Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition

by Interplay

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004WG0V
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 24, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,892 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

In what has to be one of life's great disappointments, Climax - developer of past classics such as Dark Savior and Landstalker - has released the second sequel (the first being Runabout 2 for the PS) to its trailblazing PlayStation game Runabout (released as Felony 11-79 in America). Titled Super Runabout, this Dreamcast-specific sequel had people hoping for some high-speed thrills and more of the intriguing mission-based objectives that made up the backbone of the series. After all, the considerable polygon-pushing power of the Dreamcast should, theoretically, enable Climax to pull off some Crazy Taxi-like environmental chaos while adding more impetus than Crazy Taxi's simple pick-up-the-passenger gameplay. Well, Super Runabout has turned out to be such a perplexing display of ambitious conceit and totally underachieving gameplay that one wonders if the game was ever brought before a game tester during its lengthy development process. The game begins by letting you select from a limited number of vehicles (which grows as you complete missions) and then places a mission objective in front of you that must be completed in order for you to advance to more difficult missions. In the beginning, the objectives range from the rudimentary "find the explosives and bring them to the disarming center," to "find the kidnapped girls," which has you chasing down a pair of limousines and ramming them into oblivion. While these missions closely mirror those found in the original game, you will encounter later missions that are almost completely ludicrous - such as "find the ingredients to make three hot dogs," which sends you hurtling across the city to run over the required number of hot-dog stands in order to collect the necessary number of hot dogs, buns, relish, and ketchup. This gives off the impression that Climax was sorely stretched to invent new scenarios that weren't completely ridiculous. Unfortunately, it failed in that respect.

The absurd mission objectives wouldn't be nearly as offensive if the gameplay were up to snuff. Since the whole game takes place in the elevation-mad city of San Francisco, gamers might expect a San Francisco Rush-style of madness to ensue with, again, Crazy Taxi-like results. Unfortunately, while the city of San Francisco is faithfully rendered (you can find your way toward Union Square and up through Chinatown by sight alone), the game controls only slightly better than Square's Type-S for the PS2. That is to say the steering is exceptionally heavy, and almost all of the vehicles are sluggish or worse - with the only exceptions being the Vespa-like motorcycle. While you don't feel as though you're driving on ice as you do in Type-S, the physics in Super Runabout will send you into a 360-spin at the slightest fender bender - from which recovery is a slow, drawn-out process. After you've been knocked into such a spin, you will often be facing the opposite direction, without the camera having made the appropriate adjustments. This results in your controls having the reverse effect of what you had intended. The annoying thing is that while you attempt to right yourself, another car can hit you, exacerbating the effect domino-style. Couple that with your car's damage meter increasing with every hit, and the game takes on a most unwelcome tone.

No matter what car you select, whether it's a sporty race car, a tank, a bus, a mini-hatchback, or a pickup truck, the game controls poorly. Again, the only vehicle that handles decently is the Vespa, but it's more likely to get beat up than the others. Graphically, the cars look OK at best, as do the environments. The game lacks a polished feel for a Dreamcast title, however. In fact, you could almost say this looks like a cheap PlayStation port with smoother textures and less polygon clipping being the only improvements. Innocent bystanders run out of your way, and almost every onscreen object can be crashed into, resulting in a cheap-looking explosion of some sort. Collision detection is dodgy, making this a serious case of bumper cars. The upcoming American version is rumored to add collision detection to odds and ends like streetlights and street signs, a change that would be most unwelcome since there are already enough issues to contend with. The sound in the game is a nonfactor, as the sound effects are often muddy and unclear, with music by the Surf Coasters being a "radical" afterthought that gamers will either love or hate.

As it stands, the replay value of the game is enhanced by the cars to unlock (you can even unlock a pig!), and the VMU minigames you can download. Aside from that, though, there is precious little gameplay on hand to inspire repeated plays. While Super Runabout could have been a brilliant marriage of Metropolis Street Racer and Crazy Taxi, it ends up being a half-baked mess that is easily avoided by simply not playing the game. Since the game is scheduled to come to the States, hasty importers would be best advised to wait on this one, so at least you'll have the luxury of renting before you buy. As an import purchase, Super Runabout gets an emphatic thumbs down.--Steven Garrett--Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Amazon.co.uk

The streets of San Francisco holds a strange fascination for car-chase fanatics with its winding roads, huge jumps, and hilariously slow cable cars. Super Runabout attempts to bring this racing excitement to a Dreamcast near you, offering a blend of high-speed racing action and undulating roadways.

The game offers an assortment of vehicles for your driving pleasure (including motorcycles, no less!) and streets loaded with traffic. The player needs to complete a series of missions in good time to progress through the game and unlock the many secrets and rewards.

