Ridge Racer (PSP)

Ridge Racer
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco
Release date	12 December 2004 22 March 2005 1 September 2005
Genre	Racing
Game modes	Single-player, multiplayer
ESRB	E
Platform	PlayStation Portable
Media	UMD

Ridge Racer for the PSP is an arcade racing video game developed by Namco. It is named after the eponymous Ridge Racer series video game series to which it belongs. The game was released in Japan as Ridge Racers. A sequel titled Ridge Racer 2 has also been released for the PSP.

Ridge Racer (PSP Intro)

Overview

Namco and Sony are now officially three for three when it comes to launching a new piece of Sony game hardware with a new game from Namco's Ridge Racer series. And like those previous Ridge Racer efforts, the first PSP installment in the series does a fine job of showing off the system's technical prowess while simultaneously providing more of the same smooth Ridge Racer gameplay that still holds up after all these years. Ridge Racer sticks close to the series classic formula, so fans of the series will feel right at home.While the gameplay in Ridge Racer is certainly no slouch, the real treat to Ridge Racer on the PSP is how it looks. Or, to get more specific, how it moves. This is the smoothest-running PSP game on the block at launch. The frame rate never stops to skip a beat, and all this ties in to give the game a great sense of speed. You really feel like you're burning down the track when you unlock the faster cars. On top of that, the environments all look fantastic. The roads are sharp, and you'll get different lighting reflections on the road surface from sunsets and stuff like that. All in all, it's an impressive graphical showpiece. About the only thing missing is antialiasing.

Racing in Ridge Racer is fun. In fact, it's always been fun, so there haven't been many changes made here, which is good for fans of the series. However, the gameplay isn't going to convert anyone after a decade of minor changes. Collisions merely slow you down, and powerslides are still your primary means of moving around corners. The one key difference is that powersliding now fills up an onscreen nitro meter. When you fill one of your nitro stocks (you can store up to three boosts), you can unleash it at will for a modest speed boost. The opposing vehicles also will crack open a nitro stock from time to time, usually waiting until you're about to pass before coming at you. Beyond that, the driver artificial intelligence isn't terribly impressive. The 11 other cars in the race sort of follow their own lines and don't do much to block your pass attempts. This makes most of the game pretty easy, once you've mastered the art of the powerslide, but as you proceed through the world tour mode, the difficulty (and the speed) does ramp up.

Control in the game is tight. You can play with either the analog disc or the D pad, and due to the sort of digital nature of Ridge Racer, you can get by just fine with the D pad. Beyond that, you've got your gas, brake, and nitro buttons. You can also hit another button to toggle between a first-person or third-person racing. Ridge Racer is broken up into a few different modes, all of which are standard for the genre. You can just hop into a one-off race, or you can make your races count for something in the world tour mode. Here, you'll enter into increasingly difficult series of races. You can save the game after each race, so you won't have to make it through each series in one sitting. Winning a series unlocks new cars and tracks for use in the other modes, but the different cars don't make a huge difference beyond higher-class cars being much faster than the first models. The track designs are good, but in classic Ridge Racer form, the game opens and closes different sections of track to form "new" tracks, but the end result are some tracks that share 80 percent of the exact same blacktop. Aside from the world tour, you can enter a time attack mode or race against up to three other local players using the PSP's built-in wireless support. The multiplayer mode is a lot of fun, especially since the competition from other players is often stiffer than what Namco's drone drivers have to offer.

Another big part of Ridge Racer is another staple of the series. Ridge Racer has a fantastic soundtrack that fits right in with the previous entries in the series. In fact, you'll be able to select from a handful of different playlists. Some of these consist of all-new material, but you can also dig back into the Ridge Racer archive and hear new remixes of old Ridge Racer songs, or you can just go back and listen to a selection of music directly from the old Ridge Racer games. The series has churned out some really stellar electronic music over the years, and it's great to have so much of it packed into one place. It would have been nice if Ridge Racer featured some sort of more directly accessible way to simply listen to these tunes outside of the game, though.

If you already don't like the way Ridge Racer plays, this new installment won't convert you. It's still all about huge powerslides, almost never bothering to hit the brakes, and moving as quickly as possible. But if you're unfamiliar with the series, you should know that this is a great, fairly casual racing game that delivers where a racing game counts most: bucketloads of high-speed action. If you're already a fan of the series, you'll love the way the game plays on Sony's new handheld. Additionally, the stellar presentation definitely puts it up there as one of the most technically impressive games on the PSP.

Courses

Ridge Racers serves as a compilation of courses from all Ridge Racer games released since 1993. As such, 10 of the 12 courses included in the game all come from previous titles, as well as two brand new courses.

The two original tracks from Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2 appear in the game, which have been renamed to Seaside Route 765 and Ridge City Highway. It is worth noting that even though these courses are introduced as having come from Ridge Racer V as well, the other Ridge Racer V courses do not appear in this game.

The Novice and Intermediate courses from Ridge Racer Revolution appear as Sunset Drive and Crystal Coast Highway, respectively.

