A great launch game with a lot of style. An old series is still made great on the PSP.
Ridge Racer was made great through years of being on different consoles as launch games and with lots of things to do there's no suprise to how much content is packed into this little bundle of joy. The fact that the gameplay is very much like the other Ridge Racers, with drifting instead of regular racing game regulation turning into corners you have to actually slide by pressing the break and releasing it at the same time causing the car to go into a powerslide. It's a fun addition to the regular gameplay and it's really satisfiying to see it all on the PSP in full glory. Another cool little addition to the gameplay is the original Ridge Racer mini game that they "revamped" for the PSP that shows up before the title screen.
The graphics in this game are pretty much up to par with the PS2 counterparts and for a handheld they were the best I have ever seen when I got the game. I picked it up and said "this is the best it's going to get". But then later on I got some other games that started to look better and Ridge Racer's blocky car models and edgy tracks started to pop out at me more than it did before.
The soundtrack in this game consistes of all the songs from previous Ridge Racer games. Songs that were made by the Developers, usually techno style music and the like. You will tend to like what you hear! The cars don't really have much difference, only a few of the car sounds but that's not really the big issue.
The overall value of this game is great! For $40 it will keep you busy with you PSP for around 10-20 hours maybe more if you really want to finish it but when you start moving on to other PSP games you won't play this much. There are lots of things to do, don't get me wrong. Such as a huge world tour, single races, and ad-hoc support.
I'm sure you will have fun with this game and if your looking to pick up a PSP but don't know what games to start with Ridge Racer should be one on your mind.