Ridge Racer 3D (3DS) Review

Namco Bandai love a Ridge Racer launch game. They’re like the guy who also shows up to birthday party with a thought out present but forget that they gave it to you last year. The last Nintendo console to get one though was the Nintendo DS and that was a terrible port of the Nintendo 64 version. Somehow though they (NST) managed to bring that over with worse graphics and terrible controls. With the real developers of the game behind the wheel and with the power of the Nintendo 3DS at their disposal, let’s see how well they’ve done.

Ridge Racer 3D is a perfect launch game. It’s not as lazy as a port but it’s not a brand new game either as well. There’s a lot of reused content in this Ridge Racer. From tracks, to music to cars and more a lot of the game will be familiar to Ridge Racer fans, I’ve only played a few of the titles myself and even I recognise some of them, from other games. Fortunately it’s not all old and for as much as is there is old there’s new content as well. The game itself as well has taken on a new ’theme’ switching a more futuristic theme for more of a hard edged and muscle car theme. The more muscular, awesome looking cars get unlocked later on in the game though, you have to start with some real clunkers to begin. Good thing these clunkers go 200+ km/h. Old environments and cars have gotten a new lick of paint as well. I say re-used content but I’m talking more about the actual tracks rather than how they look. There’s tons of content on offer here, the game even gives you a running total on how far you are into the game. To stretch it even further there’s Mirror and Reverse tracks to unlock, Time Trial, One-Make Races and a Quick Tour mode. This mode that randomly creates a ‘tour’ for you to race around.

All the classic Ridge Racer hallmarks are here in the racing, you’ve got your meat of the game in the Grand Prix mode and there’s always Arcade mode for a quick race. Racing in a a Ridge Racer game is a unique experience and Ridge Racer 3D doesn’t step away form the formula one single little bit. You’ve got your classic drifting, Nitro boosting from the PSP games is here and slipstream boosting is in there as well. The drifting controls are easy as in Ridge Racer 3D, basically all you have to do is press a button and you’re away. The addition of the circle pad to the Nintendo 3DS also means that controlling the game overall is also a painless task.

In fact they’ll tell you you’re in the slipstream every ten-seconds. The commentators overall are very repetitive actually and annoying to a point. If you’re not into them though you can turn it off, but it wouldn’t be Ridge Racer without you cringing at the commentators right? The games music again is from old Ridge Racer games but there is also a fair few new tracks in there. Ridge Racer 3D is a combination mix of everything Ridge Racer, it’s pulled not how you race but what you race on and in from every game that’s come before it.

So how does it all look? Well those worried about those early screenshots can put their worries to rest. The game actually looks great and runs a decent framerate in both 2D and 3D mode. The game isn’t pushing anything serious graphic wise, it’s a very pretty game but overall it has lots of low tech elements that when you’re playing in 2D make it look slight ugly. 3D is where you want to be and in first person mode it’s even better. Leaves hit your face and the helicopters fly down on the track to snap pictures of you. What is terrible though and really they could have just turned them off they’re that bad. The reflections on the car, they’re just shocking and slow. What ever processing power is used on that I think they could have used on something else – anything to look better. The 3D in Ridge Racer is a mixed bag and will differ for everyone else. For me up full blast the 3D effect was just too powerful and made racing hard.

Ridge Racer isn’t missing out on multiplayer action, unfortunately it’s local multiplayer only however if you have two or three friends with the game there’s nothing from stopping you have a party locally. You’ll be able to keep tabs on who is whipping your butt in a race too as you can put your Mii above you car – a small touch but a nice one none the less. StreetPass isn’t forgotten here on Ridge Racer 3DS, you’ll be able to share Replays and Ghosts with your fellow StreetPassers.

Graphics 7.5

Looks pretty but under all the spit and shine is a low tech affair, the 3D hides a lot of it. Not bad, but not great either.

Gameplay 7.0

The tunes the game pumps out are classic Ridge Racer and sound great on the 3DS speakers. The commentary is whiny and annoying and thankfully can be switched off.

Sound 8.5

All the goodness of Ridge Racer compressed all into one little cart. Plays great, slick and fun.

Tilt 8.0

Tons of content here for both Single and Multiplayer players. No online hurts but maybe well get it in another iteration.

Value 7.0

Im not the biggest Ridge Racer fan, but I had a great time with this one.

Overall

Ridge Racer hits another console launch and theres nothing really wrong with it. Would it kill Namco Bandai to push the game that little bit more to make it excellent? A solid title.