Ridge Racer DS

"Thumb-Strap racing is just so addicting..."

Ridge Racer DS is basically a port of an N64 game. This means it is a very complete game unlike other DS launch titles which tend to have a "rushed" feeling to them. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I got this game but it turned out to be a very solid and addicting racing game.

Gameplay: 7
I was sad to find out that you couldn't customize the parts in your car and collisions aren't very realistic but that's to be expected since RR is more of an arcade-racer than a realistic one. What makes RR such a fun racing game is the drifting ability. It can be difficult at first but once you master it you can tear up the tracks without having to slow down around turns.

Control: 10
There are three modes of control. The thumb-strap is the only one I use because it makes the control really tight once you get used to it. You just need to put your thumb on the middle of the steering wheel and drag it left and right to turn. Steering like this is really fun and really gets you absorbed in the game. The only problem is if you tap the wheel on the left or right your car will suddenly turn about 45 in that direction so you need to keep your thumb on the touch screen. This can also be a problem if you have small hands.

Graphics: 5
Sort of depressing. They don't seem to go above the N64 graphics at all. This is the curse of porting games from the N64. Later in the year when developers have more time to get their titles out I hope graphics will start exceeding the 64's graphics.

Sound: 9
Great sound. It has some very typical techno music, but hey, this is a racing game and techno music fits very well with racing games. The screeching tires and engine sounds are high quality and are aided by the stereo output. The announcer adds to the expirence and is sometimes very helpful. I found myself muting him because "They're right on your tail!" helps if you don't want to risk looking behind you but gets sort of annoying once you've heard it a few dozen times.

Replay Value: 6
Once you've unlocked everything you've done everything there is to do. You can have up to 6 people play on one cart which is really cool but I still gave it a 6 for replay because finding 6 people who have a DS is really hard. At least for me.

Overall: 7
I hope all future racing games on the DS utilize the thumb-strap because racing with it is just the coolest thing ever. This game suffers from being a pretty direct port form the N64 without much alteration to the graphics. At least the sweet arcade-style gameplay survived.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05