From the Toysit archive
L.A. Rush for PlayStation 2
Explore L.A. Rush on PlayStation 2 through its city map, garage and preset car upgrades, then draw an original five-district parade.
The play at a glance
A bright car and a city full of destinations
A silver car fills the foreground of the original L.A. Rush cover, set against an orange sky and oversized Hollywood lettering. The PS2 game turns that energetic city image into a map of races, garages and missions. Its garage lets the player compare cars, while the on-screen navigation points toward the next destination.
Before using an older PS2 setup
If using a slim PS2, compare its adaptor’s labels with the official CPSC/Sony adaptor recall. The notice concerns specific F3 serial prefixes and 2004.08–2004.12 date codes, with the listed console models. If the adaptor matches, stop using it and follow the official owner instructions. The game cover cannot identify an actual adaptor.
Choose a destination, then a car
Story mode puts available missions on a city map. Selecting a destination gives the player a route and an on-screen direction marker. Quick Race offers another way into the city, with district and event choices; the manual also describes a Roam option for exploring its streets.
The garage compares cars through speed, handling and acceleration indicators. Cars become available through Story mode progress. At West Coast Customs, an eligible car receives its own predetermined set of upgrades after the player confirms the in-game cost. It is a before-and-after transformation with a defined result, rather than a menu for choosing every individual component.
ESRB rates this edition Teen for Language and Mild Violence. Its exaggerated street-racing world is fictional; the original launch report preserves the five-district setting and the period marketing around it.
Draw a city postcard route festival
Make five small postcards for an invented city: a hillside lookout, a waterfront, a movie district, a garden neighborhood and a music square. Draw one landmark and give each place a name.
- Arrange the postcards on a table and draw a gentle parade route connecting them.
- Design a stationary paper car with colors or patterns chosen for the festival. Give it a name and a small welcome banner.
- At each stop, write one sentence an announcer might say about the landmark.
- Reorder two postcards and retell the journey. Which arrival now makes the best ending?
This original drawing-and-narration activity explores place, color and sequence. All the travel happens on paper.
The historical record
Original Toysit coverage
The complete earlier product account and commentary are preserved below as historical coverage.
Over-the-top, arcade-style racing game thriller ships for PlayStation2 and Xbox with multi-million-dollar marketing campaign
In 2005, Midway Games shipped the over-the-top, arcade-style racing thriller, L.A. RUSH for PlayStation2 and Xbox. A PC version of the game came out in December of that year.
"LA RUSH is the ultimate arcade driving experience delivering gamers an amazing sense of speed, rock-solid controls, big jumps, huge crashes and insane shortcuts," said Steve Allison of Midway. "The game's groundbreaking story mode features more than fifty licensed and concept cars, an intense soundtrack, and celebrity and hip-hop talent starring as in game characters, all the while still encapsulating the heart of the RUSH franchise."
Backed by a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, LA RUSH is the first of three titles to ship under the recently announced strategic relationship between MTV and Midway to jointly market videogames.
L.A. RUSH's Multi-Million Dollar Marketing Campaign includes a national television advertising campaign on multiple mainstream broadcast and cable networks.
The print advertising campaign will run across multiple major video game and consumer publications
In the game, join the crew at West Coast Customs to pimp your ride and live the fabulous lifestyle of an L.A. street racer. Feel the rush as you race over 36 licensed rides including muscle, tuner and exotic vehicles as well as exclusive tricked-out racers designed by West Coast Customs and RIDES Magazine. An exciting and unique story-driven experience will allow you to race through five fully-open Los Angeles city re-creations while finding shortcuts and surviving jumps.
Sources and editorial notes
Selected pages of Midway’s original US PS2 booklet, including controls, map/GPS and garage diagrams, were visually reviewed. The garage applies a predetermined upgrade package to eligible cars; the paper design activity is freeform. ESRB’s final rating is Teen for Language and Mild Violence; the retained cover still says Rating Pending. The archive’s different car counts and PC-release wording are retained as historical reporting, not reconciled totals or verified regional release dates. No console, adaptor or game was physically tested.
- Original Toysit image — Existing same-site image reviewed and retained unchanged.
- Midway L.A. Rush PS2 instruction booklet — Original US booklet hosted by a manual archive: PDF 10–12, 15 and 17 (printed 8–10, 13, 15) reviewed with controller, map and garage diagrams.
- ESRB L.A. Rush rating — Final Teen rating: Language and Mild Violence.
- CPSC/Sony slim PS2 adaptor notice — Official indexed owner criteria reviewed; direct access may return HTTP 403. Certain adaptors supplied with SCPH-70011/SCPH-70012, not a software recall. Current replacement availability untested.
- Original Toysit coverage — Complete historical account retained, including its original claims and wording.
Images and descriptions are retained as historical material. How Toysit covers toys.
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