L.A. Rush for the PSP is essentially the same game that it was on the consoles. The main difference is that the systems have been tweaked for portability but that’s about it. If you do play the game, the most time will be spent in Story mode. You play a renowned street racer who has just had all his possessions repossessed. The rest of the game has you racing for money and your car collection. You drive around something of an open-ended LA, participating in races and events as you come across them.
If you haven’t gathered by now, the actual story is nothing special. It might have been alright if there had actually been some effort into the writing but otherwise, it is negligible. However, the story mode is where most of your time will be spent. You start off with a meager car and an open landscape. You can follow the flashing icons to advance the story and your progression. However, you will have the option of partaking in side races that will earn you more money.
Like every other racer
In the least, the game has a variety of different race types. There are your standard lap and point-to-point races, mission races that have you racing to a given point in order to out run an adversary before your vehicle is smashed and races that have you getting from point A to B without going below a certain speed. The variety suffices and you’ll be coming across a few more variations throughout the story. The story takes place over six different locations, starting off in Hollywood. Each location has between two and three dozen races to participate in, both optional and progressive.
In terms of catering for portability, the game automatically saves after each race that you participate in. The locations aren’t huge so it is easy to get from one place to another. Outside of the main story, you’ve got three other options. You can play any scenario from the story as a one off race. You’ve got a stunt mode and multiplayer for up to four players. Unless you’ve got friends to play against, the outside modes aren’t going to last a very long time.
The stunt mode is something that was feels underutilized. You’re left to stuff around in a rather large arena that’s filled with crazy looking fixtures. It’s up to you to speed up, get some air and use the d-pad or analog nub to flip the car in crazy directions, then land on all four wheels. It works very well and can be quite a bit of fun … but it wears thin very quickly. There’s only the one arena and a small amount of moves that you can actually perform, which is quite disappointing. It could have been more, but at the end, you’ll be left with an hours worth of gameplay at most.
Fun but an unfortunate waste
Mechanically, the game is solid but it doesn’t really do anything that hasn’t been done before. Most of the cars control well, with the drift and nitro controls adding a little bit of flavour to the formula. However, it is a flavour that we’ve all tasted before and it will be found that there really isn’t much to separate one vehicle from another. Even though there are actually a large number of cars in the game, each with their own set of stats, in actual practice, they all play virtually the same. Given that most cars handle reasonably well, this is acceptable, but only just.
Regardless of the game’s racing mechanics and variety of cars, there is one gaping issue that stands out. The progression throughout the game is mind numbingly easy. There is virtually no challenge in the game. None. Zero. Zilch. 90% of the events that you will participate in will be won in a canter. You can go the wrong way for a good portion of the race and still make a comeback for victory. Not only does this shorten the game considerably, it loses any exhilaration or appeal that it might have otherwise had. It is extremely disappointing because the game actually does have the potential to be something other than “just another racing game”.
As a game for the PSP, L.A. Rush is pretty much identical to its console counterparts. It was not the greatest game back when they it was released and it isn’t that much better now. It’s annoying that the crash sequences are still unskipable and the only noticeable improvements were the auto save and a slightly greater sense of speed. Otherwise, the game is an out-and-out port of the console versions. As we’ve said in our past reviews of recent PSP racers, none of them have been particularly great, partially because they’re just ports of console games that aren’t that great either. So to developers of PSP games, it would be really nice to see some originality on the system and if not, at least make some substantial additions to the lackluster ones that you’re porting.
More of this would've been appreciated
Graphically, L.A. Rush has made a solid conversion onto the PSP. It is obviously a little rough around the edges but it does a reasonable job of imitating a console title. Aspects such as physics and animations do a pretty good job of holding up, especially when you’re in the stunt sequences. Otherwise, virtual LA in this game is, well, it seems authentic but a rather dull place. Surprisingly, the cut scenes are actually quite well done. They look good and seem to have been actually put together with some thought and care. In terms of sound, the game has a variety of hip-hop and R&B tracks that will suit anyone likes that kind of music, however, they seem to get repetitive rather quickly. Sound effects are only middling but at least the voices can pass for being OK.
Overall, L.A. Rush on PSP doesn’t add much to what was already a middling experience on consoles. Yes, it functions and it plays alright, but there are still better alternatives on a system that has been flooded with racing titles. We appreciate the fact that the game has at least had some effort to be improved for the PSP but it simply wasn’t enough. The game falls apart when you find that the actual racers are bone easy and can almost be won with your eyes closed. Even though the PSP was spoilt with good quality racers, it seems that the pool is slowly being dispersed with lesser racers. Unfortunately, this game wasn’t one to own on the consoles and it isn’t one for the PSP either.
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