Ridge Racer 3D offers gamers racing in 3D, but very little else that's new for Ridge Racer fans.
If you've ever played a Ridge Racer game before, you'll be perfectly at home with Ridge Racer 3D. If you're new to the series, understand immediately that it controls like no other racing game you've played. The drifting mechanics are so over the top, the cars almost feel like slot car racers. There are a few different kinds of vehicles, and each type possesses a different kind of drift. Yet, there's a magical quality to this dynamic that makes the game insanely addicting.
Ever since the PSP version of Ridge Racer, the series has been boasting a nitrous system that directly ties into the drifting. You have three slots of potential nitrous, and you filll them up by drifting. The faster you hit a curve, the sharper the curvature and the longer you hold the drift, the quicker your nitrous will fill up. You can fill up even quicker if you drift right after a nitrous charge is expended. You can utilize them one at a time, or all at once for a tremendous burst of speed. Ridge Racer 3D also has different types of nitrous that fill up according to specific criteria.
The single player mode contains three grand prixs; the two more difficult ones unlock after the previous gran prixs have been won. Each gran prix consists of a multitude of events comprised of four races each. These can range from normal eight car races to four racer elimination to duels for special cars near the end of the expert level grand prix. There are 48 events, and it will take you roughly 10 or more hours to finish it, but tracks are used over again quite frequently, so the races end up blurring together after a while.
And that's the whole problem. If you played one Ridge Racer, you've played them all. You're still racing on a couple of tracks that have been around since the 1995 title. Other tracks are varied versions of themselves, and some only differ because they run in the opposite direction. It's the same with the cars. Although some of them look pretty close to their previous counterparts, they're still for all practical purposes the same exact vehicles. At least the special cars you unlock at the end of the game are pretty much unique, including an 8-bit styled racing car from Namco's classic Rally X.
The biggest problem with the game? The difficulty. This has been a chronic problem with the franchise for many years. Ridge Racer 3D starts out extremely easy, so much so that it's practically impossible to lose. The difficulty curve soon ramps up, and spikes to the point that in some races, it's nearly impossible to achieve first, yet alone hold it. It's one thing to challenge a gamer's skill and provide them with a tight race, but it's something else entirely to break the game's own rules and physics to ensure they always stay ahead of you.
Slipstreaming is one of the culprits of this. Also known as drafting, slipstreaming is following in the wake of your opponent where there's less drag from wind resistance. It allows you to go faster and catch up on your competition, but it also means that you'll more than likely be immediately passed the moment you take a position. In fact, you can almost see a pattern emerging by how scripted passing works. Most of the time, the opposition will stick to your bumper for about a quarter of a lap, and then back off to allow you to catch the next place holder. It's so inconsistent as well, because some races will be pushovers while others will come down to blind luck right before the finish line. It doesn't make sense why the first place holder will battle you for two straight laps and then take a dive on the second to last corner and let himself be left in the dust.
Graphically, Ridge Racer 3D may not be the launch title to showcase just how powerful the 3DS is, but it's a step in the right direction. It definitely looks nicer than anything the original DS can pull off, but there are a lot of graphical inconsistencies, mainly in the textures. It's a fast moving game, but there are a few instances where slowdown will cause the frame rate to dip by more than half, even with the 3D off. Speaking of 3D, it does make some nice use of it. It establishes a sense of depth down the track, and flings effects at you such as confetti when you whip past the stands and debris when you grind against the walls. Your cars also look rather tangible, as if you could pick them up and put them in a matchbox.
Audibly, there's hardly anything new. All the sound effects from the tires peeling when you're drifting to the nitrous boosts to slamming into the walls sound just like they did years ago. The soundtrack is pretty decent, but a few of the songs just don't work well. Previous Ridge Racers have had better soundtracks. The one major problem with the audio is the female voice actor who's constantly commentating on everything that's going on in the game. Her voice acting is just so cheesy and pestering, it's really a distraction. To add insult to injury, she'll even tell you, "You got owned!" if you get passed up. Just turn your voice off before you start playing.
It's incredibly slim pickens when it comes to racers on the 3DS. You're practically going to want to get Ridge Racer 3D by default. If you're still relatively new to the series, you'll get more enjoyment out of someone who's been playing it for years. Those fans will quickly find it stale, even more so when the novelty of the 3D effect wears off. It's also woefully missing an online multiplayer mode, and it only supports four players locally. If you have 40 dollars to burn and really need a racing game to enjoy on your brand new 3DS, Ridge Racer 3D pretty much is your only choice.