Ridge Racer 3D Review

Ridge Racer is, without a doubt, one of the most venerable racing franchises out there, so it wasn't too surprising to see it listed as one of the Nintendo 3DS' launch titles. It's a franchise that's all about power sliding and fast cars, and despite the main series getting a shake-up with Unbounded on the home consoles, Ridge Racer 3D doesn't stray from that ethos, not even remotely.

The main mode in Ridge Racer 3D is the Grand Prix. Here, you'll go through a rather large tournament ladder, whereby, qualifying in all the races in a specific event will unlock more events for you to race in. Each event has four races, and you'll need to come at least third in each event to qualify. If you finish first in them all though, the grand prix page puts a nice little trophy inside the event.

You'll start off with the Basic Grand Prix, which deals with Category-4 and Category-3 vehicles. They're fast, but not all that fast. Once you've finished all the events in this set, you'll then unlock the next Grand Prix, and so on.

It's a lengthy mode, but only because there are so many races to go through. The problem is, that you'll need some real stamina to get through them, as there isn't a whole lot of variety. You'll generally spend your points on buying a fast car, use that for probably the entire duration of that Category's events and then use a new car. All the while, you'll feel like the tracks are becoming just a bit too familiar, and not in a good way. There are slight variations on each track, and there are also the obligatory reverse modes, but it does feel as though the Grand Prix mode is somewhat under-developed.

Gameplay is standard for Ridge Racer. And if you don't know what that is, where have you been? It's most definitely an arcade racing game, with no licenced cars and ridiculous gameplay mechanics. In short, drifting is your friend, braking is your enemy. Indeed, probably the only time you'll ever use the brake is to enter into a drift. It certainly keeps the action flowing at a fast pace, as no matter how steep the corner, you'll still just be able to power your way around with a well timed drift.

It might be a little cheesy, but when you nail a drift, there's a certain sense of satisfaction that goes along with it. Especially if you over-take someone on the inside of the corner too.