Tag Archives: Namco

Highs and Lows of The Ridge Racer Franchise

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Incredible to believe that Ridge Racer has been around since 1993. whilst the latest instalment leaves much to be desired, join us as we take a look back at the highs and lows of perhaps one of the most incredible race franchises of all time.

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Ridge Racer Arcade Game and Ports

In 1993 a racing video game was released into the world by Namco. That game was Ridge Racer. It was initially released on the Namco System 22 arcade system board, and was later ported to the PlayStation console. It was released in competition to the rift of racing games released at the time by Sega such as Daytona and VR Racing and became an instant hit owing to the photo realistic nature of the graphics and arcadey style driving engine which was easy to pick up and hard to put down.

The first home version of Ridge Racer was released in Japan in 1994 as a launch title for the original Sony PlayStation console. Some players may say that it was an ‘arcade perfect port’ which was a term that was banded around at the time but I still would say otherwise. One thing is for sure is that the game played a major role in establishing Playstation console and in giving it an early edge over its nearest competitor, the Sega Saturn. Nice touches included the option to change the in game music by removing the game disc and inserting your own favourite CD – a move that has never been repeated since.

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Ridge Racer Revolution

Firmly following the mantra of ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it’ Ridge Racer Revolution’ simply offered more of the same. I personally did not like it as it had dodgy collision detection, but I know loads of players who loved it as it had a two-player link-up mode which when played allowed the players access to the two courses from the original Ridge Racer game known as ‘Special 1’ and ‘Special 2’.

Normally only 4 cars are selectable, but all 12 are selectable if a player is able to defeat 100% of the enemies on the Galaga ’88 game before the title screen. In addition if this was done in less than 44 shots, not only were all the cars selectable, but the car bodies were smaller and the wheels bigger, looking much like buggies. Other changes included a commentator with a higher-pitched voice and different handling of the cars. However, while you can still race the three bonus cars, you cannot win them in the buggy mode. One way to easily access the buggy mode from the beginning is to hold L1, R1 select, down and triangle all simultaneously from when the game loads until the space invaders game – a special laser then emitted from the ship to kill all of the enemies on the space invaders game. Don’t say I don’t give away secrets.

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Rage Racer

Whilst arcade gamers got Rave Racer, Playstation owners got Rage Racer. They sound similar but believe me they are anything but. Visually the game took a different approach compared to the previous PlayStation titles. It looked more realistic and had a darker colour scheme.  For the first time in the Ridge Racer series, Rage Racer introduced a brand new advanced single player career system which used credits which were received from winning races which then could be used to buy and upgrade cars. I rate this as a low because although I loved the way it brought something new to the genre and I have fond memories of taking a Beetle look-alike round the track at break-neck speed the graphics were really rough around the edges and the music was horrendous.

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R4: Ridge Racer Type 4

This was the fourth game in the Ridge Racer series on the PlayStation.

With Namco now properly turning the attention to the home market this title was solely made for the home console.  There were eight tracks and a whopping 321 vehicles, Having realized their mistakes in the previous title back came gouraud shading on the polygons, giving the game a visual depth that was really lovely to the eye. The intro and presentation of the game was incredible. It was also the first Ridge Racer game on the Sony system to feature a two-player split screen mode, and featured two different driving models.

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Ridge Racer 64

This was the next in the racing instalment developed by Namco and Nintendo Software Technology for the Nintendo 64 in 2000. It featured tracks from Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution and its very own set of desert tracks exclusive to the Nintendo 64. On the Car Select screen you could join the Dig Racing Team, Pac Racing Club, Racing Team Solvalou and R.C. Micro Mouse Mappy all from Ridge Racer Type 4. It marked ahigh point of the series and you could also change the colours of the car instead of the normal colours. The music was equally great and moving away from solely producing titles for Sony’s home machines Nintendo 64 owners finally had a racing game they could be proud of.

