Better than PGR3???
Lets put the metal to the pedal with this review…
Gameplay and Fun Factor
Namco could have gone the route of the Gran Turismo’s of the world and tried to piece together something that couldn’t possible be done in such a short amount of time. There’s just something about a good old’ racing game that makes someone just want to pick up the controller and speed away. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Gran Turismo series and everything that it has brought to the table, in terms of depth and what not, but Namco will always have a warm place in my heart when it comes to just putting the metal to the pedal and going by someone at mach 12. Namco’s Ridge Racer series has always brought the adrenaline without asking too much thought from its players. No surprises, just pure racing.
With that said, lets talk about the best feature that Ridge Racer 6 has to offer, control. I found this to be the most pleasing experience when it came to very accurate control scheme. While this isn’t giving you too much realism, the controls are made to provide enough stability where you can actually think more about where you opponent is rather than having to think if you can push the analog stick a little bit more to the left or not. If you over compensate for a turn, you’ll be able to pull it back under control. If you want to do a power-slide around a corner, you need only let go of the gas, tap the break, and then punch the gas again, while turning the analog stick whatever direction you need. There’s no trick to it. I wish there was, Steven McGehee and William Campbell were giving me praise on my accurate ability to pull off an almost perfect power-slide. I took in the glory until I realized how easy it was to perform one. So much glory though (sigh
Anyway, the controls are great, but what about the A.I. of the other cars? Well, as tradition has shown in the recent years, the A.I. is very important when it comes to driving games. First off, you don’t want to blow through everyone without having competition applied, but then again you don’t want your chasse handed to you because the computer is too smart. Regretfully the first choice is the case with Ridge Racer 6. I found the game to be way too easy when it came to actual racing. Once you get the control scheme down and are comfortable, which doesn’t take long, you’ll be blowing the competition off the track. The computer doesn’t really try at times, it’s pitiful. And while this may seem major to most, it was still nice to leave the computer in my dust. For years we’ve all been toiling with getting our butts handed to us from the Gran Turismo series, which has made us hard drivers. It’s sort of nice to have the confidence and control of burning the track up. I wish the A.I. were a bit meaner; even it means bumping a bit sometimes.
So lets talk about tracks. You know, this game reminds me a lot of Sega’s driving series. From the start it has the elements of Daytona and throughout it brings a lot of similar tracks like Sega’s GT game. So many unique tracks, some short, some long, some repeating, some complicated, it’s an amazing variety. From San Fran to what looks like Europe, you’re promised never to be bored by what Namco brings to the table in terms of track variety. That’s quite amazing.
Speaking of variety, lets talk about modes. You’ve got four main modes in Ridge Racer 6, they are as follows:
World Xplorer – This is one of the deepest modes out there. If you can picture a connect-the-dot map, where you have small dots that represent races, connected to other dots that represent more races, and prizes. Now take that picture and multiply it many, many, many times. This is one of the deepest modes on the game and something I’ve never seen before in this time of racing series. It’s huge! As you win races in World Xplorer you’ll unlock and be able to race other races in the Ridge Racer series, this gets back to the connect the dot factor. It’s pretty damn impressive.
Single Race – It is what it says, a single race. You can race by yourself or you can race with a friend. Regardless, you’ll be able to race a single race and enjoy life. It’s simple and quick and sometimes just what the ailment of boring driving calls for in an urgent adrenaline need.
Global Time Attack – What more do you need to know? The name says it all; it’s the Global Time Attack. You get to go on a race against time and depending on how you do, your time gets posted online so that everyone around the world can laugh at you (or was that just me). Anyway, it’s pretty straightforward, you can add some ghost cars in there if you’d like to prepare you for future competition, but it’s a neat option.
Online Battle – I’m not quite sure why they called it online battle, online racing might have been cooler, but who am I to complain? You go online to play other players around the world. And believe me, this is lag-free! And the players are tough as nails. Forget about automatic shift, that doesn’t exist in this world. Manual shift is the only way to even remotely get close to winning a race online. Those players online do not play around when it comes to driving.
These modes are worth something. Most games that tote a bunch of modes don’t really mean half of what they offer. Ridge Racer 6’s modes are outstanding and worth your time in every way. I think that is probably the biggest strength of the game.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics are outstanding in Ridge Racer 6! You couldn’t ask for better visuals. You’ve got really gorgeous reflections coming from the body of the car and very accurate shading, shadowing and lighting on the car and off the car. The body of the cars are very smooth, detailed and look like cars. Regretfully there’s no damage to cars once you bump other cars or lose control of the vehicle and bump into a railing. This is minor, but might have added to the game a bit, if not for visual purposes. Call me spoiled but I think this would have helped quite a bit.
As for the environments you’ve got stunning realistic roads, mountains, houses, everything is so very detailed. The first thing I noticed about the environments is the road. It literally is bumpy gravel that looks painfully like a fast-moving road. I say painfully because if I were to fall out of the car and smack into it, it would make me sad.
As for the sound, the voice is better than the original voice from the series. No cheesy, radio disc jockey, now you’ve got a voice-over that makes you feel cool, calm and collect. As for the music, it was very lackluster. I think techno is nice, but you’ve got to move out of this trance crap. Bring something to the table that’s going to rock out and make you want to kick it! Seriously, the music was very disappointing.
Depth
With the amount of tracks, the modes, the online play, this is the best Ridge Racer in the series. I think this very deep, so many hours, but not quite the hours you’ll be pulling in Gran Turismo. You’re looking at least 15 hours of gameplay until you want to rest a bit. That’s not bad considering what other Ridge Racer games were in terms of depth.
Overall Comment
This is my favorite game on the Xbox 360. It was a perfect launch title that Namco should be very proud of. So, with that said, you should race to your local store and pick this puppy up, if you’re lucky enough to have a 360.