Import Tuner Challenge [X360]

Joining the throng of racing games on the 360, Import Tuner takes its players into the murky, legally dubious waters of street racing. Set on the Tokyo road network, complete with underpasses, junctions, and other traffic, it doesn't bother with racetracks or courses -- you just drive up behind a competitor (marked by a mysteriously floating icon over their car), flash your lights, and the race is on.

But hang on. Before you get to that point, you need to choose your car. Import Tuner features a comparatively abbreviated list of licensed cars; despite its shortness, the list covers most popular Japanese performance cars from the last fifteen-odd years, from RX-7 to WRX. If you're smart, you'll leave aside some of your starting budget to customize your new whip -- the list of upgrades will be familiar territory to Gran Turismo or Forza fans. Then, it's out onto the mean streets of Tokyo with you.

Most races are won or lost on "spirit points," not necessarily outright speed. Both you and your opponent start with full spirit meters, but they'll drop if you hit barriers, other cars, or fall too far behind. If yours hits bottom, you lose -- and it's important to note that this can happen even if you're in front, if you're sufficiently careless. One-on-one races are the norm, but you'll get the odd chance to take on a whole car club in a larger event from time to time.

Sound familiar? Maybe you played one of the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series on PS2 or Dreamcast, which this game joins in all but name. And if you did, you'll already know how well they capture the rich glow of Tokyo's neon-clad cityscape. Bleak and Gibsonian, and all taking place at various hours of the night, Import Tuner's races are atmospheric, capturing much of the quiet, intuitive sense of concentration you get on long, lonely night interstate drives.

But it's all the same, and once you've seen it all it's not so atmospheric any more. It's not that it's an ugly game, by any means -- it's just that once you've seen the inside of one dingy Tokyo underpass you've pretty much seen them all. What it has works well, but it could use more -- and in the sort of convenient way that makes game reviewers smile, that's a decent summing-up of the rest of the game too. You'll see.

Import Tuner's next problem also has to do with being set on Tokyo's interstate system. Interstates, being designed for rapid, safe movement of large volumes of traffic, tend not to lend themselves to complex corner strategies. So in Import Tuner a corner is something of a rare sight, and even when you happen across one, the game's over-forgiving handling model means you may not even have to touch the brakes.