 

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Ridge Racer V 

(RRV), was the fifth game in the Ridge Racer series on the PlayStation. It was in one word Incredible. One of the launch games for the PlayStation 2. It featured 14 tracks and 18 vehicles, with 5 modes of play. Taking full advantage of the new spec hardware available in the next generation console the colours were bright, the in game graphics and speed was insatiable and the music was banging. I remember going over one ridge in the game and having the lens flare coarse into my eyes furthermore the night time tracks too were amazing; dimly lit streets that forced you to really peer ahead on the road to see the next hairpin bend. One other thing that is worthy of note was the ‘endurance race’ 99 laps of hardcore racing that tested even the most veteran of racing games. When you completed it all you got was a well done screen though, although you still had bragging rights to your friends for doing so.

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R: Racing Evolution

This title marked a low point in the franchise. Released in Japanin November 27, 2003, in North America on December 9, 2003 and in Europeon April 2, 2004, R is a racing-sim. Much like considered a cross over like Rage Racing and Gran Turismo. Opting to feature 33 licensed cars and in-depth customization options the game also featured a system referred to as the pressure meter, a fighting game-esque gauge that filled up as the player gets closer to a rival car; the higher the meter, the greater the likelihood that the AI will make a critical mistake.

The game offered a story mode where the player followed the racing career of Rena Hayami as she struggles to deal with the busy life of a professional race car driver and the politics of the sport. The mode featured some 14 chapters that were supposed to bring something new to the franchise, however none of these factors could protect the game from critical feedback. ‘Boring as hell’ said one reviewer; ‘If I wanted to play a racing sim I would have bought Gran Turismo’ said another.

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Ridge Racer 6

This was the sixth instalment in the Ridge Racer series. Released exclusively on Xbox 360 in 2006, it was marked as an achievement for Xbox owners who previously never had a Ridge Racer title. The game featured a Full Motion Video opening, which showed the series mascot the gorgeous Reiko Nagase in full action. Defending their decision to produce a game for another even rival console Namco announced that it expected to sell over 500,000 copies of Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360, although in reality that never happened; far fewer copies were actually sold; although that does not stop it from being a good game in its own right. Ridge Racer 7 for the PlayStation 3 is something of a “remix “of Ridge Racer 6, but with major differences such as new vehicles that were not seen in Ridge Racer 6 such as Sinseong, a Korean brand company, for the first time.


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Ridge Racer 7

This was the seventh console instalment in the Ridge Racer series of racing games, released exclusively on the PlayStation 3. The game has around 40 cars, many of which return from Ridge Racer 6 and the PSP incarnations of the game. There are also 22 courses, available in forward, reverse and mirror mode. The game runs at 1080p resolution and at 60 frames per second. It also features Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
The game marked a long awaited return to the Sony console and was a real hit in terms of what the console could do. Namco really pulled out the stops and later – to help Sony place further emphasis on 3D gaming, produced a Patch called “Ridge Racer 7 3D License Version” which enabled owners of Ridge Racer 7 to play the game in 3D for free and it offers free online game play via the PlayStation Network too.
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Ridge Racer Unbounded

I’m not going to say why here all you need to know is it is a real low point in the series. You can find my review in Frostmagazine’s very pages to find out

Ridge Racer Unbounded Review

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Namco should be slapped on their botties for letting what could have been a tremendous title go to waste and with good reason sent to their room for the rest of the month.

One question deserves to be continually asked: Why oh why would you give away a game with so much history and so much of a following and allow it to be utterly ruined? It is the equivalent of having a million pound winning lottery ticket and giving it away to an alcoholic.