Over Pass City and Lakeside Gate from Rage Racer appear as Union Hill District and Lakeside Parkway, respectively.

Heaven and Hell and Wonderhill from Ridge Racer Type 4 appear as Crimsonrock Pass and Diablo Canyon Road, respectively.

The City and Mountain courses from Rave Racer appear as Midtown Expressway and Greenpeak Highlands, respectively. Two new tracks based on these courses were also introduced in the game: Downtown Rave City based on Midtown Expressway, and Silvercreek Dam based on Greenpeak Highlands.

Music

The music in the game is a collection of new songs and songs taken from previous Ridge Racer games, arranged across several discs. The Red and Blue Discs contain all-new songs put together specifically for the game while the two Classic Discs contains a collection of remastered songs from Ridge Racer titles. Lastly, the Remix Disc contains songs from past titles remixed by the original composer. Each track from the Red and Blue Discs is also uniquely assigned to one of the 12 courses in the game, which is automatically assigned when racing on them.

Title	Composer	Original Game	Course
DISC 1: Red Disc
Highride	SamplingMasters MEGA	—	Greenpeak Highlands
Warp Trooper	SamplingMasters AYA	—	Midtown Expressway
Bassrider	Hiroshi Okubo	—	Union Hill District
Pulse Phaze	U	—	Sunset Drive
Chrome Drive	sanodg	—	Lakeside Parkway
Synthetic Life	Kohta Takahashi	—	Downtown Rave City
DISC 2: Blue Disc
Disco Ball	Hiroshi Okubo	—	Seaside Route 765
Night Stream	Kohta Takahashi	—	Crimsonrock Pass
Light Groove	Asuka Sakai	—	Ridge City Highway
Vanishing Horizon	J99	—	Crystal Coast Highway
Tunnel Visionary	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	—	Diablo Canyon Road
Tek Trek	Hiroshi Okubo, Koji Nakagawa	—	Silvercreek Dam
DISC 3: Remix Disc
Rotterdam Nation Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer, "Rotterdam Nation"	—
Speedster Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer, "Speedster"	—
Drive U 2 Dancing Remix	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 2 & Ridge Racer Revolution, "Drive U 2 Dancing"	—
Rareheroes	sanodg	Ridge Racer, "Rare Hero"	—
Blue Topaz Remix	J99	Rave Racer, "Blue Topaz"	—
Motor Species Remix	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Ridge Racer Type 4, "Motor Species"	—
DISC 4: Classic Disc 1
Ridge Racer	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer	—
Grip	sanodg	Ridge Racer 2 & Ridge Racer Revolution	—
Euphoria	SamplingMasters AYA	Rave Racer	—
Silver Stream	Hiroshi Okubo	Rage Racer	—
Naked Glow	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer Type 4	—
Your Vibe	Asuka Sakai	Ridge Racer Type 4	—
DISC 5: Classic Disc 2
Move Me	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer Type 4	—
Movin' in Circles	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4	—
Eat 'em Up!	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4	—
TsuiTsui	U	Ridge Racer V	—
Samurai Rocket	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V	—
Daredevil	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V	—

Ridge Racers Direct Audio

An album featuring the BGM tracks available in the game was released in 2005. Also included in the album are the music from the intro sequence (Ignition), select screen (Departure Lounge), World Tour introduction video (World Touring), and ending sequence (Beyond).

No.	Title	Composer
DISC 1
1.	Ignition	Hiroshi Okubo
2.	Departure Lounge	Hiroshi Okubo
3.	World Touring	Keiki Kobayashi
4.	Highride	SamplingMasters MEGA
5.	Warp Trooper	SamplingMasters AYA
6.	Bassrider	Hiroshi Okubo
7.	Pulse Phaze	U
8.	Chrome Drive	sanodg
9.	Synthetic Life	Kohta Takahashi
10.	Disco Ball	Hiroshi Okubo
11.	Night Stream	Kohta Takahashi
12.	Light Groove	Asuka Sakai
13.	Vanishing Horizon	J99
14.	Tunnel Visionary	Tetsukazu Nakanishi
15.	Tek Trek	Hiroshi Okubo, Koji Nakagawa
16.	Beyond	Junichi Nakatsuru
DISC 2
1.	Rotterdam Nation Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA
2.	Speedster Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA
3.	Drive U 2 Dancing Remix	SamplingMasters AYA
4.	Rareheroes	sanodg
5.	Blue Topaz Remix	J99
6.	Motor Species Remix	Tetsukazu Nakanishi
7.	Ridge Racer	SamplingMasters MEGA
8.	Grip	sanodg
9.	Euphoria	SamplingMasters AYA
10.	Silver Stream	Hiroshi Okubo
11.	Naked Glow	Kohta Takahashi
12.	Your Vibe	Asuka Sakai
13.	Move Me	Kohta Takahashi
14.	Movin' in Circles	Hiroshi Okubo
15.	Eat 'em Up!	Hiroshi Okubo
16.	TsuiTsui	U
17.	Samurai Rocket	Kohta Takahashi
18.	Daredevil	Kohta Takahashi