REVIEW: RIDGE RACER

Ridge racer is the first racing game I have ever played on my 3DS and while it�s a solid racer it is missing some important features and has a few problems hindering it from being an enjoyable experience. I will start off by saying that the cars and lighting in this game looks beautiful, the cars look as realistic as it can get but unfortunately there are some terribly crafted objects. For instance everything in the distance is flat. If you pay even the littlest attention to the trees or mountains you pass while you�re driving you will instantly see that they are cardboard cut outs of what is supposed to be an environment. What�s even worse is that if you watch your replay you will see that most of the background is also paper cut outs. To add insult to injury while everything on the track like lights, cars, signs, everything else off the road like the grass looks like a blurry gray/greenish mess(with paper cut outs). While the game looks great overall when you don�t pay attention, but the game looks like blend of paper mashie and throw up when you do. The 3D effect is very good except when you�re in a tunnel. Once you�re in a tunnel you are constantly seeing double images and the 3D goes down the toilet. I can only give the graphics a 1 out of 2.


Gameplay: As far as gameplay goes for Ridge Racer, it is..... Ok I guess. You feel like you�re going a million miles an hour which is great but the racers are placed in front of which is a little unfair to say the least and that really hinders the game. If you suck at caching up when you�re behind this game is not for you and if you enjoy smashing into cars there is also none of that. Your basically alone all the time, it seems to me that once you pass a racer he never tries to get back in front of you, you pass a racer in a cretin distance he never shows up again. You never have to really worry about the guy behind you. Once you pass a car you basically own the spot until you pass someone else. There is never a time a car quickly speeds up from behind you and steals the lead. The other thing that bugs me is that all they care about in this game is the speed of your car, they never talk about the weight, Nitro boost or control. This means that the only thing that differences between cars is there speed, leading to the fact there is only one way to overpower the other car; pure raw speed. You might as well give up playing with a slower vehicle because you will never get to first place if your speed is bad. When you get down to the tracks they are fun and bring allot of enjoyment and amazement because of the 3D, but that�s because all the tracks have the exact same layout making each track feel like the last. You are unable to fall off a cliff or drive of the track in this which leads to some really easy and boring stages. How could it get worse you say? Well let me say that the first grand Prix is so long that you would quit before you finish it. What really pissed me off though is the fact there is no online or downloads play; I will just leave it at that. I will give this game a 1.9 out of 3 for gameplay.
Controls: They make you hold A for gas which gives me a major thumb cramp and there is no option to make the y gas or any layout that actually works without having A as gas or another stupid cramping butten. 0 out of 3
Enjoyment: When not focusing on the cardboard cut outs or the pain in my thumb (not to mention no online or download play) I actually enjoyed it a bit. 3 out of 4.
Re-playability : no Wi-Fi or special things to unlock. 0 out of 1
Music: It was chase seen music all the time so it was average. 1 out of 2
Story: racing games don�t need a story. 1 out of 1
Voice acting/script: The back seat driver is annoying. 0 out of 1
Features: It doesn�t make use of many of the 3DS� features except 3D and street pass. 1 out of 2
Sound effects: everything sounds about right, engine noises to scraping your car sounds good. 1 out of 1
Creativity: Just another racer, nothing special here folks. 1 out of 2

13.9/22