Street Supremacy [PSP]

The really cool twist to Street Supremacy is that it doesn't just end at the finish line, or even in the garage. It dares to raise the broader question of why we drive. Unfortunately, the question it also raises is "Why should we drive if the driving part of a game is so awful?" It doesn't really have an answer for that one.

That answer to the first part, however, is based in a set of connecting regions representing Tokyo. Each region has a couple of lengths of roadway, and they're all strung together to form a long continuous track. On each section of track, there are drivers belonging to teams. You race them to win money and lower their morale. When you've lowered their morale sufficiently, you can participate in a team battle to take over that region. Eventually, you'll take over Tokyo. That's why you drive. To be the boss of Tokyo.

It's hard to figure all this out at first. You'll have to upgrade your car before you can challenge your best teammates to take control of your team. And to earn the money for upgrades, you'll have to set out on the city streets to challenge other drivers. Drivers are represented by level, so with a bit of shuffling around, you'll be able to find suitable opponents. Once you figure all this out, you'll have a souped-up car in no time.

But figuring it out isn't easy. The flow of the game isn't very well explained, so you're liable to waste a lot of time banging your fender against hopeless ranking races. It's also not clear that some areas are much harder to drive than others. For instance, the long straightaway outside the airport is a sure win against any car that can't match your top speed. But the twisting highways in the upper city where you'll start can be an exercise in frustration as you're learning your car's handling. Misjudge a single turn or scrape one of those lonely cars used to represent traffic, and you've lost a race.

This layer of Street Supremacy -- let's call it the "supremacy" part of the title -- works really well. It's much more gratifying than the canned progression you get in one of Electronic Arts' Need for Speed games, for instance. You're in complete control of where you race, who you race, and what upgrades you get. You'll remember certain rivals (the ridiculously colorful names help) and you'll watch the progress of rival gangs swallowing up their opponents and moving in on your turf. It's a much more compelling shell for a driving game than simply moving up some pre-determined list of competitors.