STREET

Kaido Battle 2: Chain Reaction

Imagine stepping into a brand spanking new motorcar, only to find that someone has ripped out the steering wheel and peddles and wired in a Playstation Dual Shock controller. It’s an image that best describes the experience players can expect from Kaido Battle 2 Chain Reaction. Developer Genki’s ever-increasing catalogue of racing games (including the earlier Kaido game) has proven their grasp of vehicle dynamics is second to none. All that remains to be seen then, is have they managed to harness this formidable physics engine properly, and build an enjoyable game?

Taking a spin with Kaido 2 is not an experience for the motovehicular-inept. The driver needs to put in a great deal of work behind the Dual Shock, making full use of the analogue functionality to manage a seemingly never ending series of over steers and under steers. Every corner becomes a battle between grip and momentum, requiring numerous and rapid control inputs to keep the car pointing in the desired direction. It’s no real surprise that Genki have got the core mechanics spot on. Following the Gran Turismo blueprint, Kaido 2 allows the player to build up a garage of customised cars. Naturally, everything comes at a price and managing the game’s virtual currency is key to getting the most out of it. Over-stretch the budget, and drivers can look forward to a tiresome slog, building the kitty back up again.

The game offers drivers two distinct revenue streams to tap into: organised event racing during the day and a slightly shadier form of night racing where cash, parts and cars can be gambled with computer controlled opponents. The event racing is a necessary evil - ensuring that drivers can never run out of cash completely - and the game suffers as a result. Placing drivers in a series of ’no lose’ solo challenges fails to provide the adrenaline boost the night time races achieve. To compound this, the scoring for the events has been poorly implemented with even the most amateurish drift gaining points aplenty from the judges.

Fortunately things are much, much better once the sun has gone down and the real competition come out to play. The game features over 350 rivals to beat in a variety of challenges, including time attack and last-first races, where the objective is to keep up with or overtake the rival. Mostly, though, the challenges use the “Spirit Point” system, similar to that found in the Shutoko Battle series of games, where each driver has an energy gauge that is depleted by either falling behind or crashing. It’s a system which suits the mountain passes of Kaido 2 much better than the open highways of Tokyo, and makes for some edge-of-the-seat confrontations, largely due to the fact that a challenge can be won by crossing the finish line first, regardless of the amount of spirit points remaining.

Each race takes place on only a small section of road so, although there are a limited number of courses, the game feels much bigger because of this segmentation. The courses themselves are all based on real locations and the realism is enhanced still further, with the use of some impressive weather effects, specifically the semi-reflective road surface and spray evident during wet races. Effects aside, the game’s graphics have a sharp, clinical, cold feel which - although pretty - are quite soulless.

Any graphical shortcomings are, however, quickly forgotten when sampling the superb two player mode, which makes playing on a split screen very nearly as good as the full screen game. The feeling of elation from passing a human opponent whilst performing the perfect drift can not be beaten, especially when there are a large number of stock vehicles to race, alongside those already modified during the one player game.

No review of a Genki title would be complete without mentioning the customisation options available. Although not as comprehensive as the Tokyo highway-based games, Kaido 2 still offers a massive amount of mechanical bits to tinker with. Nearly every upgraded part influences the behaviour of the car…and not necessarily for the better. Ingeniously, the developers have taken customisation yet further with the bizarre inclusion of a music editor. The player can build up a library of “music parts” by beating rivals. These can then be arranged, overdubbed and stuck together to form a custom soundtrack. It’s a novel idea, which has a lot of potential in the absence of a hard disk drive to save music to. The only problem is the interface is a little clunky to use, and to produce a decent result requires a lot of effort. Still it’s a laudable addition to the game.

Ignoring the rather lacklustre Event racing (which only makes up a small portion of the game), this is a must-have title for both drift fans and lovers of the sprawling, super-customisable driving games which are Genki’s trademark. Whereas the other two significant PS2 drift racing games – Battle Gear 3 and Initial D - focus on sexy arcade thrills, Kaido 2 takes a more calculated approach by offering the player a very realistic take on drifting. In this respect, it is an essential addition to the genre and, together with its arcade stable mates, completes the “Holy Trinity” of drifting games. A parting word of caution though: it’s a difficult game which requires skill and patience in spades

palominoxp

jap, and europe only, unless you have a chip, i have the original its unbelievably hard, but fun.

rabbitman

iTrader: (3)

I don't care how, but I want a copy. I'll make it work.
EDIT: Found it on torrentspy.com. Complete with troubleshooting, and burning instructions.

STREET

link??? for pc or ps2?

pur evil

torrentspy has a couple of torrents but theyre in pal and are so damn long to dl. ppl are seeding the file but most of the time you can barely connect. it took me about 8 days to dl the whole thing. i have an idiot proof pal-ntsc patcher if you want it. PM me

fastestcivic

iTrader: (4)

sick game

2TONE_93GT

iTrader: (3)

looks cool.... but unless i start getting some consoles cheap, forget it. ill stick to pc.

StealthZ

jdm tite...its a must have

J camel

Kaido Battle 3 is out. PM if you 'want' to be Jay Dee eeM tyte!

GinoLicious

Looks like a dope game though... I havent touched my Xbox in ages though.