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Ridge Racer Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)
Posted on Sunday, May 01, 2005 @ 11:56:12 pm E.S.TSince the launch of the original PlayStation, it has been a religious tradition to release a Ridge Racer Game to boost initial sales. And like a pimple that refuses to leave, another Ridge Racer appears just in time for the launch of Sony’s latest addition to the video game industry, the PlayStation Portable. Only this pimple is decked out with slick paint jobs and wicked nitrous boosting.
If you’ve played a Ridge Racer game before, you already know that the concept of a storyline is non-existent. Since the earliest days of our beloved Ridge Racer, it has been a purely arcade-style racing game that was all about the gameplay. The newest addition to the family is no different. This racing title is all about drifting, boosting, and core control of your vehicle when weaving through cars and going around intense bends. And, damn, did Namco do a good job of incorporating these aspects.
To be brutally honest, from the get-go, I thought the PSP’s analog “nub” was literally the most useless control device invented. My reasoning was simple: A normal analog stick moves approximately 1.1 centimeters in 360 directions. The PSP’s analog stick moves only .21 centimeters in the same directions. Now, saying I have the correct measurements, that means that the aspect ratio of the smaller stick’s movements are approximately 19% of a normal one. And we’ll say that a normal analog stick has 8 points of “pressure” in each direction. What this means is that you have such a small area for movement, that in order to get an accurate representation of the precise action you’d like to make in the game, you’d need to move your thumb less than .026 centimeters in any given direction. Let’s say that a normal person can move his thumb about .14 centimeters while still maintaining accuracy. Well, when accommodating human error into the equation and keeping the remaining data, that would mean that you’d only be able to make your exact movement on the analog stick about 19.3% of the time. In other words, the PSP’s analog nub is useless.
Now, let me close my physics book and tell you what this means in regards to Ridge Racer. Since I initially despised the idea of such an inaccurate control device, I didn’t start out using it. But then I realized “Hey, I’m writing a review for this game, I should probably test out ever aspect of it.” To my amazement, I realized that Ridge Racer somehow takes into account the compactness of the PSP’s control stick. It wasn’t soon after I decided that I loved using that little round nub for this game. And on an informational standpoint, I hate the analog stick for WipeOut Pure, and Mercury.
The controls in Ridge Racer are tight and responsive. Of course, your key to victory consists of two five-letter words: boost and drift. Luckily, these techniques go hand-in-hand. You have three “boost-containers” that start out empty. Throughout the race, drifting will fill these containers until you’re eventually able to fire them up. Coincidentally, immediately following a boost is the perfect time to drift, because it refills your boost tanks at an exponential rate. So a great strategy in Ridge Racer would simply be “boost, drift, boost, drift, boost, drift” etc. It’s not necessarily hard to control your vehicle during either of these actions. While boosting, your car actually has more edging on the turns it makes, which basically feels like the game is playing in fast-motion. And the drifting mechanics are so generous, that even if you’re facing the entirely opposite direction around a turn, as long as the car is drifting, you’ll make it. The only problem with this system, is the exact opposite holds true for when you’re not performing a drift. If you are unable to pull off a drift in time for a sharp turn, your car will keep “bouncing” off the wall of the course, reducing its speed by about half each time it collides.
The purpose of the original PlayStation’s launch of Ridge Racer was actually to show off the new system’s 3D capabilities. Again, the PSP’s title follows this formula to perfection. Ridge Racer for PSP is easily the most graphically enhanced game on the new handheld yet. Each car is rendered properly to measure and accuracy, meaning that some of the models in this game rival those in the Gran Turismo series. In motion, these cars display dazzling reflection effects, especially when entering and leaving tunnels. The courses themselves are also very detailed. Though, for some reason, while drifting, skid marks only appear on some parts of the track. Of course, I’m not being picky or anything. Even the backgrounds are aesthetically pleasing and offer some stunning visuals that really don't help you keep your eyes on the road.
Special effects, like motion and light blurs make the game seemed very polished and clean. And throughout the game, you’ll be hard-pressed to find traces of slowdown or loss of framerate. However, the one thing that bothers me is the atrocious refresh rate of the PSP’s screen. Basically, when colors like strong reds or dark greens followed by a light color appear on screen in motion, they leave an ugly trail. I’m not talking about the purposeful motion blur effects programmed into the game, but the severe “color-bleeding” that appears so readily in this title. Of course, I can’t take that out on the game, since it’s a fault in the hardware rather than the software.
As of now, every other aspect of the game is top-notch, so how about that audio? From simple sound effects to full-blown musical tracks, Ridge Racer keeps you on your toes when screaming through races. At the start of each race, you’re able to quickly cycle through the 30 background music tracks to choose the ones to your liking. Most of the songs consist of upbeat techno-like music with great melodies that get the blood boiling mid-race. And Namco was also nice enough to add a surplus of older Ridge Racer songs to bring back a nostalgic, yet propelling feeling. And since you’ll be drifting so much in this game, the screeching of tires is constantly heard. However, it’s not as annoying or repetitive as you might think. Each different track type has a specific screeching sound effect, and the speed of your car actually differentiates between the types of tire-squealing you hear. Other effects such as bumps into walls, the revving of engines, and anything else you can think of in a racing game are top-notch. Plus, if you’re ever sick of these, you can turn the sound effects down.
After all is said and done, is there really enough in this game to keep you playing for a long time? You bet. There are different courses in all, with options of driving in mirror-mode or even the opposite direction around the course. To add to the mix, there are six various car classes with nine completely different cars in each class, plus some wicked unlockables. While the game doesn’t have a career mode, it does feature a World Tours mode, which allows you to play in 39 different tours, each consisting of specific races that use specific classes of cars. Along with World Tours, there are also Single Race, Time Attack, and Wireless Battle modes to play around with. 90% of the cars and tracks are unlockables, so no matter how much you play, there’s always something more you could be doing. The good people at Namco even threw in the ancient arcade game “New Rally-X” to help cope with load times. And yes, you can even unlock a newer version of that.
Overall, Ridge Racer proved to the doubtful PSP audience that great games can be programmed for this little machine. Namco’s latest racing title shows some great visuals and plays like a fast-paced dream. Everything from the presentation to the music tracks, the game has everything you could want in an arcade racer. Of course, all of this comes at a price, since the loading times are so lengthy. Even with that being said, you won’t get a better gaming experience on this handheld with the choices right now. To be honest, Ridge Racer feels like the first finished product on the PSP, as opposed to the sloppy ports and remakes released around launch. If you shelled out the $250 for one of these little gadgets, you’d better justify your purchase by grabbing Ridge Racer. Review By: Dacvak - 734 Reads
Ridge Racer Review Scores for PSP :
| Gameplay |
| 9.4 |
| Graphics |
| 9.5 |
| Sound |
| 9 |
| Replay |
| 9.3 |
| Overall |
| 9.4 |
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