GENTLEMEN..START YOUR ENGINES!!

INTRO

I can remember when the original Playstation was released, way back when. I was fortunate enough to get on of the new machines from Sony. I can also remember that one of the first games available on this new system was Ridge Racer, with it's ground breaking graphics and stunning sound, it blew people away, and became a classic in it's own right. Sony's new machine the PSP has just been launched and so has Namco's next installment of this classic arcade racer!

A LITTLE MORE HISTORY...

Ridge Racer was originally a arcade machine and i have very fond memories of being a youngster, spending lots of money to play this game. Namco joined the Sony game console revolution almost a decade ago and it has not looked back since. Ridge Racer really has not changed very much over the years. Apart from the obvious improvement in graphics and sound, the game play has remained the same, solid, fast arcade style racing! No car modifications, no tinkering with gear ratios or any of that jazz, just a fun arcade racing game!

SO HOW DOES IT PLAY?

I will admit i had my doubts about buying Ridge Racer on the PSP. As much as i love the Ridge Racer series, i just had a bad feeling that this game was just going to be real pretty graphics with no game play, I have however been very pleasantly surprised! When you first turn the game on you are greeted with a very old 1980's looking racing game, that looks as though it has come straight from the NES or the Sega Master System (more on this later), once you get past this you are treated to a very nice introduction that really shows you just what the PSP is capable of. Once the Intro is over you are asked for your name, then you get to the main menu.

There are a number of choices on the main menu. You have the options menu as you would expect to find in any game you then have the 4 main modes of play in this installment of Ridge Racer, Single Race, Time Attack, World Tours, and Wireless Battle. Single race and time attack modes are fairly self explanatory. Single race you can pick any of the available tracks (ones you start with or tracks you have unlocked) then you compete in a single race! Time Attack Mode again is sort of the same, you can pick any available track or car and you can try to record your best lap times. Wireless battle, if you have a friend with a PSP and a copy of Ridge Racer you can play against each other by using this option. World Tours, this is the main part of the game.

TIME TO START YOUR ENGINES

World Tours takes you on a journey through a series of multiple race events. You start of with the basic tour, at your disposal are 3 different kinds of cars. All have different handling styles. One of the cars is very balanced, quite safe and easy to control, another is harder to control and will be more of a challenge for you to pull of drifts (more on drifts later) and the last car it is very easy to pull of drifts over long stretches! All the way through the game this setup will not change. The only characteristic that changes on the cars are how fast they can go. The more you progress through the game the faster the cars get. In all there are 54 cars for you to unlock. You Unlock more cars and tracks every time that you complete a tour. The basic tour is very, very easy and will not offer much of a challenge. This is good because it allows you to master the art of drifting!!

Drifting is one of the main things in this game. Call it what you will, Drifting, Power sliding, Skidding it's all the same. For the first time in a Ridge Racer game you have the ability to use Nitrous Oxide! The way you get the nitrous...yep you guessed it, you have to drift around as many corners as possible! The more you drift the quicker your nitrous tanks fill up. You must learn how to do this or you will not have a chance in the later stages of the game. Once you have completed the basic tour you progress onto the Pro Tour! This is a whole different ball game! The AI is improved, the computer controlled cars are a lot smarter, you will not automatically finish first every race! You have to earn it in the Pro Tour. From the Pro tour you go to the EX tour, then from there you go to the Pro EX tour. So hard is the Pro Ex tour (and i quote this from Namco) they only expect 1 in 20000 to be able to complete it!! They say even the people who designed the game, and know it inside out, have only completed the Pro Ex tour twice in 90 days! So this game will take a while to complete!

The tracks are very nicely designed. In the world tours mode you will find all the tracks from every Ridge Racer game ever made, which is pretty cool! Nice to be able to play the track from the original Ridge Racer from the Playstation 1. The track feature great terrain ranging from tunnels, bridges, hairpin turns, waterfalls and rivers, helicopters, jets and other things all add to the tracks. Night time and Daytime races are available and all the tracks look stunning!

HOW DOES IT HANDLE?

The Game is very easy to play. The controls are very simple and that makes this game wonderful to play. You can use either the directional pad or you can use the thumb nub, i actually find it a lot easier to use the D-Pad over the thumb nub! X is your accelerator and Square is the break. If you drift enough and get your nitrous tanks filled then the right shoulder button gives you the boost from the nitrous. All in all very easy to play!

GRAPHICS AND SOUND = STUNNING

Graphically, Ridge racer is the best PSP launch title, they are awesome and the scenery races by at phenomenal speeds! The visuals are extremely crisp and clear, the back drops are stunningly detailed, not once have i experience any slow down or a drop in frame rate! You really have to see it to believe it! I never thought i would see the day when a handheld could produce such beautiful graphics!

The Sound is great as well. Ridge Racer fans will know what to expect from the music, lots of dance and fast paced music really set the scene, and really adds a lot to the game overall. As usual there is a really annoying cheesy commentator that talks to you in the background, it all adds to an unforgettable gaming experience though.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I love Ridge Racer. This is how racing games should be! Fast, Fun and Furious, no messing around, just buckle your seatbelt and enjoy the ride. This is a great game on a great system, you will not be disappointed if you purchase this game, it will last a while and has plenty enough to keep you coming back for more! Will the best $39.99 you will spend for a while!