Although street racing is still the focus and drifting the key mechanic, additions like nitrous boosting and drafting have been added to create a nuanced, exciting driving experience.Īt its core, Ridge Racer is about completing laps on street circuits against competition, with the goal of coming first to obtain rewards and progress to the next challenge. If you played the franchise back in the days of the PS1, with this Vita iteration you’ll discover that Ridge Racer has come a long way. The only annoyance is an overly-perky announcer, but she serves as a fitting reminder of Ridge Racer‘s arcade roots and I somewhat enjoyed her as a result. Similarly sound effects – ranging from the screeching of tyres on tracks to the satisfying whirr of nitrous injecting into your engine – is always a thrill. Sound is solid – from the cheerful tracks in the background of the menus to the techno beats pounding when racing, music is always a high point. Just a quick word on performance – the game performs incredibly well, hitting stable framerates throughout – something very important in a fast-paced racing game, although it is a shame to see the title not target the genre standard 60fps that would make it a real visual showcase on the handheld. Although it was a long way removed from the franchise’s traditional arcade-friendly screens, it works incredibly well. Menu work is also incredibly solid – the first time I scrolled through all of the options available I genuinely thought I was playing some futuristic concept game, thanks to some oddball design choices and an image of series mascot Reiko Nagase in the background. These really are minor gripes though, considering everything else about the title is beautiful. Things like fields often look like they should have more vegetation and wildlife in them than they actually do – especially when compared to Ridge Racers 6 & 7 which the game is based on. Texture work can be rough, particularly on rocky environmental items but sometimes on the tracks themselves. Once you’ve blasted through each area a couple of times, however, you’ll begin to notice some of Ridge Racer‘s flaws. Whether it be an aeroplane taking off overhead a crowd of people cheering you on or a waterfall-filled cave, there’s plenty to take in as you drive around – which can occasionally be distracting while you learn the layout of each track. The areas available are mostly quite varied – from cityscapes by the waterfront to grassy mountains or abandoned ruins, meaning variety is high – and each feature some visually fantastic spectacle somewhere during the race. What’s most impressive is that they can be largely customised with new colours and decals, meaning you can tweak a car you like into one you love.Įnvironments are similarly impressive, at least at first glance. They soar through the courses available – glimmering in the light screeching around corners and feature some fantastic texture and modelling work. The game’s vehicles are probably the star of the show – they’re impressively detailed and realistic looking (even if they’re all fictional makes and models). One of a number of launch title racing games for Vita, Ridge Racer manages to achieve a good level of graphical fidelity that is below its console counterparts but still gorgeous to look at thanks to some great modelling and effects work, even if some elements don’t hold up to close inspection It is, however, important to be given an overall goal to be training towards to keep you motivated and as such Ridge Racer achieves what it sets out to do with this, even if it is in an iffy socially-connected manner. This is not an oddity for the genre, given similar Vita racers like WipEout 2048 feature nothing in terms of plot, although the franchise has dabbled with it in the past with titles like R: Racing Evolution. Sadly, this is all done in lieu of a story or really any single-player content.
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