Based on a persistent manga-style universe, Street Gears is a massively multiplayer roller game where players can challenge each others in races or tricks contests.

Developed by NFlavor Corp., the developers of Rappelz, Street Gears, mixes gameplay elements from MMORPG with a persistant universe and avatar evolution, and elements from other extreme sports game with lots of different tricks and tracks.

Based on the player’s reflexes as well as on the skills of the character, Street Gears uses attracting cell-shading graphics increasing the manga and arcade aspect of its world.

Street Gears offers an original concept in which the player embodies a “rider”, a skating fan who blows on the asphalt during races and challenges. This MMORPG offers a real evolution of the player’s avatar in a persistent universe, including an entertaining urban atmosphere, a great manga style but also many quests and mini-games. Since the closed beta test where 8000 players could surge on Park Town, lots of improvements have been made on the graphics and the team racing mode, allowing a better cooperation between players.

As of Thursday November 20th, any holder of a free account on the www.gpotato.eu portal can download the complete Street Gears and ride off the slopes. This last phase of the beta test will last about one month after which the characters created by players will not be deleted. Therefore, avatars and progress will be kept on the final version of the game and the transition between the two versions will be made via an automatic update.

Races & Modes :

The races are an important part of the gameplay of Street Gears. From the persistent city of Park Town, the players can go into exciting races on the different tracks available. Eight tracks will be available at the release of the game but frequent content addition will be made by the development team during the month after. The tracks are classified by difficulty in order to allow the less experienced riders to have as much fun as the most famous roller stars, and different game mods are available on each track.

The Speed Mod is aimed at riders starving for extreme sensations. In this mod, the necessary time to complete the acrobatic tricks is limited, but as a counterpart, each completed trick fills the power gauge which allows the rider to set off its speed boost more often. But be careful though, because a collision with a wall or another player during the speed boost might cause damage and penalties to the rider.

The Item Mod allows the riders to gather bonus objects on the track and use them to access victory. Around ten items are available, from the oil tank to disturb the competitors to the energizing beverage which fills the power gauge. Everything is useful to reach victory!

Victory of course brings experience gains, but the races also allow riders to complete quests given by various non-player characters of Park Town. These multiple quests give experience in order to gain new levels, but also new tricks and skills for the rider.

Now in final development phase, Street Gears will be available in its French and German versions on the gPotato Europe portal in June 2008. As all others gPotato games, Street Gears will be free-to-play.