciting, but they are a step up from the tedium of sanctioned races. At the end of every race, there is a point value for the respect you earned, and the cash you won. The boost in the game, nitrous oxide, is gained through performing drifts, drafts, catching air, and driving on two wheels. But shamefully, there is no real sense of speed in the game. This game prides itself in realism, but unfortunately, terribly stiff controls for the cars and a lack of speed tarnish this aspect.