San Francisco Rush 2049 - IGN (2025)

• San Francisco Rush (Review: 8.9)
• Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA (Review: 8.9)

Now comes the final Rush game to grace Nintendo 64, San Francisco Rush 2049, and good news -- the series leaves our beloved console with a bang as this sequel is by far the best of the three offerings. Developed (again) by Midway Games West (formerly known as Atari Games), programming legend Ed Logg and team have once again worked their racing magic for a futuristic take on the Rush universe complete with all new tracks, cars, stunt levels, and all-new battle courses. Simply put, almost everything clicks perfectly for a play experience that won't easily be put down.

• 18 tracks: six race (plus forward, backward and mirrored), four stunt, and eight battle match
• Game modes include: practice, race, circuit, stunt, battle and time trial
• The new "Wing" feature lets gamers fly through the streets of San Francisco with more control in midair and allows for new stunts and tricks
• Ghost car racing in time trial mode: players save their best races, then race against their "ghost car" to improve their time and hone driving skills
• Realistic stunt mode: freestyle in the wildest, most thrilling tracks ever designed
• New four-player, quad-screen "Battlematch" mode provides added replay value, allowing players to compete with a wide variety of weapons
• New dynamic features such as moving ramps and triggers that open twice as many shortcuts than prior versions
• New car interface and customization: paint shop to detail and body shop to customize personal cars
• 13 new cars (including hidden cars) and improved car handling to provide even more variety
• Four-player support
• Support for RAM Pak
• Higher-resolution textures
• Rumble Pak support
• Controller Pak support
• Can play against two players in "Race" mode and four players in "Battle" and "Stunt" modes

Gameplay
Gran Turismo. World Driver Championship. Sega GT. These games Rush is definitely not. The franchise has never really been about simulation-oriented racing, licensed cars, reality-based physics or career building. Rather, perhaps accidentally, Rush's greatest appeal lies in its death-defying stunts, high-flying jumps, spins, corkscrews, loops, secret shortcuts and big, explosive crashes. This is how it has been since the original game and it's especially the case with 2049, which incorporates bigger shortcuts, more stunt tracks and a finely tuned point system to give players something to aim for.

Ironically, the weakest aspect of 2049 is its racing game, which is still quite a bit of fun for reasons other than standard racing. Players eventually unlock six courses to speed through, each of which can also be tackled backward and mirrored. In Single Race or Circuit Mode, tracks are occupied by computer drone cars that stick to their pre-defined race paths and aren't very intelligent. Every track is overflowing with tricky shortcuts that shave seconds off laps, but gamers usually can't just stumble into these alternate paths -- they'll first have to learn how to master each time-saving route through trial and error. This becomes a task in of itself because there are several shortcuts per course, most of them are commendably well hidden from the main streets, and almost all require a considerable amount of luck and air acrobatics. Now players have to make a conscious decision: do they simply put the pedal to the metal and zip through the regular track, or do they try to find all of the hidden shortcuts, best them, and progress through the courses that way? The answer usually falls to the latter for two reasons:

• 1. The race drones are either too easy or too difficult to bother trying to compete with in a side-by-side race.
• 2. The heavy physics system doesn't really lend itself to fast-paced side-by-side racing action. One wrong bounce and cars will go flipping off in the wrong direction -- so it's much better to just risk it all and go with the much more entertaining shortcuts.

Chances are Midway Games West realized this too because sometime into 2049's development cycle the developer also packed each track with gold and silver coins that unlock secret areas and items in the game -- and this puts an emphasis on level exploration, not racing. Players are encouraged to go into Rush 2049's Practice Mode (which incidentally has no time limit) and seek out these items, and this is in our opinion the real draw of the standard courses. Players will have to really comb each level to find all of these suckers, too -- and this is coming from experience. Some tokens in particular are hidden high atop building structures or floating way up in the air and can only be attained with lots of speed, lots of luck, and a whole heck of a lot of air.

