Namco is tearing up Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld with Ridge Racer 3D which boasts great visuals and tons of races. When you get right down to it Ridge Racer is a solid racing series that has spanned generation after generation of game consoles and it keeps true to what has made it famous in this latest handheld iteration.
Since this is a racing game for a handheld the story isn't very important. In actuality there is no story to follow, and the game focuses solely on the races.
Gameplay
Ridge Racer is your standard racing game. The core gameplay involves you going in circles around a track three times and trying to be the first one across the finish line. Despite having a pretty simple concept, Ridge Racer 3D is a solid game with solid controls. As a person who isn’t too big on racing games I was pleasantly surprised to find how simple it truly was to control your car in Ridge Racer. For those of you who have a difficult time with racing games, Namco offers up a one button drift setting which enables you to slide around the tightest turns with ease. Beyond the one button control you can opt for the standard drifting experience. This is more difficult than the one button setup, though it's still very simple once you get the hang of it. In the single player mode of the game you will find enough races to keep you busy for weeks on end with more than one hundred races. The Grand Prix spans three difficulties with Basic, Advanced, and Expert modes. As you may expect, the more races you complete the more credits you will earn yourself. These can then be used to purchase new cars, upgrades for your cars and new nitrous modifications.
Multi-Player
The multi-player aspect of Ridge Racer 3D was as expected. The multiplayer is the same races and tracks as you would find in single player, just with your friends. I was a little disappointed by the lack of online play with this game especially because this was on a new system in the online age of gaming. The local play is fine in its own right, however there isn’t much to it that differs from the solo experience. It’s still pretty fun if you can get a group of people together. Another, (I suppose you could call it) pseudo multi-player aspect of the game is the street pass play which the game supports. It’s a cool feature considering it earns you credits just for walking past another player. The street pass mode puts you in simulated races using the two participating players' best times on a certain track and rewards the winning player with credits based upon their victory. All and all the game could do with some more online play but can stand on its own without.
Audio & Video
The soundtrack for Ridge Racer is about what you would find in any racing game. It mainly consists of light fast numbers to get you in a racing mood and to keep you playing. In the actual gameplay, the sounds are okay with nothing special. The cars sound all right on a handheld, even though it’s mostly just the same engine noises over and over. On to the graphics: out of everything, I have to say I was most impressed with the graphics in this game. The graphics are rather impressive for anything I’ve seen on a portable and probably the best out of all the launch titles on the 3DS. The cars are probably the best looking thing in the game. The scenery is really just there so you don’t see completely blank backgrounds the whole time. (Though it does look nice for something that’s really just there for filler.) If you picked up this system early, this game is good way to show off to your friends and family what the 3D on the 3DS is supposed to look like.
Overall
Now for the scores, Ridge Racer 3D nets a 6/10 for audio, a 9/10 for video, 7/10 for gameplay, and a 7/10 for multi-player giving an overall score of 7.5 out of 10. Final verdict is if you picked up the 3DS early this a is a good title to grab, it really shows off what the system can do.
"Ridge Racer 3D" is on sale March 22, 2011 and is rated E. Racing. Developed and published by Namco Bandai Games.
