Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 7
Sound: 6
Controls: 8
Replay: 8

Street racers are hot right now, there is no doubt about it. In fact, the whole racing genre itself received somewhat of a facelift after successful racers like Midnight Club 2 and Need for Speed Underground, which no doubt took a lot of influence from The Fast and The Furious. But every genre has to have games that fill in the hole called "Mediocre." While not a bad game by any means, Street Racing Syndicate just lacks in some key areas.

Whether or not you like the rest of the game, the races themselves are always very fun. The controls are tight and responsive and the physics are spot-on in most cases. Most of the races you will be playing will be in the Street mode. In Street mode, you first get to take a race for a friend to build some cash, and then you buy your own car. Once you got your ride, be sure to check out the garage so you can trick it out with all the latest upgrades and enhancements.

Getting around town and to the various races is pretty easy. Simply bring up the map and choose whatever race or place you want to go, and then an option will appear asking you to drive or jump there (jumping is definitely better in many cases because driving can take quite a while, especially if you don't know the streets). The different races you can compete in range from sanctioned events to respect challenges to simply flashing your lights and taking on some guy in the streets who thinks he's the shit.

You can always choose to bet with one of the other racers before a race, which is definitely recommended if you have the cash. If you don't trust yourself, bet with the first car which is always the slowest. Cash is big in this game since you will need to enter races, upgrade your ride, and to fix all those annoying dings and dents. But upgrading itself can be tedious at times. It just feels as if the layout of the upgrade system is off. Rather than separate the items by individual parts, they separate it by type of part, then company, then individual part. This gets annoying when you go in, choose a part, go into another company and choose theirs, and find out the other one you choose is gone now because you didn't realize they were similar (since they all have different names). Also, the load times at both the garage and the car showroom (where you buy your cars) can be really annoying since it takes a few seconds to load things.

This game lacks in story. Period. Nothing here in that department. If you are looking for one, go away. It is disappointing, but oh well, no sense in beating a dead dog. My only other complaint with the gameplay is the simple lack of the rush at high speeds. Need for Speed Underground had a way of blurring out the lights and making you really feel as if you were blazing down the streets. This game doesn't do that, it doesn't feel as if you are going very fast.

Graphically, this game can't compare to Need for Speed Underground or other racers like Rallisport Challenge 2. The city is poorly modeled most of the time, the lighting is disappointing, and the cars look kind of fuzzy and low quality. Although the cars are modeled well, they just don't look that good. This game lacks a lot of polish in this department.

After the awesome beats of Need for Speed Underground, this game's sound arena is a let down. Not only do I not even know of any of these artists, but their songs just don't even sound good most of the time. Music? Scratch that. As for the races and what not, it sounds pretty good. The cars are have their own engine sounds and they get nice and revved up. So, only average.

Replay? Yes, there is some for the Playstation 2 and Xbox that comes in the form of online play. GameCube owners? Ha! Should have chosen another system. If you really like this game, then you will find plenty to love as there is a good amount of gameplay in the Street mode, and there is both online and offline multiplayer. So yes, there is replay to be found here.

Street Racing Syndicate is a fun game sometimes, and at others very annoying. It lacks polish and style. It was a valiant effort, indeed, but this game just isn't on the same level as the other street racers.

Visit the official Street Racing Syndicate web site.