Imagine this: you have an incredible franchise that you develop over the years. Sure, it may not be realistic enough to warrant the title ‘A Driving Simulator’ but hey, it is a fun arcade racer, the graphics are top notch, the speed and the flavour of racing is such that you build a world-wide following of fans that stay with you over three generations of consoles. At the last hurdle, maybe time is the issue or resources either way you allow another developer to step in and as such they drop the ball, next thing you know it is 3 nill to your opponents…

I really wanted this game to be good, I really did. So much so that when I read some of the other reviews on the game I refused to believe them. When one of my friends pointed out that the key to the game is about learning how to use the ‘Drift Button’ effectively. Inside I jumped for joy; maybe it was a whole misunderstanding for the other reviewers but now, two whole days later, I realised he was under the same deluded self deception as me. You see, gamers like us who grew up on the whole Ridge Racer series just don’t want to believe their beloved franchise is in the pan. But trust me, for this game it is; it is in the pan with a little bit of extra virgin oil and under a high heat.

I’ve always said that I would put the boot in when it came to crap titles but the only thing that is worse in this world than a crap game is an expensive crap game. Oh and this game is crap with more crappy pieces than a crappy bits lunch box meal made by a crappy deep fried chicken chop shop that is crap. You see I wouldn’t enjoy this game if it came as a PSN cheap download – the fact that it costs £40 is plain pathetic and a waste of money. I actually owe it to gamers to stop them going out there and buying this tosh.

Where do I start? Ridge Racer Unbounded tries to bring in core elements of Split/Second and Burnout series to the franchise of old. By itself this should not be a nail in the coffin. Like Split/Second you can open up shortcuts around the track by filling a power meter which generates by sliding and tailing other racers you can use this power in one of four ways; to provide a quick boost, open up shortcuts, smash into your opponents or create explosions. Unlike Split/Second however, you don’t trigger the explosions or shortcuts remotely: you smash into them to explode them or open them up. The problem here is in the execution. Question: When is a shortcut not a shortcut? When you take it and more often than not it puts you behind the competitors…duh… It’s an idea that sounds pants on paper and in reality is pants to see. Practically all shortcuts I have seen besides looking good, offer very little else. The explosions are nothing to write home about and have none of that ‘Ream-ability’ factor seen in Split/Second.

Secondly is control. Ridge Racer has always been renowned for its pick up and play capability. It is an arcade racer; mistime your brake and you don’t always screw up or end up in a wall. Unbounded follows this legacy; in fact most of the walls are destructible, which to its credit is a nice touch, but rather than keeping with the common traits of the genre i.e. gas, brake, boost, what we have here is an addition in the form of a ‘slide button’ that is supposed to allow you powerslide round corners. You see, if you hit the brake, handbrake, or hit a wall you lose a lot of speed but if you power-slide you lose just a little bit of speed but go into a wide angle slide in which you will hit the wall anyway. Makes sense doesn’t it? I thought so. Adding to this is that your opponents never make mistakes – the AI difficulty is incredible and there are no options to change it – this all means you will be sitting there for a long time playing the same tracks again and again just to qualify one race. Now some of you might be forgiven for thinking ‘I bet you he is just having a moan because he is not good at racing games’ but the reality is I have played and completed most of this game’s competitors and it is their qualities that make this game pale in comparison.

Graphics is average. Split/Second (a game that is almost a year and a half old) and Motorstorm Apocalypse easily outdoes this title in terms of quality and execution and even with Unbounded’s exploding walls or vehicles it brings nothing that hasn’t been seen or done better elsewhere. And what happened to the 3D? Is this yet another title that had dropped the notion of 3D gaming?

Music is poor. A classic element of Ridge Racer was the banging tracks and cheesy voice over. Thankfully the voice over is gone but where are the tracks? A host of Japanese unknowns and a couple of drum and bass tracks are all you get for your money. My gosh, that is such a wasted opportunity; Namco could have done remixes from the whole of the franchise, even SSX had tracks you knew or could dance to. This is just a really appalling effort.

