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Home > PAX Gamers |
PAX Gamers - Ridge Racer Review :: Playstation Portable
| Publisher: | Developer: | | Genre: Sports | ESRB: Everyone | | Online?: Yes | Release: March 24, 2005 | | Price: 49.99 | Boxart: View |
| Posted by: admin | At: Mar 21, 2005 | Views: 32 |
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PSP is here
After much anticipation, possibly the first real competitor to Nintendo's handheld systems has finally arrived from Sony. With graphics that resemble PS2 games, yet is similair to the size of a controller, the PSP is definately a great gaming machine. That out of the way, we're here to talk about Ridge Racers. It launched with the PS1, PS2 and now the PSP but unlike previous versions, this title definately is one of the best racers out there.
The first thing you will notice (after your eyes stop staring at your PSP) is the games visuals. Yes it has nice slick menu's but what makes the game visually appealing is the in-game graphics themselves. The car models, the frame-rate (flawless), the background and of course the track itself. All of it is extremely impressive for a handheld and would even pass for a PS2 game. Even when playing online it runs absolutely smooth as ice with no chugging.
Audio is definately not Ridge Racers best attribute. I'm not saying it's bad but compared to the rest of the game it just doesn't compare. The music is definately geared towards Japanese gamers but it luckily flows with the game, as does the excited announcer. The car noise also sounds great as does the sound of the tires when screeching through a turn. Overall the game sounds good.
Easily the best and most important of the game is Gameplay. The best part is the game being so easy to pick up. Almost immediately I got used to the analog "disc", as I like to call it and after using turbo a few times I picked up fairly fast when the best time was to use the speed boost. Talking about turbo, basically as you drift through corners, the more you do the more one of your 3 bars gets filled. If one gets filled you get to use a turbo by pressing the "R" button, but if you want to save it that's fine because if you keep on drifting the 2nd bar will just fill up and the whole process happens with the 3rd bar. The turbo gives you a speed burst for a certain length of time (i'd guess about 5-10 seconds) and works perfectly in those tight situations at the finish line where you need an edge to win the race.
The best part of Ridge Racer is the World Tour mode. Here you race at various tracks and unlock cars and tracks to use in a normal race. Also when racing there is always a minimum place you must finish at or you don't proceed. The other modes are definately good as well, but the world tour mode will take hours out of your day.
I think I can pretty much safely say, Ridge Racer is the best racing game on any handheld, ever. That may be a bold statement but then all other racing games on handhelds have sucked, so a pretty bad comparison considering how good Ridge Racer is. So how good is Ridge Racer? Coming from a guy that won't buy Halo 2 because the single player doesn't last long, get this game if your a racing fan at all or even enjoy arcade racing games. This one will last you a long time.
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