Handling the game's vehicles can be a bit hit and miss. The police motorcycle handles like it's on springs, and marshmallow tires make it bounce around in an incredibly unrealistic fashion. Switch to the cars and things feel much more solid, though the physics are modeled after generic '70s muscle cars rather than the more refined handling of '80s and '90s vehicular transports.

This whine aside, Super Runabout is a gleeful romp through the streets of San Francisco with all the relevant landmarks in place. Its pace should keep all but the most hardened digital racers happy. --James Gordon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Patient and persistent, November 12, 2001

By 

Andrew D Brinley (Provo, Utah United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition (Video Game)

Super runabout is the ideal racing game in every aspect. You can unlock tons of cars and other cool vehicles not to mention new levels and extra features along with VMU games. This game never gets boring because there are so many suprises around the corner if you stick with it. It takes a couple of sessions to get used to way the cars drive. I would say spend a couple of sessions just learning how to drive and adjust your car and then learn the city. Once you do this then start the missions. As you unlock features you will get some really nice cars that handle great and are tons of fun to drive. The Acura NSX is my favorite. The first missions are ok but they get better so hang in there. There are two scenarios to accomplish missions through. I think the cop scenario is a little easier to start with, however the other scenario has a better car to start out with. Don't bother with the motorcycle or the minivan, scooter, or CRX. Just use the cop car and by about the third level you will unlock a nicer car. You acquire points by hitting other cars and mailboxes, outhouses, signs, storage sheds, windows, pier posts, parking cones, barracades, news stands, tables, chairs, turnstyles, and lots of other obstacles. You will drive; through malls full of people, ball parks with games going on, highways full of traffic, piers loaded with seals, boats parked at the docks, parking garages, roofs of buildings, wharehouses, dirt roads, caves, shortcuts, on beaches, across parks, through subways with train cars, unfinished highways, over bridges, etc. IN fact there are no limits to where you can drive. There are no invisable barriers or un-animated portions with little going on. The cities are busy, the traffic gets heavy, the people get upset, the cops chase you, there are helicopters circling the sky, terroists try to stop you, and your missions are creative and they change depending on which difficulty level you are on. Also the city is real. You will drive on the Golden Gate Bridge, down Lumbard Street, through Candlstick Park, through and around Alcatraz, on Fishermans Wharf, on the Pacific Coast Highway (101), on belt routes and inter-city freeways, through the Bay Area Rapd Transport system, you will even drive on an aircraft carrier in one mission. There are probably lots of other places I don't recognize having not lived there. There are twelve original mission and who knows how many to unlock. So far I have found three (you have to beat the game on all difficulty levels). They are fun bonus levels too, not just rehashed old levels. Even if you complete all the missions on Easy you will have a challenge finding out what exactly unlocks other features. For instance, when you jump off a ramp or a steeply inclined street, the game measures your jump in feet and keeps track of it. You can unlock new items if you beat certain records. Also, everything has a point value and if you hit many items such as news stands or mailboxes while completing missions you are shown your money earned for each item.
Any good racing game has either real cars that you can't wreck because of commercial infringments, or has fake cars wich you can wreck. This game has both, however only the models of the cars are revealed so you can figure out the rest. Also when your car is wrecked, it preformance is weaker and weaker until it just can't drive any more. This gives you great motivation to drive carefully and yet quickly.
Even if you don't play one mission, this game is tons of fun because you can watch your replays and even save them. When you do, you will see the whole segment from different camera views such as a helicopter view, a front or rear fender view etc. and its very much like watching a chase seen in a movie except no movie has ever had chases and accidents this good. If you have a wheel and pedal set up, you must try this game. There is a first person view for all those armchair drivers.
However I think the missions are worth attempting. Once you unlock some great cars then it is more fun to just free drive. If you don't complete a mission in time, the game just lets you drive around for as long as you want. The levels are huge. Your VMU keeps track of how many miles you drive and in some levels you will drive 15 or 20 in one direction. There are plenty of shortcuts and hidden routes you can learn and utilize in your game play. One of the best buys I have made for the Dreamcast.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Huge Fun, Funner than Crazi Taxi, November 14, 2000

By 

Joe (AK, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition (Video Game)

I havent played the actual game but i played the demo version and I thought if it's this much fun, then the full version must be one of the best car-demolition-race games ever. I could play the demo for weeks strate and never get bored or tired of it. I would've bought it, but since it is so close to Christmas I thought I'd just ask for it, since my dad saw how much fun I had with it. I recomend it even to people who don't like car games. Definetly a winner.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than Crazy Taxi? Well, yes and no., August 7, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition (Video Game)

I recently purchased this game, because of the demo, and it is more fun than Crazy Taxi. You get to destroy stuff and there is more replay value and different cars! (You can even be a cop and turn your flashers on) Anyways, the downside of this game is the control, you might as well not even try to steer in the right direction because you will slide in a different direction. Anyways the point is ..... buy this game, er I think I hear somebody calling my name.....