To be fair to Bugbear, they have tried to introduce variety into the game and franchise but I don’t think they really spoke to the fans, or truly had a grasp of what made the original games so much fun. The only thing I could say I liked was the game’s much-hyped track editor. After all who wouldn’t want to build a Ridge Racer track from scratch? I found it flexible and easy to use, putting together a decent course in a very short space of time which was great, obviously, but the underlying problems that affect the racing on the ‘actual’ tracks still applied. Ho-Hum…

My Verdict

Ridge Racer Unbounded is nothing but a shame and a waste of money. I simply cannot recommend a game when I know there are superior, cheaper alternatives out there. Even if you find it out on your travels as a cheapie, avoid like the plague. You have been warned.

2 out of 10

Street Fighter X Tekken – The Game Review

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The mother of all fighting games is finally here, featuring what has to be the most incredible of two very different fighting worlds and styles into mixing them up into one astonishing fighting game. But does more always equal more or does two of the best equal one of the worst? Here is my video game review.

Until Resident Evil came along Capcom was always best known for its long-established fighting game mechanics. It did not matter what game you were playing Capcom games always came out on top. Even in the very basic of game’s mechanics such as the sideways beat-em ups you could always tell if it was a Capcom game. The Street Fighter series has earned itself a place in history because it both created and helped evolve a  genre quite simply because it has been so good. Don’t believe me – just look at how many times the game has been cloned over the years. One of the ways that Capcom has managed to keep the game exciting has been by introducing new characters and worlds for their characters to battle against. We have seen it in Marvel Vs Capcom and X Men Vs Street Fighter.

Street Fighter games thrive on skill; make no mistake, you need to know what you are doing. You need to know the moves and then be proficient at them enough to pull them off quickly. The game rewards you for doing so and punishes you with defeat if you don’t – simple as.

Tekken games on the other hand come from the equally mighty Namco. Developers of the mighty Ridge Racer and you know what that means – shocking detail, kick ass technology and replay value. Whilst not having Street Fighter’s 25 year old legacy it still has 18 solid years. Historically Tekken games rely more on technique, moves are easier to pull off and the level of detail and storyline is one to be envied even by the Ryu wannabes of this world.

Graphically the two games could not be sat further apart; Street Fighter (except in it’s EX series) has always remained 2D, matches go at an ADHD pace and look like a fireworks display. Tekken on the other hand has always been 3D with lush landscapes and the ability to avoid projectiles by moving into and out of the screen. Matches in Tekken land have long pauses whilst each player looks for weaknesses and when the impacts come, they are quick and short lived. Hence to bring together such a game like this was either going to work or fall flat and very miserably at the first hurdle.

So what was the cause of this mash-up? A magical box from the space called Pandora’s box crash lands on…Earth I assume and naturally both the good and bad guys want it for the own ends. To the victor go the spoils.

So how does it play? Well to say that it is incredible just does not give it justice. Street fighter X Tekken is so deliciously extraordinary it captivates and rejuvenates what for many could be described as a tired genre. Just when you think you have had enough of Marvel Vs Capcom along comes this. Here Street Fighter is the dominant partner (while Tekken will take the lead in Namco’s version of the game, whenever it chooses to surface) and the foundations of the game are built from Street Fighter 4’s building blocks and aesthetics i.e. combos, special moves and power bars.

Therefore if you have been used to the Street Fighter game and know the likes of Ryu, Ken, or Chun-Li you will feel right at home here. Many of the trademark moves have stayed the same, the inputs for the most part remaining the same, even if the speed and magnitude of what you see on screen are different from their previous incarnations the characters still look good and solid. The game moves forward at a rapid pace; gameplay thankfully slower than the hyperactive sugar rush of Marvel Vs Capcom but still faster than Super Street fighter 4. The complexity of pulling off super combos has been reduced to make it more accessible to newcomers, as has the introduction of a ‘gem system’ which can make certain inputs easier once activated for your character.