Thankfully, it seems Midway Games West was listening when gamers complained that Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA fell a bit short in the overblown level design department because 2049 goes all out in this respect. Massive tracks house shortcut after stunning shortcut, almost all of which encapsulate gravity defying turns, jumps, and heights. One dark, Gotham City-like level features an alternate road that goes straight up -- and if players somehow race all the way to the top, they'll be treated to a huge, satisfying fall back down to the other side. Meanwhile another course sports an area with a blatant vertical gap in a wall that hides two gold coins beyond it. In front of the wall is a small platform that is slightly angled. In order to obtain the gold coins players actually have to drive their car up against the angled platform, thus balancing their vehicle on two wheels, and then coast through the gap in the wall ahead to get the tokens! It's an extremely tricky procedure and we'll happily give a cookie to anybody who can do it the first time -- or even the fifth time. But if a player can manage it, a great deal of satisfaction is earned and that's a guarantee.

But Midway Games West hasn't stopped with just bigger, better shortcuts. It has also introduced dynamic environments to the Rush franchise in 2049, and what a welcomed addition they are. As players progress through the race courses they will occasionally come into contact with floor switches and pressure points that open up certain doors or activate objects when they are run over. For instance, one switch activates a huge wall that slides out into the middle of a street and smashes into any cars and another raises a wall so that players don't smash into it while trying to take a shortcut. Some of these dynamic pressure points are a necessity in getting various gold and silver coins too. These switches work to add another strategic element to an already spectacular stunting system.

2049 features 13 new vehicles, some of which will have to be unlocked, and because the game takes place roughly 50 years from now, most of the cars have a very futuristic look about them. Players can now choose from rocket cars, high-tech sports vehicles, muscle cars or even trucks. The vehicles themselves handle exactly as the ones do in the previous Rush titles -- a little heavy, with bouncy physics that work to send cars soaring through the air and ricocheting off buildings. The overall control is a bit of an acquired taste -- it's definitely not Ridge Racer -- but players will quickly find that it mingles well with the huge jumps and big air design of the game.

But that's not to say that nothing has changed. In fact, Midway Games West has added in one major control improvement that's sure to dazzle Rush fans into happy submission: Wings. That's right -- all vehicles now come equipped with airplane-like wings that shoot out from their sides when players deem it necessary. The wings are used to balance cars as they soar through the air and they work flawlessly. So, if a player somehow finds that their vehicle is upside down and speeding steadily toward a crash with the concrete below, they can activate their wings and spin it right-side-up for a much more comfortable landing. The wings are very important in regular races and a godsend in the Stunt Modes -- and yet the developer has found a great way of ensuring that they aren't overused to rack up points too. And speaking of which...

Stunt Mode
Here it is -- the mode that all Rush fans have been waiting for, and 2049 delivers huge. The game features four unique stunt tracks (three of which players will have to unlock) complete with their own original setting, jumps and overall design. Each stunt level is filled with obstacles that enable prime air opportunities -- ramps, ledges, curving walls, bumps, spikes -- whatever -- and the coins are also featured in the stunt portion of the game. Some areas are better than others, of course, but they are all extremely addicting and wholeheartedly recommended for hours upon hours of mindless entertainment. It's a very simple process, so we'll explain how it works in very simple wording:

You go fast. You jump. You spin. You crash. So: You go jump again. You spin. You flip. You bounce off a wall. You land. You get stunt points. You smile. You ask, "Did you see that?" You repeat process.

2049 now sports a stunt point system that calculates just about everything that a player does from the overall best trick performed to individual points for back flips, front flips, left rolls, right rolls, spins, twists, two-wheels, wheelies, endos and air time. And yes -- gamers do get points for helicopter spins this time around! And Midway Games West has even done its homework in regards to the addition of Wings in this mode. Players can still use the Wings to steady their vehicles in the air, but they will lose lots of points of their overall stunt if they choose to do so. The game offers a "No Wings Bonus" to tricks executed without the use of them, and this serves to balance out the mode perfectly. As it stands now, we hardly ever utilize the Wings when we play simply because the point loss is too great; we'd rather take our chances with luck and pray for a massive reward.

