Ridge Racer 64

"One of the N64's better games. Not a MUST have, but fairly close to it......."

Wraning, this review is poor…..please forgive me..

When I first heard that Ridge Racer 64 was being Co Developed by Nintendo and Namco I instantly wanted it. I had previously play very briefly played the first 3 Playstation games and enjoyed them quite a lot. To Date (June 2001) Ridge Racer 64 remains one of my all time favourite N64 games, and is played quite often when I have a friend or two over, and every once in a while one my own. I spent a good few months unlocking everything in Ridge Racer 64, and the game was worth every penny I spent on it.


Gameplay
Incase you have never played a Ridge Racer game, here's the low down. They are fast, furious and fun. They lack the realism of games such as the Gran Turismo series, and instead have over the top elements such as the insanely exaggerated powerslides famous in the series.

Ridge Racer has some awesome gameplay. It is fast paced and action packed. The controls are tight, responsive and do the job well. And powersliding is still as fun as ever. There are a good 20+ tracks to unlock and even more cars. Tracks come in three's you just race and beat all three to get the next three and so on. The same principle is applied to the cars (yes you actually have to race and beat the cars to get them as well). Actually unlocking every last little car, track and secret in the game will have you playing for a good few months. Unfortunately, as in the other previous Ridge Racer games the out-of-car views still look like your car is hovering over the track, this isn't a huge problem though.
9/10

Graphics
Ridge Racer 64 has very decent graphics indeed. It adds to the atmosphere of the game a lot to hoon over a rise, whilst passing the sleekly designed car of an opponent, and to glance out into the distance and see 10 other cars battling it out for first position, and to notice that there was no pop up at all and that the frame rate stayed smoother than Homers head after he put it in the bowling ball cleaner...... Ridge Racer 64 has very good graphics, clean, crisp, sleek, detailed and sharp enough to stab your friend with after they beat you (note: that was a JOKE). The trakcs and scenery are nice, the cars are also very nice and the effects are all well done as well. It's very purdy to look at, and doesn't suffer from a hint of slowdown, even with over 10 cars on the screen at on time, which is important due to the speed of the game.

8/10

Sound
The music and Sound effects in Ridge Racer 64 are also very good and well done. The music tracks are fast pumping techno all the way, which is very suiting to the game. After all, what fast paced, pumping, souped up car would be complete without fast paced pumping techno music? The music does a great job of conveying the speed and intensity of Ridge Racxer 64 very well. The music had me bopping along to, and enjoying quite a lot as well. The sound effects are very good also, with convincing engine roars and lovely screeching tire squeals.
8/10

Multiplayer
It's 6am shouldn't we go to sleep now?
Multiplayer? Yes. Multiplayer. It has Multiplayer. So? So it's good. Really good. What could be better than burning around a fast paced, tight cornered track with up to 3 other friends? Before you say ''Goldeneye'' or ''Perfect Dark……..fool'' just think to yourself ''Maybe I could try another game's multiplayer mode, it might be half as good''. Ridge Racer 64 has great multiplayer and that's the bottom line. It will keep you going all night. It's really great fun, you can even race in teams against the CPU. This is one of the favourites at parties my friends and I have all of the time, the multiplayer will ensure you are still playing Ridge Racer 64 for a good while after you have beaten the single player mode fully.
8/10

Replayability
Once the single Player mode is finished you won't want to play it too much. But the multiplayer is where it's at. As mentioned earlier in the review my friends and I play this quite often when there are a few of us together. Good stuff, though it's got NOTHING on goldeneye in my opinion it is still good for a change and something different.
7/10

Difficulty
Ridge Racer 64 isn't extremely hard to beat, but at the same time isn't tooooo easy. It's easier than a lot of games, but that's not entirely a bad thing. It will still take some time to fully unlock everything in the game.
A little on the easy side, but nothing that kills the game.

7/10

Pros
*Nice graphics
*Fast
*Intense
*Lots of stuff to unlock
*Fun
*Very good multiplayer

Cons
*A little bit too easy

Buy/Rent
Buy. Ridge Racer 64 is a very decent game, while not a 100% MUST HAVE, it is still a very solid and fun game. I think that it was well worth my money, and it will be worth yours too providing you don't HATE racing games of this type, and/or don't hate the Ridge Racer series in general.

Overall

Buy this game now.
Co developed for the N64 by Nintendo and Namco, you know it's gotta be gooooood. Fast paced action, lots of stuff to unlock, good variety of tracks, insane multiplayer, nice graphics, good music and fairly decent sound effects make this worthy of being in any N64 owners game collection. I love the game and I am sure you will at least enjoy it too.


Overall 9.1/10 (Rounded to 9/10 for GameFAQs)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/01, Updated 06/29/01