RIDGEEEE RACERRRRRR!!!
Man, this was a nostalgia trip. Ridge Racer was one of the few racing games I had on the Playstation growing up. The art style, track, music, announcer, and even that random helicopter are seared into my memory. I played countless hours of this game as a kid just trying to beat any track past the Beginner track. As an adult, it took me about 2 hours to complete all of the main tracks from Beginner, Medium, Advanced, and Time Trial. My kid self would be mind-blown that it took a mere 2 hours for this achievement. As such, this marks the first time I've ever actually seen the credits of this game, to be completely honest I wasn't sure there were any!
As for the game itself, it's quite barebones. You get 4 cars to start with but can unlock up to 8 extra (12 total) if you beat the Galaga mini-game that plays during load screens--an awesome feature that should be in more games by the way. There is quite literally one race track in the entire game. Just one. It has some variants like going faster on the higher difficulties and at the highest level it even deviates into a separate, more windy path that ultimately loops back to the main track. Despite that, I never got bored. This was probably due to it only taking 2 hours to finish but nevertheless I actually really enjoyed memorizing the track and perfecting my turns with each attempt.
The driving itself is chaotic and hard to grasp at first. The cars feel almost as if on air with how fast and smooth they drive. Drifting is a mechanic in this game that I believe you are supposed to use to turn corners but honestly, I never quite got the hang of it. Instead, drifting often led to spin-outs and a loss of progress. Opting to simply slow down a bit and turn very sharply tended to work better in my experience. Don't underestimate how sharp certain cards can take some of these turns. It definitely has that fast paced arcade-style feel but I found it to be a blast.
Certainly I am looking at it a bit through rose-tinted glasses, but at the end of the day I do think Ridge Racer is a really great time and an absolute blast for the 2 hours it took me to finish the main 4 courses. Perhaps one day I will return to once again hone my skills against one of the reversed courses or the legendary and notoriously difficult "Devil Car." In the meantime, I am very interested and excited to see how Ridge Racer develops as a franchise after this first entry that helped to shape my childhood.
Man, this was a nostalgia trip. Ridge Racer was one of the few racing games I had on the Playstation growing up. The art style, track, music, announcer, and even that random helicopter are seared into my memory. I played countless hours of this game as a kid just trying to beat any track past the Beginner track. As an adult, it took me about 2 hours to complete all of the main tracks from Beginner, Medium, Advanced, and Time Trial. My kid self would be mind-blown that it took a mere 2 hours for this achievement. As such, this marks the first time I've ever actually seen the credits of this game, to be completely honest I wasn't sure there were any!
As for the game itself, it's quite barebones. You get 4 cars to start with but can unlock up to 8 extra (12 total) if you beat the Galaga mini-game that plays during load screens--an awesome feature that should be in more games by the way. There is quite literally one race track in the entire game. Just one. It has some variants like going faster on the higher difficulties and at the highest level it even deviates into a separate, more windy path that ultimately loops back to the main track. Despite that, I never got bored. This was probably due to it only taking 2 hours to finish but nevertheless I actually really enjoyed memorizing the track and perfecting my turns with each attempt.
The driving itself is chaotic and hard to grasp at first. The cars feel almost as if on air with how fast and smooth they drive. Drifting is a mechanic in this game that I believe you are supposed to use to turn corners but honestly, I never quite got the hang of it. Instead, drifting often led to spin-outs and a loss of progress. Opting to simply slow down a bit and turn very sharply tended to work better in my experience. Don't underestimate how sharp certain cards can take some of these turns. It definitely has that fast paced arcade-style feel but I found it to be a blast.
Certainly I am looking at it a bit through rose-tinted glasses, but at the end of the day I do think Ridge Racer is a really great time and an absolute blast for the 2 hours it took me to finish the main 4 courses. Perhaps one day I will return to once again hone my skills against one of the reversed courses or the legendary and notoriously difficult "Devil Car." In the meantime, I am very interested and excited to see how Ridge Racer develops as a franchise after this first entry that helped to shape my childhood.