Is this really the same Ridge Racer we all know and love?
THE RUNDOWN:
Most everyone knows exactly what to expect when you see the name “Ridge Racer”. However Ridge Racer DS for the Nintendo DS does not exactly live up to Namco’s usually good reputation. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Ridge Racer DS, this is a “realistic style” auto racing game for the Nintendo DS portable system.
THE GOOD:
What’s good about this game is that you can expect to see a lot of familiar tracks from the Ridge Racer series. Considering how much the Nintendo DS can handle, this game does surprisingly well with a good sense of level depth perception and a good consistent frame-rate. Later on in the game you will unlock exclusive “Nintendo-esque” goodies like a Princess Toadstool car and the theme song from Mario Bros. 2.
THE BAD:
Everything else will pretty much let you down. RR DS offers you the option to steer either with the cross-pad or with the DS stylus and touch screen, but driving with the touch screen is not fun at all and gives you no advantage over using the cross-pad.
Heck, steering with the cross-pad is hard enough; while driving there is the image of a steering wheel on the bottom screen and when you turn, the wheel turns accordingly. Now normally in racing games you can lightly and repeatedly tap left or right to turn into one of those not-so-sharp turns because all you really want to do is “inch away” to prevent from hitting the walls right?! Well if you try that in this game you will find that as you lightly tap left or right to go through a wide turn the wheel on the bottom screen is being turned further and further making the turn sharper and sharper and will soon send you slamming into the wall.
Once you do hit the wall you will find that the physics in this game are not that great. If you hit a wall you SHOULD expect that it will most likely slow you down but hitting a wall in this game makes you come to almost a complete stop!
Drifting is not what you expect it to be. When you drift around a corner it just feels like the computer is grabbing your car and sending it down the best possible path. If your car didn’t slow down so much during a drift you could probably drift through an entire track and never hit the wall!
THE UGLY:
Honestly, this game could have been so much better than what it is right now; if you play this game you might even find yourself saying “Yeah the developers really rushed this game out to store shelves.” If you want a racing game with a good sense of speed and solid control then stick to Mario Kart DS because Ridge Racer DS will not give you that.