Ridge Racer DS Updated Hands-On

Ridge Racer DS is Namco's addition to the Nintendo DS launch lineup, which makes use of its popular Ridge Racer franchise. We got our first look at the game early last month at Nintendo's Gamer's Summit, which unveiled a slew of titles for the upcoming handheld. At Namco's recent editors' day, we were able to mess around with it a bit more to get a better feel for the forthcoming racer's offerings.

The last time we saw the game we had mixed feelings about its touch-screen steering, but we were reasonably satisfied with its visual offerings. This pretty much still holds true after our second round with the game. We ended up getting a better feel for the stylus-centric steering this time out, resulting in less crashes; however, there are still some fundamental issues with the mechanic. The wheel on the touch screen isn't as responsive as we would've liked, resulting in sketchy handling, which is death in a racing game. The control fairs considerably better if you pick one of the alternate stylus-free control layouts, effectively reducing the touch screen to map-screen status.

The visuals in the game are still looking solid, with detailed, brightly colored environments that, along with some interesting elements added to the landscapes, will keep you entertained. As we mentioned previously, the game does a fair job of approximating the visuals seen in Ridge Racer 64, minus a few special effects. But the most impressive element of the visuals is the game's frame rate, which is respectably high.

As far as game modes go, you'll find the standard Ridge Racer mix of arcade, time attack, and multiplayer options. The multiplayer has obviously been beefed up to take advantage of the DS hardware's wireless functions and its support of up to six players. While we weren't able to try out a full multiplayer game, we did try some one-on-one with a second DS unit, which played well. Setting up a game is quick and user-friendly. All you have to do is select the multiplayer option, wait for the second DS unit to be detected, pick a car, and head out. When you select a car, a slider on the touch screen lets you adjust the car's color to your liking.

While we didn't come away feeling too differently about the game from the last time we saw it, there's definitely some untapped potential there. Even though the timing is tight, we're hoping Namco can manage to get to tapping some of it before the game ships later this month.