Sit back, kick off your spraypaint-splattered rollerblades and bask in the knowledge that Xbox, with Jet Set Radio Future, is now home to the coolest and most stylish game ever made. It is sooooo cool. If it were a person, everyone would want to be it.

But it's not just about the cel shaded cityscapes, the outfits and the ball-busting beats. All they do is form the tasty chocolate around the surprise toy of JSRF's core gameplay. Being 'cool' does not necessarily mean being 'good', though, and in the case of Jet Set Radio Future it defintely doesn't.

It equals great.

The action revolves around a gang of bladers called the GGs. Playing as one of them (the amount of characters you can select from grows as the game progresses), you must make the various areas of Tokyo your own by spraying graffiti over the wall scrawls of your rivals. Naturally, the police have a problem with such behaviour, so you'll be dealing with them too.

The concept is great (it originated with Dreamcast's Jet Set Radio, over which this game improves in every single way) but the genius lies in the execution.

It's more like a platformer on wheels than a skating game. Each of the skaters has a knack of grinding high wires, fences, handrails and lamp posts, letting you access virtually all of the flat surfaces in the frankly beautiful urban landscapes. It's where much of the fun lies - Jet Set Radio Future is primarily about exploration, and working out how to get to the graffiti spots.

A keen eye is needed to get to the more obscure areas, so you'll find yourself performing a series of grinds, flips and wall rides to reach high ledges. The moves are all easily executed, though, making it easy to bounce around the levels in style.

There's more depth to the general trickery and movement controls than it seems, and intelligent game design means that you're gradually introduced to new techniques as you play through the levels, maintaining your interest all the way through. Later levels require a good knowledge of these techniques in order to reach graffiti points.

Once you get yourself in a position to do some spraying, a quick squeeze of the right trigger uses one can of paint - the amount you need depends on the size of the mural. Paint lies around the place to be collected, and can also provide a speed boost.

The police, their vehicles and enemy gang members also need to be squirted. They crop up once or twice during each level, and you can't progress until you've sprayed them all - it's more like a mini-game than an integral part of the action. Completing tasks of this kind ups the fun level and helps you to see more of the elaborate environments.

And when you have environments as amazing as these, exploring them is a real pleasure. Compared to the Dreamcast prequel, the areas are bigger and there are more of them. They look wonderful, with an abundance of detail filling every possible view from every possible position.

Pedestrians are everywhere, flocks of birds scatter as you skate towards them, shelves in the music shop spill their vinyl as you bomb down the aisles - hell, everything looks absolutely fantastic. Stylistically, this is very possibly the finest looking game ever. The draw distance is excellent, animation is smooth, motion blur and boost effects look fantastic and the design is perfect.

What the game doesn't do is provide a perfect camera. It doesn't automatically spring behind your character, and the view is occasionally obscured - lining up precision jumps when that happens is a pain.

However, the camera can be snapped back behind your character with a quick press of the left trigger. Pressing the trigger near an enemy initiates a lock-on mode that fixes you (and the camera) onto them. It makes confrontations with the cops and other gangs more exciting and more intuitive.

Another potentially off-putting feature is the way the characters feel to control. Large, floaty jumps are the order of the day, and you'll find yourself constantly misjudging leaps during your first few games. The controls feel loose, and it's hard to skate about with any precision.

But it's something you get used to, and before long you'll be jumping miles and landing on a wire with ease. It's only a problem in the first place because it feels so different to other platform games. You'll want to persevere, because it quickly becomes obvious that you're playing something pretty special.

The only other significant problem is an occasional drop in the frame rate when you're in the garage with the rest of your gang, but it doesn't spoil your enjoyment of the main game.

These negatives are far outweighed by the positives, though. This is a supremely playable game with loads to see and do. Multiplayer games provide some up-to-four-player entertainment, with racing and graffiti modes inspiring plenty of competition. There aren't many arenas available for multiplayer action, but their mere presence in such a brilliant one-player game is a bonus.

Then there's the soundtrack - loads of excellent new tunes backed up by remixed version of tunes from the Dreamcast game to keep the hardcore fans happy. The music meshes perfectly with the rest of the JSRF package. You don't need your own tunes.

The way that all the elements come together to make Jet Set Radio Future so mightily fine overall is a rare and precious thing. New game notions (cel shading, unusual controls, the urban warrior/rollerblading concept) happily combine with the old - and when we say old, we mean good, old-fashioned high-quality gameplay.

In striving to make something that is as good to play is it to look at, Smilebit has created a game worthy of Elite status.

Unique, addictive and only possible on Xbox - get set for Jet Set.

What's life in near-future Neo-Tokyo all about when you're a power-fighting, roller-blading gang member?

1. Spray stuff
   When you get to a new area, you need to let people know you're taking charge. This means painting your pictures over rival gangs' graffiti tags.
2. Recruit new members
   You'll come across potential new GGs, who join up at the completion of a certain task. It could be a standard race, finding them within a strict time limit, or simply following them through tricky, stunt-laden routes.
3. Battle Rival Gangs
   Here's a confrontation with Poison Jam, a nasty bunch of rival skaters. Chase them and spray them with paint to triumph. About 60 spray cans should do it.
4. Find Graffiti Soul
   Each one of these you find gives you a new graffiti design. Getting them all is a big challenge.
5. Deal With The Law
   Every now and then, Neo-Tokyo's law enforcers will confront you. Starting with simple beat cops armed with truncheons, the big guns come out to play as the game progresses.
6. Complete Stunt Challenges
   Many of the levels have challenges to overcome, such as racking up a certain amount of stunts in one combo. Keep an eye out for areas where you can link dozens of tricks together into a single move.

1. Awesome cartoon badass graphics
2. Varied soundtrack matches the vibe
3. Huge, intricate levels to explore
4. Tons of fun!

1. Idiosyncratic camera can irritate

Power
Superb draw distance and details - the only slight downer is a sporadic drop in frame rate.

Style
This is, without doubt, the most stylish game ever designed.

Immersion
Excellent music and an infectious atmosphere keep you spraying until there are no bare walls left.

Lifespan
Loads of areas to visit and explore, with a wide variety of tasks to do within them. Hard to put down.

Summary
An impossibly cool, distinctive platformer. It's hard to resist the groove, man.