This game reeks of forced cool. From the moment you switch on your GameCube with this inside, and the opening movie plays across your screen with hip hop music blaring from the speakers and the model on the cover of the box forever staring provocatively at you, you can almost smell the exhaust fumes of Need for Speed in the air. Street racing, rap music, and scantily clad models all grouped together for Namco's latest game. Some would say this was a winning formula – others wouldn't touch this with a ten foot barge pole. Taking this street racer for a spin, sadly, is an empty and soulless experience devoid of thrills and excitement.

Once you make your way past the flashy opening FMV, you'll notice that the actual game engine looks remarkably poor. Plain, plastic looking and dull, with the unnaturally shiny roads and some fancy looking blurring effects as the only reminder that we are actually beyond the N64 era. Slow loading times in between menus do little to dispel the shoddy and uninspiring visual design and the game holds, and the general presentation gives the game a tacky and lazy feel.

The Street mode sees you driving around the city searching for races and upgrading your car, in what some would call a similar vein (and others would call a rip-off) to NFSU2. The cutscenes that intersperse these sections are full of blingin', supposedly cool street racing 'homies' (y'all), that not only use these ridiculous words that this sub-culture has become famous for as much as possible, but use them with such emphasis and conviction each time that it actually feels fake, ruining any chance of creating a convincing atmosphere straight away.

The racing itself never manages to deliver a thrilling, entertaining experience – the controls are thankfully adequate enough, but every race feels the same; none drag you in and actually cause you to take an interest in the action on screen – you couldn't give a flying fig if you come first or last. Calling your rivals 'artificial intelligence' is a joke in itself, with the two player split screen providing only the briefest glimmer of enjoyment.

Should you actually be given this game as a present or in a giveaway (because there's no actual reason to buy the game, and nobody would buy it from you), there's just about enough variation and diversity in the modes available to keep you occupied for a short while. However, the bitter irony of this game is that, despite the purpose of videogames being to relieve one from boredom, this one will actually drive you further into the depths of tedium. Given that Nintendo have trusted the company behind this game with our beloved Mario Kart franchise, it's seriously worrying to see their latest racing game failing to deliver any kind of entertainment value whatsoever. Steer well away from this game, if you can help it – if street racing is your bag, go and buy Need for Speed Underground 2. It may not be the greatest racing game in the world, but it certainly leaves Street Racing Syndicate stalling at the starting line. Avoid this game if you can help it, and just be thankful that it was me that was forced to play this tedious, uninspiring title, and not you.