What does Wipeout, Extreme G and F-Zero have in common? They're all racing games that use existing technology to create vehicles that they predict will be used in the future. Sony's latest racing game, Kinetica, defenestrates all of the typical vehicle styles and created an entirely new vehicle that combines man-power with machine. In Kinetica, you don't hop in a vehicle, put the pedal to the metal and race to the finish line -- you get up, take a shower and put on your Kinetic suit, a suit that replaces the need to ever get in a motor vehicle again. That's because the Kinetic suit is your motor vehicle. Wheels have been attached to your hands and feet, with plenty of anatomically-correct armor that fits the racers, both male and female, like a glove.

Kinetica packs a good amount of depth inside its beautiful exterior, featuring stunts that are executed in a fashion similar to some of the moves in fighting games. There are ten aerial stunts and four ground stunts, all of which rewards you by increasing your boost meter. The boost meter is an integral part of the game and is often the deciding factor in a close game. Air stunts are more effective, but ground stunts are easier to perform (since you don't have to worry about slamming into the side of a building, falling off a cliff, etc). Stunts are performed by holding down R1 and pressing the analog stick in one of ten combinations. To perform a Special 3 aerial stunt, for example, press the stick left, right, left. Pressing down, up, down executes a back flip, etc. Each of the stunts can be linked together to perform a combo, increasing your boost meter even more. You can perform as many stunts as you want and completely fill your boost meter, or perform a smaller combo to avoid crashing, which could make your chances of winning even worse. That's the hard part -- when you're holding down R1, you can't turn. This is alright for long, straight paths, but horrible for sharp turns. To make matters worse, all combos are broken if you hit a wall or another racer, regardless of whether or not R1 is still depressed. It takes some getting used to, but becomes second nature once you get the hang of it.

There must be a law written somewhere that states that every extreme racing game must have techno music in it. No techno soundtrack is as good as Yoko Shimomura's masterpiece, Parasite Eve, but Sony has done a good job of assembling a decent selection of techno tracks for Kinetica. The music is mostly quite and tame, entertaining your ears without distracting you from the game. Note to Sony: that 40GB hard drive of yours could be put to great use if it was able to store music from your CD and MP3 collection, then conveniently play them inside of any game programmed to take advantage of this feature. Little things like gameplay and replay value are far more important (not a problem in Kinetica's case), but if you have some extra development time, please add this feature to all of your future games.

Graphically, Kinetica puts Extreme G3 to shame. I know I said, "Wow" out loud at least once. It's really impressive to see the moon (or is that another planet?) slide under your vehicle while you're driving upside down in Orbital Junction. The Kinetic suit-wearing racers have fluid animation that's pleasing to the eyes, as are the gorgeous, fully-rendered backgrounds. During fastest, most intense races in the game, Kinetica looks even better, showcasing some of the PlayStation 2's true power. Background detail is visible as far as the eye can see. There isn't any fog or pop-up in any of the levels either. The framerate is always consistent, never dropping, irrespective of how many characters there are on the screen at once. Furthermore, everything in Kinetica flies by at a lightning-fast pace.

Not only is it superior to the competition in every graphical aspect, it's superior in every gameplay aspect, too. Heck, it practically annihilates Extreme G3 and the last two F-Zero games released. The next installment of the Wipeout series is going to have a really tough time competing with Kinetica, the new champ in extreme, futuristic racing. I doubt that the developers will care though, because either way, Sony wins.

Graphics: 8.5 
There isn't any fog in Kinetica, insuring that the game's visual feast will not be ruined by MSG. You wouldn't want to have any artificial flavorings in your turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, so why would you want to play a game tainted with artificial graphic effects? Kinetica is a huge improvement over the Ridge Racer game that launched with the PS2 last year.

Sound: 7
Techno music is rarely my cup of tea, but I found Kinetica's sound to be quite pleasant. If you like techno, obviously it's music to your ears, but anyone else will know just how distracting it can be when playing a video game. Kinetica's music isn't distracting at all though.

Difficulty: 6.5
Regardless of your skills or gaming background, it's going to take you at least 30 minutes to fully comprehend Kinetica's unique, stunt-oriented gameplay. I hate to admit that I actually had to read the manual. It had been so long since I had used one of those things that I almost forgot what a manual looked like. But alas, it was worth the trouble.

Concept: 8
Kinetica isn’t just another interesting concept, it’s a concept that worked great in execution. Of course, that’s largely due to the fact that Sony, one of the world’s greatest game developers, was at the helm. Who says Nintendo is the best first-party developer in the world? Gran Turismo 3, ICO and now Kinetica. But what has Nintendo done lately? Other than Pikmin, which isn’t even out yet, they haven’t done a dang thing.

Multiplayer: 7.5
While not perfect, Kinetica's multiplayer mode is pretty entertaining. There's nothing quite like letting your friend get the upper hand, then on the final lap, just as he's about to cross the finish line, you hit him with a power-up and win first place.

Overall: 8
Got the need for speed, depth and a whole lot of fun? Then Kinetica is right for you. Gamers who prefer simulation racing games should still check out Kinetica. Rent it, play it in the store or borrow it from a friend. But don't get mad when Target's manager pulls the Dual-Shock 2 right out of your hand. Sure, he says they're closing in two minutes, but we all know that he just wants the game all to himself.