''L.A. Rush'', known as ''Rush'' in the
PlayStation Portable version, is an
open world racing video game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
developed by
Midway Studios – Newcastle and published by
Midway Games, released in North America for
PlayStation 2 and
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
(not compatible with
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
) on 10 October 2005, and on 21 October in Europe. It was released for
Microsoft Windows on 4 November in Europe, and for
PlayStation Portable on 7 November 2006. It is the fourth and final instalment in the ''
Rush'' series.
The game was originally planned to be available on
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console developed by Tiger Telematics. It was released in the UK, Sweden and the U.S. starting in March 2005. Its first-party games were developed in studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, and Manchester, England. Gi ...
, but got cancelled on 6 February 2006, due to the discontinuation of the console. ''L.A. Rush'' features voice talent from
Orlando Jones
Orlando Jones (born April 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for being one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'', for his role as the 7 Up spokesman from 1999 to 2002, and for his role a ...
,
Bill Bellamy
William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's Russell Simmons' ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase "booty call", descri ...
,
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
...
and
Twista
Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastes ...
.
Gameplay
The game features free-roaming with race mechanics similar to those in ''
Need for Speed: Underground 2''. The
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
map can have a point assigned to a certain location and then the point shows up on the minimap during gameplay. It also features two mission types and two game modes. Other features include 50 vehicles, 30 different cruise missions (can be played with another player on the PSP version when connected to
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...
), upgrades for cars (available from multiple top-line manufacturers and West Coast Customs) and a
hip hop and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
from various artists, such as
Twista
Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastes ...
,
Lil' Kim,
Skinny Puppy,
J-Kwon
Jerrell C. Jones (born March 28, 1986), better known by his stage name J-Kwon, is an American rapper best known for his 2004 single " Tipsy," which peaked at number two in 2004.
Life and career
At age 12, Jones was expelled from his home for a ...
and
Rock 'n Roll Soldiers.
There are two modes in the game; Battle mode (which was first introduced in the home version of ''Rush 2049'') lets the players go head-to-head with each other in a power-up-propelled race, while the Stunt Arena mode (which was featured in all other home Rush games) is only available in the PSP version of the game, where the player must launch their car off the ramp and fly through the air performing different tricks. In order to keep up with points, the player must land their car safely on all four wheels.
Aside from two modes, there are two mission types available; the Reacquire missions involve the player recovering the cars that have been repossessed from the storyline and bringing them back to the garage with minimal damage, whilst avoiding enemy vehicles that try to ram the player. The Retribution missions involve property damage where the player is tasked to destroy various things that belonged to Lidell in different ways.
Up to 50 playable cars are featured in the game, 30 of which are licensed cars, while the rest are Midway concept cars.
Plot
Trikz Lane (
Luis Da Silva) is a renowned street racer in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, who has been earned a well-known sizeable reputation since he started racing in his blue
Nissan 240SX (S14), which is referred to as the "go-kart", while being accomplished and supported by his friend, Ty Malix (Orlando Jones). The two kept winning races across the city, winning their first prize money that worth ten grand, prompting them to become wealthy entrepreneurs, owning a mansion in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
and a large collection of cars. One night, while throwing a party in their mansion, the duo invites the Rides magazine to propose on featuring the S14 in the magazine's next front page cover, and the
West Coast Customs
West Coast Customs (abbreviated by the company as WCC) is an automobile repair shop focusing on the customization of vehicles. It was started by co-founders Ryan Friedlinghaus and Quinton Dodson in 1993. According to Friedlinghaus, he began the ...
(Ryan Friedlinghaus, Quinton "Q" Dodson, Michael "Mad Mike" Martin and Dana "Big Dane" Florence) on modifying the car for the cover. The two meets Lidell Rey (Bill Bellamy), a local race promoter, whose hosting a series of street races in his own event, the Lidell Rey Street Slam. Having not a fond of Trikz, Lidell tries to fight against him, willing not to pay Trikz's vacation spot in
Maui,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
at the end of the summer, and to prevent him from taking his girlfriend, Lana. He later drops a few pennies from his hat, telling Trikz that "change is coming".
