Ridge Racer

Written by Tom Clare in PSP Game Reviews, Friday 14 August, 2009

Released: 2005
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Racing
Platform: PSP

Playing Ridge Racer really rams home just how far handheld gaming has come in such a short time. As a technical showpiece for the PSP, it’s a hugely impressive launch title and more importantly, feels completely at home on a portable. It makes for an exhilarating arcade racing experience, rekindling memories of a golden era when Namco’s flagship racer was at the forefront of console gaming.

Rather than an out and out new instalment, Ridge Racer consists mostly of elements featured in previous instalments of the franchise. It has two tracks from each of the four original PlayStation incarnations as well as the arcade-only Rave Racer, plus two new ones adapted from this game. So, if you’ve been counting that’s a dozen racetracks, plus a dozen more thanks to the as-ever amply used reverse courses. Almost without exception the tracks are excellent, and though most were devised in the nineties, visually Namco have done a stellar job of revamping them, to the point where they’re not all that far short of PS2 standards.

Whilst fellow early PSP racer WipEout Pure struggled a little bit without effective analogue control, Ridge Racer suffers no such setbacks and works brilliantly with the D-Pad. After all, most of the series early console outings were developed specifically with this method of control in mind. It’s perfectly balanced with a beautifully receptive feel to the powerslides, making it one of a select bunch of racers that plays better from the bumper camera. This gives you an incredible impression of the speed it travels at, whilst you’ll also get a more precise feel of how much your car is oversteering during slides, thus making them easier to correct than the outboard view.

In-game the courses are extremely attractive, though you won’t necessarily notice the painstaking detail that’s gone into them due largely to the incredible velocity you’ll be travelling at which, particularly in the special speed class, is a sight to behold. You’ll barely have time to blink, yet the game never suffers at any time from a lagging frame-rate. It’s much sharper than the PSOne games, the cars are more solid, and the lighting effects markedly improved – in particular the lovely beams of sunlight cast on the road surface during the rural courses.

The tracks themselves offer countless highlights, both aesthetic and gameplay related. Downtown Rave City, new to this edition, draws together all that’s so dynamic about the RR universe. Rounding the first corner leads you to the sight of a wondrous but seemingly distant, neon-streaked city skyline, but as you launch off a jump that seems to last forever, you find yourself cascading towards such buildings just a few seconds later. This is followed by the kind of speedy, winding tunnels that have for so long been synonymous with the series and once you’re through these you’re treated to a gorgeous Ferris wheel lit up against the night sky. Such is the level of detail that even the reverse course has distinctive features in its own right; racing the same track from the opposite direction reveals a palace accompanied by an impressive fireworks display. Another area where Namco never fail to impress is in its presentation and here is no different; the clinical, white menu screens are superbly stylish and along with the glowing head-up display, it’s first-class travel all the way.

Although the nitrous system is the only attempt to tamper with the seemingly-evergreen simplicity of the Ridge Racer formula, it’s a good one. Basically, powersliding at speed fills your nitrous bars, which can then be used with a tap of the ‘R’ shoulder button to deliver a short but blistering turn of pace. It’s more tactical than you’d think, as finding a stretch of straight road is particularly important to implementing it successfully and if you can maintain your extra velocity through some high-speed slides, you can quickly refill your nitrous.

Considering how many sources the circuits have been drawn from, it’s commendable how well they all fit together. You still get the satisfaction of bombing along the original Ridge Racer’s seaside roads and Rage Racer’s intensely steep urban climbs, but whereas the former used to seem garishly bright and the latter harsh and gritty, the visual facelift has meant they fit alongside in perfect accord, whilst retaining much of what made them distinctive to begin with. As if all this wasn’t nostalgic enough, there’s also a healthy selection of classic Ridge Racer background music to play during the races, as well as remixes and new tunes, a good majority of which sound fine on the PSP’s speakers.

Of course, such effective mimicry of the Ridge Racer blueprint means the odd small flaw inevitably still lingers. Though you’ll face eleven other cars in the standard race format, the A.I. is as dull as ever. Starting at the back of the field, you must make your way to the front within the three laps, in effect making your race against the clock the true priority. Particularly in the harder races, you’ll come to view the first five or six cars not so much as competitors, but mobile targets that must be avoided so as not to lose precious time, as the clumsy (though at least marginally improved) collisions can be very costly. Ridge Racer is undoubtedly best in high-speed situations and across the majority of the courses, the difficulty level has been pitched at a competitive but fair level. However, the Greenpeak Highlands and Silvercreek Dam tracks threaten to unbalance things with hyper-competitive A.I. and an extremely difficult set of narrow twists and turns which, it’s fair to say, don’t play to the games strong suits, as it becomes difficult to stop your car from sliding uncontrollably. With a good deal of perseverance you’ll pull through, but chances are if you are going to get stuck on any of the races, it will be these two.

A long-standing criticism of the Ridge Racer series in general has been its games lack of longevity; after all, in the past you could generally count yourself lucky if you had more than three tracks to race on. The PSP edition however has a meaty stack of tournaments for the player to tackle, most commonly consisting of three to four races and thus making it ideal for quick sessions. The Basic, Pro and EX tours offer up a hefty thirty-nine tournaments between them spread across seven speed classes, and success in the various events leads to new cars, tracks and archive video footage from the older games being uncovered. As well as the fifty-plus ordinary cars available, you can also acquire versions of the insanely speedy Angel, Devil and PacMan cars by beating them in some tricky but enjoyable head-to-head challenges. There’s a huge amount of longevity for new comers and a good few weeks worth of play for old hands too. Completing all thirty-nine tournaments will reveal the elite Max tour; it had potential to produce a spectacular finale but is spoiled somewhat by the A.I.’s suspiciously frequent use of nitrous along with the blatant handicapping you experience when you overtake, only to find your opponents belting back past to you or jamming themselves into the side of your car.

This doesn’t spoil what is a truly excellent racing game. After years in the wilderness, it’s great to see Ridge Racer back near its best and it clearly revels in portable form, losing none of style, speed or flare. It’s visually stunning, fantastic to play and will keep you hooked far longer than its home-console racing equivalents, and as such, is a must-have for any PSP owner.

 

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