| Ridge
Racer V has a lot to live up to. The Ridge Racer series of games has
always been known for its arcade-style racing fun, focusing on the
thrill of speed rather than on realism. To this day, if I see a
sit-down Ridge Racer arcade unit I simply cannot resist popping in
enough quarters for at least one game. If Ridge Racer V ever shows
up in my arcade, I should have no trouble passing it up.
The intro sequence to Ridge Racer V
flashes the message "A New Beginning." Believe me when I
say that this game is not a good fresh start for the series. Don't get me wrong, Ridge Racer V is by no
means a bad game, but something is very wrong when a new 128-bit
sequel isn't nearly as much fun as the 32-bit original. Sadly, this
is the case with Ridge Racer V.
The most startling disappointment in
Ridge Racer V's presentation (I'll talk about gameplay later on) is
the audio. Whoever picked the announcer for this game should be
fired. Whoever picked the dialog for the announcer should be fired.
It's simply the most annoying game voiceover in recent memory.
The music is also extremely disappointing.
I actually bought the original Ridge Racer before I had a
PlayStation -- just so that I could listen to some of its tunes.
Unfortunately, the music in this edition of the series is mostly
just noise. It has its moments, but it just doesn't fit the
on-screen action and it isn't anything that I'd want to pop in my CD player.
On the visual side, the graphics are very realistically
depicted on the PS2. However, aside from the occasional non-race vehicle
on an overpass, the environments are sterile and lifeless. Case in
point: the big screen TV that hangs over the tunnel from the Sunny
Beach course is simply a stagnant texture showing the title of the
current music track. Even the original had this screen animated! The color
pallet is also fairly bland and repetitious.
You may have heard about the lack of
anti-aliasing causing a jagged, flickering appearance to Ridge Racer
V. In fact, this isn't nearly as big of a problem as it has been made
out to be. In my opinion, the high image quality coupled with the occasional
flickering creates an image reminiscent of an actual arcade display
from not too long ago. The only really distracting thing about the
visuals is that the portions of the tracks that indicate upcoming turns are way too short, and
as a result they are not displayed clearly until it's too late to
take the turn properly. However, after the courses become familiar
this isn't a huge issue.
A big part of the lack of graphical
variety is the fact that every single course is an offshoot of one
single road system in the fictional Ridge City. This is actually a
really cool idea, but the way that it's executed makes it difficult
to distinguish one track from another. Even more critical is the
fact that the original Sunny Beach course is still the most fun to
drive.
Despite all of this nitpicking, there
are some rather major problems that hinder Ridge Racer V's gameplay.
Simply put, the control in Ridge Racer V is extremely frustrating!
Worse yet is the fact that neither the manual nor the game provide
any real information on how to best handle the different types of
cars. I was stunned by how differently this game controls. There are
numerous control options, but I was unable to find one that let me
control the race car rather than have the race car controlling me.
This may be more realistic, but it's not nearly as much fun.
While the various cars in the
original Ridge Racer were really only there for fun, in Ridge Racer
V you must learn to drive each car if you ever want to open up all
of the game's features. Once again, with no help from the game as to
what is the best way to handle the various cars, the gamer is left
with no option but to repeat repetitious races until they discover a
driving system that's passable.
Ridge Racer V has three difficulty
levels, and once you pick one for your save file you're stuck with
it. The manual does not really discuss what the different levels
mean, but I can tell you that the "Easy" difficulty is
anything but easy for an average beginner.
One of the factors in the high
difficulty is that the opponents seem to know exactly where you are
and often block you perfectly. This is despite the fact that you do
not have a rear view mirror with which you can see approaching
opponents. Instead, if you hope to block you must press the Rear
View button which actually makes the whole screen shift to a view of
the rear. Of course, your car is still moving at 100+ MPH while
doing this, and taking your eyes off the road in such a manner is
impractical to say the least.
There's fun to be had with Ridge
Racer V, but it's nowhere near the amount of fun that I expected.
Namco has a great reputation for its software, and this doesn't
meet its usual standards. It's very possible that Ridge Racer V will
be worth the cost of a rental to most people, but is it worth half a
hundred dollars? I don't think so.
| Overall
Rating: Rental Only |
|