Two weeks later, Trikz and Ty returns home after a vacation in
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in English ...
, only to find their mansion left abandoned in the ruins, and their S14 left damaged in their driveway. Much of their assets and cars stored inside have been repossessed, including the
Hummer H2
The Hummer H2 is a large SUV that was marketed by Hummer and built in the AM General facility under contract from General Motors from 2002 to 2009. It is based on a modified GMT820 GM three-quarter-ton pickup truck in the front and a half-ton 1 ...
that they were driving upon arrival. The duo reveals that Lidell has robbed their mansion using his connections when they were away. To give payback against Lidell, Trikz enters the Lidell Rey Street Slam, while Ty went to find the lost cars that were stashed across L.A.
Trikz completes the first and second stage of races that were held respectively in the
Hollywood and
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...
areas. In the middle of those stages, Ryan Friedlinghaus, whose have been hired by Ty, calls Trikz, informing about Lidell's properties that needed to be destroyed, in which Trikz manages to do so; these includes five billboards located in the Hollywood area, and the
Pacific Wheel in the
Santa Monica Pier. Trikz also receives a call from Lana during the first half of the Santa Monica stage, who started helping him to find the missing cars.
Upon arriving
South Central Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown.
It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...
for the third stage, Trikz and Ty visits the West Coast Customs branch in
Carson to meet the shop's crew about the modification ideas for the S14. After winning all the races in the South Central stage, Trikz gets a challenge from Lidell's unnamed professional street racer (Twista), whose arrived in L.A. for the fourth stage in the
South Bay area. Lidell provides the racer and his crew, a lineup of Midway concept cars to race, however, Trikz steals one of Lidell's delivered concept cars in the middle of the stage by Ryan's orders, and having it destroyed by a train.
After completing the South Bay stage, Trikz and Ty heads to the final stage that takes place in
Downtown Los Angeles. Lidell and his racer demands a rematch to the duo, which Ty summarize this by offering them a "three large" bet, which Lidell's racer accepts. Meanwhile, Ryan calls Trikz again, orders him to destroy a lineup of high-end cars that belongs to Lidell by pushing them off on a rooftop garage in a preparations of a photo shoot. Amidst on seeing his defeated racers and most of his destroyed property, Lidell challenges Trikz for a final duel across Downtown L.A. using a
Saleen S7
Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...
, but Trikz manages to overtake him and won the race.
After Lidell's defeat, Trikz and Ty regains all of their assets and cars, bringing their mansion back to normal, with a night party been held again. Trikz's S14 returned from West Coast Customs in a modified state, featuring a jacuzzi with a plasma television screen on the back of the car. Trikz goes for his one-month vacation to Maui, with Lana joining him, and will continue racing upon returning from the trip.
Reception
Many reviewers have been critical of the game. One common criticism is that the ability to customize cars was poorly realized; players cannot modify them themselves, instead, the car is automatically upgraded by the West Coast Customs crew.
GamesRadar says: "Roll your vehicle into the garage and they'll kit it out with what they feel like".
[http://www.gamesradar.com/reviews/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=37668&subsectionid=1605 ]
''L.A. Rush'' has also been criticized for not including every area of Los Angeles; for example, the
San Fernando Valley was excluded.
Not all reaction was negative. The realistic handling in the game was welcomed by some as being comparable to the handling in ''
Juiced
Juiced may refer to:
* ''Juiced'' (video game), a racing video game
** Juiced (series), the subsequent series of games
* ''Juiced'' (book), a book by Jose Canseco noted for revealing the extent of steroid use in baseball
* '' Juiced.GS'', a maga ...
'' and ''
Need for Speed: Underground 2''.
Nominations
References
{{Rush series
2005 video games
Gizmondo games
Midway video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation Portable games
Open-world video games
Racing video games
Video games developed in Canada
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games featuring black protagonists
Video games set in Los Angeles
Windows games
Xbox games
Street racing video games
Works about vacationing