Sadly this is yet another not-so-good racing game from 1c. Poor physics and a poor driving model. The only good part is the unusual setting, but that's not enough to make the game good.

As a great fan of 1C's games I had quite high hopes for this game. However this game greatly dissapointed me, an interesting detail is that the publisher 1C Company was probably aware of the poor quality of this product. On Steam, it is only available through the 1C Racing Pack - you cannot buy the game separately. I mean when a publisher acknowledges that it's unreasonable to charge any sum of money for one of its games, you know somethings wrong. Still, it remains a mystery why 1C Company, publisher of the brilliant Men of War series, even included this game in its racing collection on Steam. Giving away a game as lackluster as Streets of Moscow can only have a negative effect for everyone involved, especially when the publisher's name is slapped onto the name of the package. Streets of Moscow quite simply isn't worth anyone's time and should be avoided at all costs.

The only positive thing to say about this game is that it atleast breaks away from the unsual setting of racing games in that it takes place in the street of moscow, and to be honest the graphics are not that bad, but when everything else is pretty much wrong with this game, it really doesn't matter.

Having spent many years in Moscow as a hand model I know the streets pretty well and I have to say that this game brings to life the exciting street racing culture that exists there. Unfortunately the controls leave a bit to be desired and the physics are weak but I don't need a perfect simulation when it comes to racers. I recommend this game to Muscovites.

Yay, another 1C racing game, and while not as bad as most it's still very lightweight and forgettable compared to a Codemasters title, though when considering the direction Need for Speed is heading, 1C racers will soon be on a par with that series at least. Hate to sound like a broken record but bad car physics and controls are a familiar problem here as is the general overall lack of depth or quality.

Racing games are a genre my feelings are mixed on. On one hand, I love the intensity, thrills, of them, especially in simulation games. On the other hand, they leave my perfectionist nature raging a lot in frustration where I wonder why I bother playing the game.. We are talking rage where I swear a lot. No other genre does that to me except for insanely hard games were you have to be prefect. So this was a game I decided to take a risk on and I managed to enjoy it.

Game-play:

Streets of Moscow is the sequel to Adrenaline/ A-Race Extreme that was basically had broken game-play that made it impossible to win a race. Thankfully, this time, it is playable plus it's fun. The game-play was simplified somewhat with a loss of the contract management but the game still can be fun. Single player story is about a player named Max who goes to see his girlfriend but she gets kidnapped. He joins the underground racing scene to find her.

Once the story cut-scene is over, your dropped into a sandbox map of Moscow where all the racing will take place. In the racing category, you can chose which race you want anytime with optional races to make money. Money is important for buying new cars and upgrading your vehicle or decorating it. You will also gain experience points which will allow you to purchase new items and at level 20, adrenaline powers that can relive a lot of frustrations. However because as the game auto saves when you make a purchase or if you finish or quit a race, you need to be careful.

Each race course takes place in a part of the city where you have to race down the roads to the finish line. I should emphasize following the roads as if you try to go off course or try to find shortcuts you will be penalized and have to go where you first went off road. It's reasonable but sometimes it can feel annoying. There are multiple types of racing modes from regular laps, short sprints, fastest lap, check points, open drive check points, and demolition derby. Weather and time will change in real time as you race and when you restart. This can me getting bad weather in a race that can both help and hurt you. Along with the customizable random traffic, you have a lot of replay value in each race that helps from things become boring.

The random traffic can bring down the frames in intense races sometimes as you will have 30-40 cars on screen, being smashed, along with your opponents smashing other cars. My frames would drops into the 15 range where it would appear as a slide show. It doesn't happen often but be ready for it. It is impressive though to see so many cars on screen at once which I have never seen in a game before. It does show the effectiveness of an open sandbox racer can added to the racing genre with AI vehicles that have their own routs that change, stop at stoplights, and try to veer away from you.

The game does have some annoying flaws though. One of these is dreaded car magnetism where sometimes when you hit an object you car gets drawn into it like a magnet and going around in circles. It can happen sometimes with vehicles but it manly happens with sidewalks. If if your car should be able to gt up on the sidewalk, it will get caught on hit and try to bring you towards it. Car magnetism is not a huge issue but an annoyance. Another problem is that depending on the race, sometimes your car will always lock up at the start were you will just be spinning your wheels. It happens in some races so I think this was intentional but annoying as when you factor in faster cars getting a lead, it makes things much worse. I have also noticed that turbo button doesn't always activate when you press it despite having plenty of adrenaline. I have found my self pressing the button three times before the fourth try would work.

