Here is part 2 of the 3-part preview of Street Trace: NYC. In this part I will cover the single player experience in the game.

Street Trace: NYC's single player experience consists of a three-pronged attack -- Tournaments, Time Trials, and Exhibition matches. (I mentioned it before but let me reiterate -- there is also a Tutorial. Use it.) Personally, I think single player will be more of a tasty appetizer before a meal of multiplayer. But do not fret loners -- the single player content is plentiful and varied enough to stand alone, just like you. "Read more" for the breakdown of each of the modes.

[size=14]Tournaments:[/size]

Tournaments draw most of the focus in the single player game. There are five tournaments of ever increasing difficulty. The first three are called Barren, Demon, and Bombzonie after each area's champion. Demon specializes in pure speed, Bombzonie specializes in blowing you up (and he will dish out some of the best taunts in the game while doing it), and Barren is balanced between the two. Collect the highest overall score after all events in a tournament and you will be awarded a gold medal. You can even earn a platinum medal if you win each and every event in a tournament. Once you get gold medals in each of the first three tournaments, you will unlock the Champions tournament and the Battle Royale tournament. Winning medals also earn you "medal points" which count toward an achievement.

Each tournament works roughly like this: Pick a tracer based on what kind of starting stats you want (I liked Sam Kim). Use $14,000 to upgrade your board before the first event. Compete in the first event. Afterwards, go back through the upgrade cycle with whatever cash you collected during the match. Compete in the next event, then the next upgrade cycle, and so on.

• Note: the game does not tell you every tracer's exact stats. You will have to discover that on your own. However, the devs at Gaia did hint at putting the stat sheets up on the web once the game releases, so keep your eyes peeled.

The need to collect large sums of cash during the events becomes very clear early on. Without cash to spend upgrading your board and weapons between matches, you will slowly fall further and further behind the leaders and never have a shot at getting those gold medals.

• Tip: if you are losing badly (or winning greatly) focus on just picking up as much cash as possible. This will shore up the distance between you and the leaders in the next event (or put greater distance between you and the stragglers).

I was not able to get through the Champions or Battle Royale tournaments but here is what I can tell you about the first three. As you progress through the first three tournaments you will notice the AI getting noticably smarter and the challenges getting more difficult. Battles will be more brutal and the AI will upgrade their boards and weapons much more effeciently. Bombzonie, especially, will do everything in his power (notably shoot you...a lot) to keep you from winning. To conquer the more difficult tournaments you must learn where the pickups (especially juice and cash) are located on each map or you will be beaten. Badly.

[size=14]Time Trials:[/size]

Time Trials provide a welcome respite from getting shot repeatedly but provide their own torturous and challenging brand of fun. I have a feeling many people might ignore this section all together because the rest of the game is so engaging (I did. Then, near the end of my play session, I shockingly realized there was this whole other mode to play). However, for those of us that enjoy trying to find the perfect line through a corner in PGR3, this mode has plenty to keep us interested for a long time.

Each of the six maps are available for time trials and each time trial can be done in three different variants: Targets, Flags, and Targets and Flags. So, with a little math you can see that there are 18 Time Trials. Each trial awards you a medal based on how fast you complete the course, but time penalties accrue for missed flags or targets. Basically, it's biathlon. Ski....er...trace fast, shoot accurately, and win.

Flags:

Flags requires you to pickup (read: slide through) flags that are scattered around the arena or along the street course. Obviously, these challenges are mostly about finding the perfect line to collect everything and then executing that line as quickly as possible. Board handling is the key here.

Targets:

Targets requires you to shoot targets with specific weapons. To make it easier, everything is color-coded. Red targets are for the Pulse laser, blue for Mines, green for Stampedes, and yellow for Rockets. In these events you have to move fast and be accurate.

• Tip: Sometimes standing still and picking off targets from a distance can be faster than shooting while tracing around.

Targets and Flags:

As if the other two were not complicated enough, you can also choose to do both at the same time (You, masochist, you).

[size=14]Exhibition:[/size]

The final mode is Exhibition. Simply, it allows you to battle in one-off events. Pick your map, event, tracer, opponents, and go. This is a good way to practice tournament events that you struggle in.

[size=14]Wrapup:[/size]

Something that seems remarkably absent from the single player experience is a story. Ironically, stories have been written for the characters but (as of now) can only be found on the website. Despite the lack of in-game backstory, the game's AI and varied tracers are actually interesting enough in single player to mantain a multiplayer-esque experience without actually having contact with real humans. But like I said before, more of an appetizer to the multiplayer meal.

In the next and final section of this Street Trace: NYC preview I will give a quick map breakdown, discuss the crazy amount of different multiplayer events, and get you ready to trash talk your friends.