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Top-notch graphics and physics models that really show what the XBOX hardware is capable of.

Each mission has its own unique set of objectives and variance of gameplay. Each mission is unique.

The open street maps give the game a certain degree of open-endedness while still having the linear sequence of mission goals.

Speeding down busy streets, smashing through barricades, rampaging through pedestrian walkways and parks, and just being absolutely wreckless is the major attraction for the gameplay. It taps into the players' devious appetite for wrecklessness and destruction. It is eye-popping, sensational, makes you feel powerful, and really taps into the cynical juvenile delinquent in all of us.

The recreation of the Hong Kong action flik is done well, with lots of crazy wreckless action, things moving around, the environment coming alive, etc.

Each mission involves a slight amount of role-playing.

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The fast-paced driving and rampaging is almost all you do. The mission objectives vary, but the style of gameplay does not. This missions have different objectives, but throughout the game it still just racing around, smashing into things, and nothing more. There are even some missions where driving a car doesn't make sense, like when you have to sneak around to capture pictures of the head Yakuza, or crashing into the top part of a dumptruck to damage it. The wreckless gameplay is also so fast-paced (and with a time limit) that it doesn't give the player a chance to admire the awesome graphics.

The wreckless behavior is extremely unsophisticated. It's the layman's entertainment (like most all video games these days). The story is also extremely stupid and unsophisticated, and doesn't connect with the player's emotions in any way. The game is basically centered around the idea that it's fun to drive cars and break stuff. There is no drama, no escapism, no engrossing characters, and no point to playing other than for the fun of it.

There are too many instances where the player is pushed too far back after making one tiny mistake. The difficult is a little too high. WIth a game like this where many messups and errors are practically unavoidable, the game needs to give the player more room for that and ease up on the time limits.

I often find myself caught between looking at the radar and looking at where I'm going. It is very difficult to watch both at the same time. Sometimes I will just use the arrow or beakons to tell where to go, but they don't provide all the information I need (like whether or not a car is coming up behind me, sometimes they give me false routing information, etc). If they were to use sound to convey some of the information, that would be more seamless and helpful.

Getting caught in a mess of crashed cars and trying to work your way out is kind of annoying. Sometimes the camera angle can make it worse. There's also the situation where you are tailgating a car and trying to damage it, but you can't because you're not moving into it. If there was some way to inflict damage while tailgating somebody, that would really help and make things less frustrating.