Like with Wipeout 2048, this game is deserving of its own thread, instead of being hidden away in the general Vita thread.
What's that? You'd heard that Ridge Racer Vita was awful? That's not surprising, considering its critical pounding. A woeful 43% on Metacritic and the lowest scoring Vita game yet.
But hey! I've got good news (and a bit of bad news). The core game is wonderful and is a top tier entry into the Ridge series, But with caveats.
Good bits:
Handling. It handles beautifully. Despite running at 30fps, it retains the pin sharp controls of the better games in the series.
Graphics. The graphics vary a bit from course to course, but when Ridge is pretty, it's a very handsome game. The boost effect is the best yet, and the lurching sense of speed when you fire of nitrous boosts is stomach churning. I still winch when I fire off triple nitrous boosts. A subtle depth of field effect is applied to the background. Despite my own concerns around it, 30fps isn't an issue at all, and apart from a skipped frame here and there when things get hectic, is rock solid. All this made all the more beautiful by DAT SCREEN.
Music. The game contains a few new music track, but Namco are steadily releasing a metric ton of free music DLC containing the better music tracks from the prior games.
Online. The online integration is very well handled. I've not had any connectivity issues playing online races or downloading ghosts to time trial against. No input lag while racing, but opponent cars can ping about the track.
UI. Pure sex.
The bad bits:
Content. The much criticised content model of Ridge is a very valid concern. On buying the game, you get 5 cars (plus 2 secret ones) and 3 courses. If you buy the game before the end of March, you get the Gold Pass included for free. This grants you an additional 5 cars and 3 courses and some special music packs. Without the Gold Pass, each bit of the DLC is available to buy individually. There around around 60 music tracks as free DLC. Next month, the remaining cars and courses will be available, along with a 'Silver Pass' that gives you all of it.
So what does the game cost? Buy it now and get the Gold Pass to give you 10 (+2) cars, 6 tracks and 70+ music tracks. Next month, the Silver Pass will cost $7.49/€6.99, with gives you the rest of the content. If you buy the game before the end of March, the full cost of the game when including the Silver Pass is still under the prices of other Vita games.
Courses. In the way that Ridge Racers and Ridge Racers 2 were a best of for Ridge, Revolution, Rave, Rage and R4, the Vita game has cherry picked the best tracks from RR6, RR7 and RR 3D. Six tracks are available now (for US players, I think it's only 4 for UK ones), with the remaining three tracks due next month. I don't see this as a bad thing, as the tracks available are all great and the two new ones from the 3DS game will look great when Vita-ised.
Structure and balance. The core idea behind RR Vita is you race on and offline in single races and time trials. There is no standard single player campaign. Races give you money and VP points. The VP total gets added to your chosen team (there are four to choose from when you first start the game). This might sound like a terrible idea and very limited, but it just means you're racing for the fun of it, rather than being drip fed races to compete it. It's perfect for quick races, but I've still have a few long sessions with it holding my attention utterly.
Money is drip fed slowly, netting you just over 100 per race. The money is spent on upgrades, with cost 400 to unlock an upgrade point. But the upgrades are hidden in an expansive grid, with most of the points having nothing behind them. So getting all of the upgrades will be a long grind. (But grinding has never been this fun!) You get cash injections of 1000 when you randomly (and frequently) become your team's VIP for the day, which helps with the unlocking.
Now, the biggest issue. Every few races, your level upgrades. This increases the stats of all of your cars. The set levels of previous Ridge games are gone. This negatively impacts time trials and online racing, as people at a high level will have faster cars with better upgrades, and the times you set in TT will be beaten when you have increased in level and got a faster car. Once you hit Level 7, your car stats are maxed out, but you will still have a long was to go to unlock all the upgrades. The Level cap is currently 16.
You can try to race against people at the same level, but it's not guaranteed. and you might get opponents a level or two above you. One you get up to about Level 10 (after about 3 hours play), you should have unlocked all the best upgrades and be able to hold your own against any opponent. Skills permitting, of course.
So, should I buy it?
If you like Ridge Racer: Fuck yeah, you should. Ridge is now my go-to Vita game, and despite its clear flaws, it's up there as one of my favourite in the series. As long as you are aware of what you're getting, this baby is GOLD.
More info:
Japanese website, detailing all the course, cars and DLC schedule:
http://rr.namco-ch.n..._psvita/concept
UK Website:
http://www.uk.namcob...e-racer/ps-vita