The first time you fire the game up Street Fighter’s cool but utterly useless character Dan beckons you into a tutorial about the game mechanics and I highly recommend that you don’t skip them. The introductory sessions last about 20 minutes as you are guided through mechanic after mechanic for high-level play. You have a Cross Gauge, a special meter divided into three sections that fills as you execute attacks. You have gems and you have charge attacks.

The tag team element is the main part of this game and there are so many ways in which you partner character can be called into play for example you can use the Cross Rush – by hitting any attack buttons in ascending order of strength – this will send your character into a bone crushing combo that ends with a launcher move which tagging in your second character to continue the attack.

The special meter has a number of uses, built up during the course of the match either when you hit your opponent or block or counter their blows. The gauge is principal to special attacks. One section of the gauge can be spent in a variety of ways, unleashing EX versions of your standard special moves that have stronger properties, a la Street Fighter IV. A section can also be spent on a Cross Cancel, which allows you to counter from a block with a launcher, sending your opponent high into the air, or a Switch Chance, which allows you to tag in your partner mid-combo for a spot of Tekken-style juggling.

Spending two sections of the gauge will allow you to execute a Super Art, the game’s version of Street Fighter 4’s Ultras, while if you have a full gauge you can spend it all on a Cross Art, which will have both members of your team perform a combo Super Art for incredible damage. Alternatively, the entire gauge can be splurged on a Cross Assault, a spectacular two-man attack that brings your partner onto screen to join in the attacking for a few seconds under AI control.

Lastly, you have the Pandora move – a controversial sort of kamikaze gamble – which can be triggered if your on-screen character has 25 per cent health or less, a move which will kill the character you are currently using whilst imbuing your remaining partner with a gigantic boost of power. However, this only lasts for ten seconds and, if you fail to win the match within that time, you lose regardless.

As you can see – whilst the gameplay in general has been somewhat simplified all of these different options and methods at your disposal still adds to the complexity and depth of the game.

Equally noteworthy is the game’s different customisation options. You can now choose the different colours for each part of your characters dress, skin tone and hair colour so you can have that full individualised look. Wanna see Ken with grey hair? I did. How about having green top and white bottoms and change that head band to blue Ryu? Not a problem. As you can see fashion just might not be my thing, but having those options is a nice touch.

Other real gems exist in the voice over’s – for example you can have the characters talking in their native language and have subtitles. So Ryu talks Japanese, Ken speaks American etc which I think is really good given that the characters are supposed to be from around the world.

The backgrounds are really nice too – embodying the Street Fighter / Capcom world with stages such as Dino Crisis having multi levels with which to fight on.

So how does this title fair in terms of multi-player? Well – Capcom has brought in a number of multiplayer innovations that make Street Fighter x Tekken perhaps one the most exciting co-operative fighting games made to date.

Online, you can now pair up with another fighter to take on other two-man teams, each player controlling one character in a normal tag match. An online Briefing Room actually allows players to train together remotely and one can’t help but to get excited about the possibilities for future tournaments will shape.

There is also a Scramble mode which has four players all fighting on screen at once, either online or off. It’s a mish-mash of punches and kicks and special moves which is incredible to watch. Equally, the usual array of SF4: Arcade Edition lobbies and match videos make an appearance, providing the game with a framework for community-building from day one.

Significant work however needs to be done on the netcode playing this game last night I was appalled to see that there were still problems playing online. Sound effects jittered online players dropped out of the game at will – and not just because I was winning. This was quite sad as it just mudded the online experience for me.

My Verdict

Street Fighter X Tekken is an astounding piece of work and a worthy purchase to have on your shelf if fighting games are your thing. Extraordinary to watch and intense and captivating to play it rejuvenates what for many could be described as a tired genre. Incredible just doesn’t do the game justice; yes it has its minor gripes but as a solid fighting title Street Fighter X Tekken is accessible, enjoyable and fun to play whilst having enough depth to keep existing players of the franchise more than happy. It simply hits the mark.

9.3/10