Teaming up for street racing
Konami’s accelerating toward the PSP with a novel team-based approach in Street Supremacy
Vroom, vroom! Is this what the PSP needs, another street racing game? Well, Konami certainly thinks so. The result is the unveiling of Street Supremacy, the latest attempt to let you over-rev your engines, blow your turbo and lay down some thick rubber.
As you would expect, Konami’s promising a wealth of licensed vehicles from the likes of Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru and more. Each can be heavily modified with new exhausts, engine upgrades, body kits and all manner of go-faster stripes as you build up your cash.
There’s a single player Championship and two-player wi-fi mode of course, but the main twist in the game's tail is its Team Battle mode. This mixes the sort of capture-the-flag style of tactical gameplay from first-person-shooters, where you have to tag different areas of the map for a certain period of time to win, with racing. In this case, each game map is divided into 15 areas, with individual drivers from the two teams racing to gain control of each area. You can select which rivals you want to race against from your opponents’ team as well as choosing the races for the other drivers in your five-man team. And, as you win more races, not only does your team gain territory but your ranking within your team will also increase. And the more powerful you become, the more territory you can grab.
Sound complicated? Well, maybe, but at its core Street Supremacy is all about taking the racing line and tapping the brakes at the right time - just like any other racer. And whether it turns out to be any good will be down to what it feels like to drive those cars. But with plenty of competition from the likes of Need For Speed, Burnout and Ridge Racer, the Team Battle mode might make for a welcome new experience when the game’s released in March.
