N64 fans will be happy to finally have a decent racer on the system that is not very expensive and very, very fun!
So yeah, this is basically Ridge Racer Gold. It has the tracks that made the series famous from the regonisable and lovable stages from Ridge Racer to the outrageously hard stages in Ridge Racer Revolution. It also has it's own unique tracks that mix in well with the whole package.
The graphics are delicious. They run at a good frame rate, unlike many other Nintendo 64 games and make excellent use of the system's hardware. The cars are all detailed and clearly based on real designs, so you can finally realise that Ferrari dream you've had since you were a kid.
The filtering capabilites really do justice also for Ridge Racer 64 with tremendously smooth textures and polygons, so it's all good. Even the pop-up is good, since you can see what's ahead and behind you way before you're even there.
A cool thing about Ridge Racer 64 is simply how much stuff they've managed to ram into the game, this include the soundtrack and annoucner which I'm about to mention.
They both add personality to the game, which is pretty cool. The music isn't necessarily suited to my taste or perhaps as good as previous Ridge Racer games but they do their job fine.
Once again, it's the same case with the announcer, he is very much like the previous announcers in the earlier Ridge Racer games, however not as good or at the same quality as in the other games. No big deal, but it's noticable.
The nice thing about Ridge Racer is that you can change the way the game handles according to which game the tracks are based on. There are 3 options: Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer Revoultion and Ridge Racer 64.
I haven't tried them all out or truely know the differences but perhaps they act like a difficulty setting, meaning Ridge Racer is the easiest and Ridge Racer Revolution is the hardest.
For the first couple of races, Ridge Racer 64 is a fairly easy game. It has a nice learning curve because of this and it works the same way for the car attack games, however more on that later.
for those curious to simply how different Ridge Racer 64, there isn't too much to worry about. It plays like all the other Ridge Racer games in the past. The objective is the same, start 12th and finish 1st.
Another question that you may ask is simply how the game adapts to the N64 controller. Well it works well. At first, you will feel alien to the layout of the buttons, but it become quite clear what the are as you progress.
It's also nice to have both analogue and digital control for movement, although you're most likely going to stick with digital. So for the most part this is good.
Also going back to Car attack, this involves the player racing against other cars. It;'s quite simple and a good idea, race the car that you intend to unlock and win. You get more oppertunities to win cars as you win more races
Although keep in mind these issues if you plan to buy the game. This isn't a Ridge Racer sequal. What you have here is simply the best of Ridge Racer. Which is actually only 3 or 4 tracks, with several variations as you progress throughout the game.
There are indeed new tracks, however 1 simply isn't enough for us demanding gamers. The developers of the game seemingly have noticed this and you'll notice intensifingly hard races as you get nearer and nearer to the end.
Although don't under-estimate Ridge Racer 64's difficulty, it will really try it's hardest to beat the gamer. Eventually towards the end of the game you will have to turn to Car attack simply because the standard set of cars are weak. This ain't a big deal, but if people want to complete the game all in one go, then get cars, they should be able to.
Although with that in mind, Car attack can be punishing once again because of your car. You will feel effortless as you race the final set of cars in Car Attack, the class in cars are clear at that point.
And lastly a few minor graphical or audio issues, although this is more of the system's fault rather than the developers. It's sometimes hard and disorentating to see what's ahead because of the smudged effect on the screen made by many N64 games, this leads to regular crashes.
Another issue, sound wise is that the music and the announcers themselves eventually do get annoying and only will make you more fustated in the process.
Finally, the buttons and design of the controller layout seems wrong and not what you would've thought it out to be, this takes alot of time to get used to.
However, in the end, Ridge Racer 64 is a great game. N64 fans will be happy to finally have a decent racer on the system but arcade fanatics and hardcore Ridge Racer fans maybe dissapointed by the changes and difficulty of the game, although that applies to very few people.
If you find it, try this game out. Ridge Racer 64 is not very expensive, but may end up limited in numbers very soon because it's very, very fun.