Genre Defining Racer (Ridge Racer (PS))

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	Ridge Racer (PS)
Date:	27/10/08 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High Octane Fun

Disadvantages: Limited Options & Tracks

Ridge Racer on the Playstation was a genre defining game - a racer that actually tried to mimic (unsuccessfully at times) a high-octane driving experience.

First released in 1994 as a port of the Namco System 22 arcade system board, which made its debut the previous year, the game was an instant success.

It was the first game for the Playstation which I owned, and I was instantly impressed with the graphics and speed of the action. Nowadays it looks rather dated, but if you squint your eyes you can see that the overall structure and movement of the graphics bears more similarity to today's modern day racers than to the pre-1993 attempts at driving games.

Playing Ridge Racer was a limited experience - it was only single player, with a couple of game modes, however, it was unlike anything that had gone before in terms of being an adrenaline fueled driving experience. No, it wasn't ultimately realistic - 200mph crashes into a barrier or sidewall would barely hinder a racers progress, and collision detection with other cars was very poor - but it brought the feel of the arcade to the home console with great success.

The game suffered from terrible pop-up, and textures were blocky and low-res but remember, this was a Playstation launch title. One cool feature of the game was the ability to remove the disk and add an audio CD during gameplay, which allowed the user to listen to their favourite tracks whist driving around.

Overall Ridge Racer was an excellent driving experience, which lead to a range of copy-cat games which were quick to jump on Namco's success. A groundbreaking title.

Summary: Great Early Racer