The whole premise of the game is about driving with style, rather than driving fast. The Kudos system rewards the player every time they drive with style, mainly coming from a slide or a clean overtaking maneuver. At the same time, the system will punish the player for bad driving, hitting a wall or opponent for example. After each race, the skill and style will be added up before the subtraction of the penalties gives the player their total.

Interestingly, the game lets you set your own targets for each race, for example you can give your opponent a head start on the one on one races. The game rewards the player with more points if the targets are set higher. Unfortunately this is where the game starts to break down, on certain races it's possible to gain such a massive score by pulling off excessive slides that setting your targets higher becomes almost pointless because you've already met the required score for the chapter. Good players will even be able to unlock all 25 chapters by chapter 9 and from then on it's unlikely they'll ever want to raise the stakes again.

One of the most talked about aspects of the game is the tracks themselves, real life city layouts and textures have been produced to create lifelike representations of London, San Francisco and Tokyo. The detail of each really is impressive, but real life doesn't always mean a better game. Most of the tracks are simply dull; the San Francisco tracks are especially poor with its endless 90-degree corners. Tokyo fairs a little better, but like London most of the tracks feature extremely frustrating bollards that are often placed right on the racing line and will stop you dead in your tracks. Despite this, the London tracks are by far the most fun of the 250 on offer. The tracks are fast and the number of right-angled corners is thankfully down to a minimum. It's rare that you'll ever get to race the same track twice (although you will race certain sections many times), so you never get to fully learn the tracks and the best racing lines.

Praise must go to the handling of each car, however. Think somewhere between Ridge Racer and Gran Turismo and add a slice of individuality and you'll find MSR's handling. The sense of speed is admirable and the control given when sliding is welcome. Car damage is not present, but due to the arcade nature of the game this isn't a great loss (Although the Xbox sequel, Project Gotham Racing will have full damage), collision is regrettably not particularly spectacular or convincing. Occasionally the car will spin after a crash, but most of the time it'll just bounce off the wall or opponent. But at the end of the day, the cars are fun to drive and that's all that matters.

Players will find the early chapters particularly difficult and slightly daunting, but once the game dynamics are understood, they are unlikely to face any serious problems throughout the game. Most chapters feature a 'Special Race' that offer a bonus (Car, cheat etc) if certain requirements are met. Most can only be raced in a certain car or even at a particular time of day, and even if the player can meet these, they then have to complete the challenge with a predetermined amount of Kudos. You'll often be unable to complete the special challenge because the car needed is unavailable until a later chapter is completed.

A great deal of work has obviously been spent on the general detail of the game. Time of day works in conjunction with the internal Dreamcast clock and the graphics will react accordingly; streetlights will come on during the night etc. Each city also features its own radio station that plays original music composed by Richard Jacques. While the cheese factor is high, it's an interesting touch. Drive through a tunnel and the radio will sound interference. Neat.

While MSR is a welcome change in the identikit-driving genre, the game has some series flaws with its basic design, which unwind the whole experience. By relying so heavily on the original 'Kudos' scoring system, the simple problems are highlighted throughout the lengthy single player campaign and unfortunately the experience is ruined as a result.

The single player mode will keep you busy for a long time however, and the multiplayer mode is enjoyable, although slowdown on some tracks is unacceptable. The computer AI is decent, but getting a penalty because they drove into you is a minor oversight by the developers. There is fun to be had in the game, so if you are able to pick it up cheaply then go ahead, but be prepared to put in a lot of effort and get little in return.