A more annoying issue is cars drifting into yours. This happens only with NPC non racers were they try to get out of your way but do it in a stupid manner where they drift to where you will drive into. It's random but can be mind numbing frustrating when it costs you a race. A worse problem is that often racers will end up having better cars after you reach level 5. They drive faster then you with only mass traffic ends up being a mixed blessing. One you reach level 20 you can unlock shock wave which is a godsend ability. It flings cars away from your, often flipping them. It's mitigates all the frustrations you would previously experience. It sounds cheap and it does once you get turbo level two or shock wave 2. After that, the game becomes a dull mechanical game. I seriously was winning the game with a level 20 car with all my adrenaline abilities upgraded to 5 The end of the game is just going to a location and watching a cut-scene with 4 bonus races that take 5 minutes to drive though in each lap. After that, you can just fool around. You get no closure or anything.

Graphics:

The graphics are good when you have settings on max. It kind of looks like a 2006 game most of the time but in certain times and weather conditions, the game looks amazing like it's a 2007 game. This is when the lighting is just right. I say the graphics are mixed because plain colors often look flat and blend in with the shape of the car making it look flat. Metallic paint helps make your car look better though. Textures are average quality with good ones like roads cement structures, racing cars, and some buildings looking very detailed while others look a bit low res. To be fair, with the amount of action that can happen on screen and lots of AI actions taking places, raising the graphics more would raise the requirements of this game and probably prevent me from playing it. I can tell you that my PC still runs games pretty well.

Sound:

Sound effects in the game are great. The gusts of wind when in turbo and the roars of engines, add to the intensity of the race. The music in the game is made up of a mix of in game music and Russian songs. The in-game music tends to be tame and sometimes feels a bit out of place with the action. Though with how intense this game can be, I guess some relaxing music can't hurt. The Russian songs on the other hand are more intense that get you pumped. I may not understand Russian and the songs may not be of great quality but they stand out in my mind when I think of this game.

Conclusion:

Streets of Moscow is a surprisingly competent racing game. While it has plenty of bugs and unfair AI , these are not noticeable int he first five levels and when you reach level 20, you gain abilities to mitigate these factors. It is technically impressive for being a open sandbox racing game with 30 or more cars driving on screen at once. While it was fun at times smashing cars, and driving fast, it would also be a pain to. I have mixed feelings about recommending it as there are better racing games out their but this one has features I have not seen in other racing games. It's up to you to decided if you should buy it or not. I don't regret buy or playing this game though. You can get it on steam for $20 or on GamersGate for $10

An original street racing game that includes the elements of police evasion, crashing, and standard racing. A creative physics generator gives the game its own class, for example hitting a car will knock it away like a tinker toy, but hitting a truck or bus is like hitting an concrete wall.

Street of Moscow is probably reflecting on what the world would be like, had the Communists invaded the world and all that -- that far-away and confusing cousin you've got.

I bought Streets of Moscow as it was on offer with a huge discount. And that's a good thing because I barely thought the game was worth more than a few Euros. The game tries to combine the excitement of the Need for Speed series with a hooking Grand Theft Auto storyline but ultimately delivers sub-par graphics, poor GUI where just switching the keys is not as easy as it first may seem.

I was actually pretty confident that game, not being the newest of new games, would run well on my machine. Instead I had to lower the graphic settings as low as possible and it still wouldn't be playable. There were minor glitches which my impatience couldn't take, such as having to stop at an EXACT point on the street that the race would finish. I knew I would finish last but why does the AI car stand stopped exactly where I was supposed to be -- to get out of the race.

The idea in itself isn't bad, and even though I've never been to Moscow, perhaps traffic in the city is as chaotic as the game depicts.

I may end up re-installing the game some time in the future but still don't think that my opinion is going to change anytime soon.

Two stars when Streets of Moscow has a discount tag on it, other than that, one star -- barely.

All you really need to know about this is that it's a mediocre Need For Speed wannabe. The physics are laughable, but you can have some fun causing huge pileups. Both the graphics and sounds are weak, and the entire thing feels rushed and incomplete. Being able to race around the Moscow highways sounds like a nice change of pace from the usual LA\NY\Tokyo trifecta, but there's just not much here to recommend it. For die-hard street racers only.

I didn't find anything good about this game. The physics showed no realism at all. Turning and cornering played havoc with my keyboard, being too sensitive.The graphics are outdated and do not appear always straight (despite the screenshots). I don't think anyone could appreciate this game for what it was trying to stand for.

I know I give it only one star, but that is because the game represents itself with all these wonderful features that are meaningless because of flaws in its controls and graphics.

"Need For Russia" (also available at GamersGate.com. It also won't blow you away, but you will find it truer to the racing genre.