You play as Trikz Lane, a fearless yet humble street racer. To the people on the west coast, Trikz is a modern day legend. You have to use that reputation as your 35 prize vehicles have been stolen by a rival who has hidden them throughout Los Angeles. Of course, right before the biggest money street event to ever hit the west coast. You will race many events trying to locate your stolen vehicles, while proving each time you are the legend and best street racer.

On the surface, L.A. Rush isn't the most impressive racer on the market. Sure, you have the shiny cars, visible damage, and detailed vehicles, but the game isn't what you would call visually groundbreaking. What does impress is the size of the locales you will race. You literally have the option to race on over 350 miles of the famous streets and freeways of L.A. What's more, the environments are destructible, including garbage cans, light posts, and other roadside items. Since this game is rated Teen, do not expect to plow over innocent pedestrians either. Another cool, if not borrowed, visual of L.A. Rush is the dramatic crash cams that will slow down and zoom in on the carnage. This would be cooler if it hadn't been done before by a rival company. Overall, the game looks decent, the tracks are huge, and the sense of speed is quite impressive. Toss in tons of traffic and obstacles to weed though and you have a racer that fits the bill.

The audio in Rush is adequate, but once again don't expect this game to revolutionize how it's done. The voice acting during the story mode is very good. For the subject, you would expect laughable results, but actually, the acting is done quite believably. An exclusive soundtrack will have you rockin and hip hop'n with never before released tracks from Twista and Lil' Kim. You also get much more from other artists in the hip-hop and rock categories. If the soundtrack does not do it for you, Xbox owners do have the wonderful custom soundtrack option to hear whatever you wish.

Game play is pretty straightforward, race to designated areas the quickest to get checkpoint times, and then race to the finish to win. You have your essentials such as upgrades, NOS, and the not so friendly traffic who can be either your ally or enemy depending on your luck. The A.I. is not tough, but isn't cheap either. What is nice is that you will notice the CPU making the same dumb mistakes you may make occasionally, which is nice to see that they are not set on a scripted path. Controls are a bit loose, but since this is an arcade style racer, once you get how the controls feel, you will be drifting, smashing, and jumping your way to the finish in no time.

L.A. Rush offers gamers a few varieties when it comes to modes and options. In Open World Racing, you will race across a fully open and recreated Los Angeles, through Hollywood, Santa Monica, South Bay, South Central, and Downtown while doing death defying jumps and locating those crucial time-reducing short cuts. Story mode has you re-acquiring your cars and getting retribution all while racing, earning cash, and doing some damage to those who are the cause of all this mess. Lastly you have your head-to-head modes that can be played offline and online. Show your friends who is the best racer on your block, or on your friends list. It's all about respect. With over 50 rides to trick out and race, also adding the West Coast Customs license for your parts, and this is one game that will appeal to the racers of today's genre.

What L.A. Rush does in the end is expand on something that was great years ago, but adding some of today's flavor in the mix. It's all good though as there is plenty to acquire, tracks to race, and rides to race them on. The only real down side is that none of it is really original, which gives veteran racers a been-there done-that kind of feeling.