Supercar Street Challenge's slogan is, "Design it. Build it. Race it." And that's exactly what you do in this game. You don't have full control over the car you design, as every shape has been pre-created, but you are the one who gets to put those pieces together. There are several front and back pieces that you have to choose from, all of which can be morphed into many different shapes. As the front end morphs, the windows become more curvaceous, similar in style to the classic Batmobile. Design a car with realistic proportions or make one more outrageous than the concept cars in Popular Science. For the most part, you have the ability to morph your vehicle into any shape you desire. There are limitations, though. Each half of the body has a percentage rate that starts out 0%. As you tweak the vehicle, the percentage goes up. When it reaches 100%, the body has been maxed out and cannot be stretched any farther.

The Steve Saleen Styling Studio allows you to do much more than body morphing, though. If the tires' hubcaps aren't quite as flashy as the rest of your vehicle, select Accessories and change them immediately. There, you may also change the design of your side view mirrors, replace your ugly headlights with something more modern and add or remove a nice set of wings. (Note: The wings are used for stylistic purposes only. They don't give your car an extra boost of speed, nor do they allow you to fly.)

But more important than any of that is how the vehicle performs. It doesn't matter how gorgeous your Pontiac Concept GTO looks, if it can't keep up with the other vehicles in the race. You can enhance your vehicle's top speed, acceleration, handling and brakes by adjusting their stats, however, you are only given 2,000 statistic points, and each enhancement costs 100 points. So you must distribute the points carefully, giving equal amounts to top speed and handling, while giving less to the acceleration and brakes. Acceleration is just as important, and in the later courses, precise braking is a must. But each championship that you win rewards you with more points. It's a tough call at times, but if you take the time to properly allocate your points to the necessary stats, it'll pay off in a close race.

After your vehicle is complete, it's time to start your engines in the Design Series. Eight courses are featured in the Design Series, separated by classes. The A and B classes have two races each, while the C class has four. Before racing, you may select one of three vehicles from that particular class, or you may keep the one you have from the previous class and continue upgrading it instead. Unlike Gran Turismo 3, you don't have to win first place to go home a winner, but you do have to place in the minimum Qualifying Position to advance to the next race. If the QP is first place, you must get first place, period. But if it's third, you have room to make some mistakes. Of course, crossing the finish line first would be even more rewarding, since you didn't have to win first place to succeed.

Other game modes include the Manufacturer's Cup, Quick Race, Time Attack and Head to Head. Quick Race, Time Attack and Head to Head speak for themselves, except that in Head to Head mode, you can load your saved cars and race against a friend! Very cool. Manufacturer's Cup is basically what most racing games refer to as the Championship mode. You have race through the same eight courses available in the Design Series, only this time you can't edit your vehicle. There are three different driving styles: Grip, Balance and Drift. Grip is a slower, simpler style that gives you the best maneuverability. Navigating sharp turns is a whole lot easier, but reaching a super-high speed is next to impossible. Balance is the next style up, increasing the top speed a little without sacrificing too much of your vehicle's overall performance. Finally, there's Drift, the fastest (and hardest) racing style in the game. Speed freaks will love this mode, but will cringe when they come to an extremely sharp turn (which happens a lot). If it's not too late, braking is better than crashing into the wall, but either way you're going to lose a lot of speed. Recovering from such a loss can be very difficult, even if your acceleration level is high.

Supercar Street Challenge's load times are insane. People used to make fun of Sega CD because every game on that system had really long load times. This game is on a console more than 100 times as powerful as the Sega CD, one that has a 32X CD-Rom drive, no less. Yet it takes 32.23 seconds to load from the menu screen to each race! And when you exit the race, you must wait another 32 seconds before the menu screen will appear again, and then ANOTHER 32 seconds when you want to enter the next race. There is no excuse for this. None whatsoever.

When playing Supercar Street Challenge, I constantly found myself saying, "Well, they could've made the controls a little smoother," or "The track design isn't up to par with [enter other racer here]." Doing that is unfair. It's like going to see Unbreakable and expecting The Sixth Sense -- you're going to be disappointed. But when I played Supercar Street Challenge without thinking of other games, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Graphics: 6.9
If Gran Turismo 3 is the Toy Story of video games in terms of graphics, then Supercar Street Challenge would be considered the Reboot of video games. Reboot looked great, but it lacked the high level of realism and the unmistakable charm of Pixar's films. Supercar Street Challenge isn't too different from that. Last year, the fully rendered vehicles and the bright, blinding sun would have really impressed me. Now, 12 months later, SSC is forced to take a backseat to the more graphic-intensive racers out there.

Sound: 4
No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't make myself like Supercar Street Challenge's music. Everything else about the game is, at the very least, above average. But the repetitive tunes of Supercar Street Challenge's soundtrack are horrible. It's akin to the techno garbage they blare at night clubs, only worse.

Difficulty: 6.5
Supercar Street Challenge isn't as challenging as Gran Turismo 3 (thank goodness!), but it isn't easy either. The game may not seem too difficult at first, but just wait. Your non-stop success will come to a screeching halt once you enter the third and final class. The second class is difficult too, but is nothing compared to the last one.

Concept: 7 
The car morphing feature is brilliant -- EVERY racing game should have it! I don't know why someone didn't think of it sooner. Other than that, there aren't too many unique features in the game, but it doesn't matter.

Multiplayer: 7
You've never had an experience like this before! As with any Head to Head mode, all of the cars unlocked in the Championship mode are selectable, as are any of the unlocked tracks. But the beauty of this mode is being able to race your own custom-made vehicle against a friend!

Overall: 7.9
Giving Supercar Street Challenge a final score was a lot harder than I thought it'd be. On one hand, it's this great, exciting game that I enjoyed a lot. But on the other, it's a game with many frustrating problems that cannot be overlooked. In the end though, I realized that the good far outweighs the bad. Video games are not perfect. They never have been and they never will be. There are more great games being released right now than ever, but that doesn't mean that I should grade this game any lower. Is it worth buying? Definitely! The gameplay is fast and exciting and will appeal to a wide range of gamers. Steve Saleen's Styling Studio is one of the most unique features I've ever seen in a racing game. I'd like to see it further expanded in a future version of the game.