"The smartest twenty dollars I’ve ever spent in my life"

OPENING STATEMENT
Ridge Racer 64 is the first installment on a Nintendo console in Namco’s ever-popular racing series. Despite Ridge Racer 5’s name, Ridge Racer 64 is actually the fifth project. Perhaps Namco is not considering it a full-fledged Ridge Racer game, because of something with Nintendo. I truly do not know. Anyway, from the three Ridge Racer games I have played (Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer Type 4, and Ridge Racer 64) this is by far the best. It is the greatest racing game on the Nintendo 64, and it is one of the greatest racing games ever made.

GAMEPLAY--9
This is the absolute perfect blend of an arcade and a simulation racing game. Ridge Racer 64 takes the best elements of each type. It takes the strategy, car capabilities, and game design from the simulation genre, but the game itself plays like an arcade racer. The result is an arcade racer that is deeper than any other arcade racer ever created. Each car has its obvious (especially if you look at the handy meter, but it is pretty obvious without it) strengths and weaknesses. Each played will develop a personal driving style (mine is accelerate and speed and have no regard whatsoever for the walls and hope you can rebound from a crash) and they will surely be able to find the perfect vehicle out of the twenty-five to suit their tastes.

GRAPHICS--8
While these graphics are not perfect, they offer a refreshing taste of realism in the Nintendo 64’s cartoonish game line-up. Ridge Racer 64 does a great job presenting realistic graphics. The edges of the vehicles are a little bit jagged, and everything near the car can get a tad pixely, but other than that, Namco did a spectacular job. The environments are the most amazing I have ever witnessed in a racing game, on any console, on the computer, or in the arcade. The environments present beautiful images of the southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the classic Ridge Racer city. I was especially impressed with the desert and water effects. But, what I was most impressed with was the lighting. The lighting presents a realistic race like no other. When races are at night, you do have a considerably difficult time seeing, but it is by no means impossible. It is just more difficult than in the day. The tunnels do a great job presenting varying lighting, and the taillights of the vehicles ahead of you, especially on those night tracks, are amazing. This was just a spectacular job.

MUSIC--10
SOUND--9
This has the absolute best music of any racing game ever created. This music was all perfect for the game. The songs fit the tracks they are supposed to go with perfectly. And all of the songs give you that sense of urgency at the same time, that you need to speed and pass RIGHT NOW. This was an amazing job, and probably no racing game will ever get such a high score here now that I have listened to Ridge Racer 64’s tunes.

The sound effects are great. I have to disagree with Nemesis--I thought the announcer was the best I have ever heard in a racing game. He was never annoying, and he did not constantly talk. Occasionally he would say something like “Nice cornering!” but it was never anything too frequent. The fishtailing had the wonderful burning rubber noise done to a tee. The engines revving up sounds just like you are at Daytona. This was just a spectacularly done audio job.

CONTROL--8
The control is not perfect, but it is not bad. In my opinion, the Nintendo 64 has the supreme controller for racing games. Everything is set up perfectly for everything to be a breeze. Steering is simply and perfectly done with the Control Stick. All of the default settings are perfect. My two main problems with the control are the following. It is nearly impossible to regain control of your car after you drift for three our four seconds. If you are in the middle of the pack, this can mean three or four cars pass you. Also, the cars do not seem to break fast enough. I do not know if this is deliberate or not, but the cars take FOREVER to stop.

FUN--9
This is one of the most entertaining racers to be released in a long time. There are enough modes there for you to have fun always, and I do like the three multiplayer modes that will be included. Getting all of the vehicles can be a pain, but you do not have to do that. I say it is a pain because some of them take forever and/or are really complicated to get. The tracks have plenty to see in them, and they are laid out wonderfully, even though you will rarely come across a shortcut. You will always have fun racing the tracks, just because your opposing vehicles always will have one more move up their sleeve.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM
Some of the races are considerably more difficult than others, but none are overly difficult. What I did find difficult were the Car Attacks, and unlocking the cars. Some of the cars you are attempting to earn almost seem invincible, as the artificial intelligence seems very intent on not allowing you to win. The first three Car Attacks are easy enough, but then the difficulty really begins to heat up. There are easier, and there are more difficult racing games. Ridge Racer 64 seems to have found the happy medium between the two extremes.

REPLAY VALUE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
Even when you have finally gotten all of the vehicles and gotten first place in all of the races, you will still come back and play Ridge Racer 64. Why, you ask? For the multiplayer modes. The four-player racing is spectacular, and that alone is almost worth the price of admission. The Team Racing Mode, though, is my favorite. You can choose up to three teams (I always choose the maximum), choose who drives for which one, and set off on the road.

PROS
*Makes excellent use of the Ridge Racer license.
*Giant number of cars for a racing game on the Nintendo 64.
*No real competition.

CONS
*Not actually developed by Namco.
*No really odd modes.
*Playing Ridge Racer 64 can get very tough after playing a faster racing game such as Crus’n USA.

CLOSING STATEMENT
This is just another great game from Namco. This is the best non-battle racing game on the Nintendo 64, the best game in the Ridge Racer series, and it is in the running for the best racing game of all time. It is a spectacular first Nintendo 64 effort.

OVERALL--9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/01, Updated 07/18/01