For the most part, Kinetica sports some pretty sharp graphics. The tracks range from complex (but visually bland) cityscapes to gorgeous wooded areas that really show off the game's engine. Unfortunately, while the frame rate doesn't usually dip down too low, when there's a lot of action on the screen the game can really chug. It's unfortunate, too, because some of the sense of speed that you get from the game disappears when that happens. For the most part, though, you really do feel like you're tearing down some crazy track in the middle of space or wherever the hell you're currently located. The character models are well-detailed, and while I found the gratutitous nature of the various female racers more amusing than attractive, one can't deny that the characters are animated superbly. The way that they bend into the curves, pull off tricks and in general move around really gives you the feeling that these are people racing, not cars with different models.

The game's music is precisely what you'd expect for this genre. You've got the thumping techno, the really thumping techno, and the slightly-less-thumping techno. Come on, you haven't played futuristic racing games enough by now to know that there's a standard soundtrack method used for every single one? Sheesh. The sound effects are what you'd expect, with lots of scrapes and zooms and so on. There's absolutely nothing here that you haven't heard many times over in similar titles.

Fortunately, Kinetica is different enough in terms of gameplay to make it stand out from many titles in the genre. It has its flaws--mostly having to do with some truly confusing track designs--but in the end it's an interesting blend of the trick-based gameplay you find in SSX and the pure racing action you'd find in a WipEout title. It's nothing more than a blend of already-extant play styles, but it's definitely an entertaining romp.

I'm not even going to pretend that there's a storyline here. The core concept of the game is that instead of racing in or on vehicles, in Kinetica your character is the vehicle. Using a special kinetic suit (hence the game's name), people race around on tracks in an attempt to come in first, like most races. But because it's people racing and not vehicles, you can also pull off a number of different stunts, both while you're driving along the ground and in midair.

The tracks are generally of the twisty sort that those of you who played Mag Force Racing on the DC or Killer Loop on the PS would be familiar with. Instead of being bounded by silly things like gravity and the like, the tracks go in and out and all around, and it works surprisingly well. You don't have to manage magnetic energy like you did in the previous two games, which is a Good Thing. Instead, the main commodity in the game is boost energy. You can gain boost energy in three different ways--you can do tricks, get a power-up to get it, or siphon energy from boost zones on the track.

The siphoning is a nice touch. It requires you to make a decision--do you use the boost now, or do you store it for later? Powerups are also done slightly differently than usual. You pick up yellow slivers on the track, and after picking up five of them the game randomly picks a powerup for you. You can also nab a purple crystal, which instantly gives you a random powerup. This keeps the game from degnerating into a straight blast-fest, which is nice for those of us who always played WipEout with powerups turned off.

The tracks range from relatively straightforward to seriously topsy-turvy, with shortcuts and jumps and all sorts of craziness. Pulling off tricks is a necessity, as is using a brake-slide technique that gives you extra boost. It doesn't hurt that the AI is surprisingly sharp. When you tire of the single-player game, where you can unlock new circuits by placing high enough in previous races and even unlock new racers and hidden tracks, you can always play two-player. Unfortunately, the game's engine stumbles a little when doing split-screen. Neither of the two views are satisfying--split vertically, you can't see far enough to the sides, and split vertically you can't see far enough ahead. Ah, well. It's entertaining enough, but most will probably go back to more solid multiplayer racers like Crash Team Racing and the like.

The AI is definitely better than I expected. It took me a number of attempts to even manage to come in the top three on the first course; I had to learn a few of the shortcuts, and proper usage of boost energy and the ways to get it back. As the game progresses, the races only get harder, although some of the tracks are definitely easier or harder depending on the sort of racer you use. The bonus tracks are devilishly difficult, and you definitely won't be mastering all of the levels on your first sitting, which is definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, you may find yourself fighting with the controls a little more than one would like, but they're manageable once you've gotten over the learning curve.

They're still not perfect, though. The game makes extensive use of the analog sticks, but to be able to do precise powerslides, it requires the use of the face buttons for acceleration and braking instead of the stick. Even the machines with the tightest handling felt a little too slippery to me, and the ones that weren't tight were downright uncontrollable. Maybe I don't have the mad racing skillz, but . . . I dunno. The courses were also a little confusing sometimes, and I found myself getting stuck in corners and doing all sorts of stupid crap as I raced around. Fortunately the game has a built in reset button that puts you back on the track, but it seems like a cheap fix to an inherent problem. It's also a little harder to pull tricks off consistently than I would have liked; it seems that the game doesn't always register them when it should. Ah, well. The game's load times are somewhere between minimal and annoying, but they usually stay on the safe side of minimal.

It may not do too many revolutionary new things, but Kinetica is an entertaining ride through an alternate future. The races are fast, the tracks are crazy, and the stunts are entertaining. It has some technical flaws, and the multiplayer isn't as strong as I would have liked, but Kinetica is a solid entry in the genre. Fans of this style of racer would do well to pick it up, and those looking to get into it could do much worse than a rental. Kinetica definitely delivers on the action, as its title implies.