"A subpar racing game for the DS"

Ridge Racer is one of the first games I played on the original Playstation. I thought it was good back then but back then, racing games weren't too deep. Welcome to 2005 and the launch of the DS. Ridge Racer was one of the first games out for it. The thing is, it's almost a direct port (at least it seems to be from what all I played which was most of it) and let's face the facts, a racing game needs a bit more then cars and tracks.

It's a racing game so there isn't a story. Let's just jump into the graphics. For the DS I found these graphics rather tame. No jaggies or stuff like that but it looks like a much smoother version of the Playstation version. The game runs at a good speed but everything lacks details. Not that you're driving blocks but the backgrounds are sort of blocking and very bland looking. Cares have minor details but they look far from realistic.

The sound in the game is very bleh. The music is techno sounding all around (well, I remember one song not being techno like). The music isn't bad but I think we've advanced in gaming past the generic techno beats. Only voice acting is the announcer and frankly, he sounds like they pulled him out of canned sounds. Sound effects are decent; cars hitting each other sound nothing like they should. Burning rubber doesn't sound right either. It's just nothing special all around; hey it's pretty much the theme of this game!

The control in the game is maybe the most unique thing about it. There are three control settings. First setting is like a normal racer but real quick let me state how much I hate having to hit select at the start of every race to get out of the first person view mode. You move with the d-pad. Gas is A, one of the buttons is brake and that's it. Not sure if you can power slide, never found a use for it. Second set up is you use up on the d-pad for gas and you use your little stylus on the wheel in the bottom screen to turn. I found this to be rather stiff compared to the very loose controls of setting 1. Setting 3 was the worst for me. You use X as gas and then you use the wrist strap to move. I just can't figure out how to do that, it doesn't fit my hand...

The game play is very basic. Pick a difficulty (you start on novice and then work your way up), pick a car and then you race. There are three tracks per difficulty; they change slightly for each difficulty. Nothing special and I hate having only three tracks, sure they change but they all feel the same. The tracks have lots of turns and hills and the stuff that tracks are made of. However, the AI is dumb. I found myself always slowly making my way up the pack and then halfway through the final lap I would get in 1st and then win. Every time, it was wash, rinse and repeat. No challenge at all which is sad. The game offers the normal time attack mode and it has a car mode or something like that. In car mode you win races to get new cars. Somewhere around 30 cars which isn't too shabby of a number. There is also wifi play. You can play some things with just one cart and you can play others if people have the cart also. I didn't try any of that out because I don't know anyone who owns a DS and I doubt anyone I know would buy Ridge Racer.

The replay value is low in my opinion. It gets boring racing the same three tracks over and over. New cars are nice but some are too lame. I thought the Mario car looked like crap and don't get me started on the horrible design of the Luigi car. After 2 hours I had finished all of the races and was bored with the game. This will be the first game in a long time that I will be trading in. It's just a waste of time in the end since there are so many better racers out there.

Story - 0/10
Graphics - 6/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 7/10
Game play - 5/10
Replay value - 4/10

Final Score - 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/05