Battle Mode
Many publications will no doubt write 2049's Battle Mode off as an afterthought, or something that fails to compare to the rest of the game. And they'll be hopelessly wrong. Rush's Battle Mode is basically a copy of games like Vigilante 8; players control vehicles mounted with guns through several different environments and try to blow each other up. The amazing part, though, is that 2049's Battle Mode is significantly better than all of Vigilante 8, and it's just an "afterthought." The fun physics of Midway's franchise combined with a variety of different weapons and eight overall Battle environments can't be beat by any similar styled game for Nintendo 64.

Battle Mode is designed for multiplayer players -- four in all -- and unfortunately doesn't support AI bots for single-play action. But it's not a big deal as it's most enjoyed with friends anyway. A player is awarded one point for each successful kill. Seasoned Battle Moders will no doubt second our advice below:

• Learn to use the powerslide button. You're going to do a lot of quick spinning and firing off rockets at the opposition.
• Don't use the Battering Ram on somebody who has a shield and Sonic Blaster.
• You can lose Guided Missiles around corners.
• Set Land Mines in areas where weapons respawn.
• If your energy is low then crash into a wall. Your car will explode, but at least the competition won't get a point for the kill -- and you won't lose one either.

Stunt Mode and Battle Mode Note
Both the Stunt and Battles Modes in 2049 are superb. However, players have to unlock many of the arenas that frequent these modes and the game itself hardly explains that this needs to be done. Our suggestion: read the instruction manual completely and bear in mind that there is a whole lot more to Rush 2049 than is initially revealed.

Multiplayer
Rush 2049 features one of the best multiplayer modes to grace Nintendo 64 -- period. This is simply because both the Stunt and Battle portions of the game support up to four-players and, as we've noted, both are truly brilliant in design and execution. Slowdown during the multiplayer Stunt or Battle modes is limited and hardly ever has a bearing on actual gameplay. Meanwhile the actual standard racing portion of the game, like previous Rush offerings, offers only two-player support -- but gamers will probably hardly ever visit this mode anyway so it really doesn't matter.

Because the Stunt and Battle Modes are so different, players have virtually two unique games to play in one -- both spectacular -- and therefore the replay value of 2049 is almost unequaled. Definitely suggested for party play.

Graphics
Let's face it, the San Francisco Rush for Nintendo 64 has never been known for its eye-popping visuals. Past Rush games have dished out first-generation looking graphics clogged up with overly blurry textures and sometimes puzzling color schemes. But 2049 honestly breaks apart from its predecessors in this respect with impressively detailed new textures that are actually somewhat crisp and detailed (there's even pre-lit coloring), and more stylized environments that range from futuristic, dark cities to coastal freeways. The depth of view, particularly in the Stunt Modes (which aren't drowning in skyscrapers) is equally startling as most of the game runs with a smart framerate. Midway Games West has even replaced the antique car explosion, water splash, and smoke particle effects with much improved ones. Woo-hoo!

Meanwhile the cars, which are generally futuristic in design and boast a faked specular highlighting during races, are nicely detailed, shiny, and look great up close. Vehicle Wings even shoot out a trail of smoke as automobiles soar through the air. The only real gripe we've got relates to the menu interface itself, which, save for the car selection screen, is somewhat generic and offers no indication or hint that any of the secret Battle and Stunt Mode levels that must be unlocked. Overall, though, the title just looks more polished than any other Rush effort before it, and that's really the best way to describe it.

Sound
"Wha-? Could it be? No. Listen again. Are you sure you have the right game?" These were the words that came forth as we played the first Stunt Track in 2049 and heard the opening music. It was a mellow techno tune that actually fit the mood and sounded good. Having suffered through the soundtracks of both previous Rush titles, we simply weren't prepared for it. Midway Games West has utilized Factor 5's MuSyx sound compression techniques with 2049 and it has definitely paid off. The music is now crisp and clear, in stereo, and sometimes -- dare we say it -- even catchy. The sound effects for cars and crashes are pretty standard, but they get the job done -- crash, bang, screech, skid, boom, thud -- nothing more or less. All said and done, though, a surprisingly enjoyable listening experience. Who would've thought?