Genre: Action
Developer: Smilebit
Publisher: Sega

As one of the first and best implementations of cel shading, Jet Grind Radio's visuals are edgy and remarkably distinct-- each area has its own set of colors and themes, and the character designs fit with the sharp, high resolution environments perfectly. The motion captured character animations are also unbelievably fluid, and fun to watch all on their own.

Jet Grind Radio's music is so bizarre that its selections make the Forza Motorsports series' soundtracks sound like everyday pop music. Like Road Rash 3DO, which is another game with an edgy soundtrack, Jet Grind Radio's musical selections and the style of its voice acting help to make more real the "underground society" about which the game is trying to tell a story.

Jet Grind Radio plays like a "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater-Lite"-- the gameplay is predicated on skating around while "grinding" on edged surfaces, except in this title there is no need to manually balance the character as the grind ensues. The engine generally plays fine, but requires high levels of player precision, especially since the stages often place obstructions such as lampposts right in the way of common player pathes.

Jet Grind Radio's entire premise involves racing against either a clock or an AI player, while trying to navigate the game's complex stages, while simultaneously attempting to tame an unwieldy gameplay engine, all of which is happening with the player on rollerskates. The game's steep learning curve can make for an intense and frustrating experience, but the title is also reasonably rewarding once its nuances are understood.