Ridge Racer 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

At launch, the 3DS had a reasonably good spread of genres. There were platformers, sports titles, beat 'em up's and, of course, lots of Nintendog's. We also had the choice of two racers: Gameloft's Asphalt and this: Ridge Racer. Interestingly a similar thing happened during the release window of the original DS with the very same titles vying for the public's attention. Ridge Racer has a much longer relationship with gamers though and, depending on your age, it may have been the arcade experience, which first drew your attention to the series. It could even have been the early days of the PS1, which had petrol heads drifting around the beautifully rendered tracks for hours on end. Even if it was neither of these, you have probably still spent some time 'behind the wheel' of this Namco classic. We have to admit, when we first laid our eye on this 3DS version, it didn't exactly fill us with excitement but did our full road throw up any positive results?

Gameplay

A racer would be nothing without a career mode of some description and here you can choose to move up the World Rankings in Grand Prix Mode. This is presented in a grid format so you do have some control over exactly how you get to tackle the tournament although there's a good chance you'll have to race each track at least once. There are three levels of Grand Prix too with each one getting progressively faster and more difficult. As a result you'll need to invest in more powerful cars all of which can be purchased from the Garage, should you have amassed enough credits. If time isn't on your hands you can always opt for the Quick Race, Standard Race or even the One Make Race, which allows you to set your own track, time and difficulty criteria. Once you've exhausted all of this you'd assume you'd go right for the Multiplayer and, you can, as long as you have a bunch of friends who not only have a copy of the game but live in your area too. You see, there's no online Multiplayer, which we (and I'm sure you do too) find completely baffling. We would have gladly waited another few months, for the developers to add this feature, but sadly this really is a single player experience.

Controls

Ridge Racer has never made any excuses for being an arcade based racer and if your used to a little more realism in your driving games, it may take a little while to get used to things here. The introduction of the analogue stick (or circular pad, if you like) does allow you to experience a much more comfortable control system and while you'd imagine that this would make things more difficult it surprisingly responsive. Drifting is at the core of your gameplay and until you've mastered the perfect 'drift', you're likely to have a rather frustrating and unrewarding experience. Not to mention actually losing most of the races. Slipstreaming, which involves closely following a car in front of you and so reducing the amour of drag on your car, can also help to fill up your all important 'boost' meters and using these on a straight, or just before a finish line can make the difference between first across the line or hitting the 'replay' option.

Graphics

Visually the game is an absolute delight and does a great deal of show off just how much more powerful this new 3DS hardware is. The tracks look wonderful with the city based ones in particular featuring an incredible level of detail. These all whizz by at an impressive speed with some clever visually tricks giving a real illusion of speed with no frame dropout at all. The only visual aspect of the game, which isn't pleasing, are the car models themselves, which appear to be blocky, and not nearly as detailed and the environments they're racing around.

Sound

There's a generous amount of adrenaline-based techno tracks on offer here although most are instantly forgettable. The voice-over acting is far more satisfying with both male and female pundits commenting on your every move. This is not only expertly delivered but also cleverly edited so you're unlikely to hear the same phrase repeated and the majority of the comments actually refer to how you're driving as opposed to something far more generic.

Special features

Ridge Racer is one of the few launch games where the 3D does actually enhance the gameplay and the 3D elements give the tracks a wonderful added depth without becoming too distracting. It's all very subtle too and after only ten minutes or so, you probably won't even notice the effect but it definitely makes the racing feel more immersive. It's also the first game we've played which uses the StreetPass feature where other gamers who own a copy of the game can send you duals remotely. This is a great way to boost your points and, due to the absence of an online Multiplayer, one of the only ways you can enjoy racing with another 'real' opponent. The other is over a LAN but this game was screaming out for an online feature with ability to challenge gamers anytime, anywhere.

Final comments

This 3DS version of Ridge Racer certainly delivers in the (single player) gameplay department and there are enough tracks and increasingly difficult competitions to keep you occupied for some time. The StreetPass also seems to work reasonably well and we were challenged to several races in a matter of days by simply walking around the town centre. The only real disappointment here is the lack of any online feature and it's a complete mystery as to why the developers didn't include this on what is a far more technically advance handheld than the DS. It's still one of the stronger games, available at launch, but destined to 'overtaken' by the next racer available which offers the ability to race with other gamers from around the world.

Pro: 3D Courses Look Great, Loads of Well Designed Tracks to Enjoy
Con: No Multiplayer, Poor Car Models.
Final score: 8.1

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