BLUE SKY IN GAMES CAMPAIGN NEEDS ENFORCING NOW!
Even bloody Ridge Racer’s gone all grey and shit
Ridge Racer’s been on a downward spiral ever since the inclusion of the nitro, but this is something else.
It’s been farmed out to Helsinki-based ‘legends’ Bugbear Entertainment because Namco don’t care about it any more.
Bugbear will be best remembered for gaming gems such as Flatout, Flatout 2, Sega Rally Revo (PSP port) and a wank old N-Gage game.
I bet they’ve put guns in it.
filed in "NEWS", ACTUAL GAMES on Feb.05, 2011
February 5th, 2011 on 12:44 pm
Just so we’re clear, it would be impossible for Ridge Racer to move downward from where it started.
February 5th, 2011 on 12:52 pm
Why don’t they just be honest about it and move on to outright porn?
February 5th, 2011 on 2:39 pm
First point: Unbounded isn’t a word. Its not. Just put it away and use unleashed instead, if you must.
Second Point: Is this not just Burnout? And didn’t that happen a long time ago?
And what the hell was their brainstorming session like for coming up with the overall feel? Whores. Whores. Crack. Filth. Whores. Waste. Cars. Just like Top Gear.
February 5th, 2011 on 8:08 pm
It’s Ridge, Need, Burn, Flat, Rally, Forza, Gran, Evo, Tokyo, Pure, Nascar 08, MX, Hot, F1, Dirt, Grid, Juiced, Carbon Credit, Shift, Project, Sonic, Midnight, Crash, More Dirt, Nascar 09, Pimp, Split, Unrealistic Female Walk cycle, Racer. $599
February 5th, 2011 on 11:09 pm
This doesn’t suprise me at all. Computer games seem to be pandering to the lowest cinemagoing denominator these days, and if films about racing are anything to go by then we can expect our protagonists to slam their heavily-branded treads down on the accelerator, let rip the nitrous and prove to Megan Fox that they don’t give a shit if they smash up a Ferrari because they can just buy a new one because they’re privileged cunts.
February 5th, 2011 on 11:18 pm
Of course smashing up a car in a game is a different story. We all like to do that, myself included, but if it was really about the enjoyment of smashing things up that you can’t smash up in real life but want to, then surely they’d have you driving round in a giant Seth Rogen’s face on a road of broken glass and hammers, rather than a supercar, no?
February 5th, 2011 on 11:22 pm
Also, smasking up a Ferrari in real life would be fun too, provided it belonged to Seth Rogen. And it would be even better if you had stolen it at the precise moment that he needed the car to transport his wife to the hospital after a stroke. Even better if you shrunk the car a la the film Inner Space, drove it into his ear and did a prolonged wheelspin on his cerebral cortex until he became deranged.
February 6th, 2011 on 12:30 pm
There’s a chance he might become more annoying if deranged. Best we kill him. Or do that thing with his wife and a stroke.
February 6th, 2011 on 1:19 pm
floppylobster:
Ridge Racer – Fucking mint!
Ridge Racer Revolution – More of the same
Rage Racer – Alright
Ridge Racer 4 – Not very good
Ridge Racer 5 – Worse than wank
Then came the nitro and endless ports.
I can’t be bothered to list any more because they were all shit from here on
February 6th, 2011 on 1:50 pm
It’s impressive how they’ve managed to so completely abandon everything that made Ridge Racer unique.
For starters the RR games were always modelled after Japanese locations, not American cities (aside from RR64, and it looked awful). There was always plenty of sunshine, blue skies, beaches, waterfalls, etc.
This thing just looks like Need for Speed Underground mixed with Burnout. It’s true that the series was strongly in need of a re-think (especially after the addition of nitrous) but do Namco and Bugbear seriously think this is going to stand out amongst all the other genre clones?
Or is the goal to look just enough like some other company’s games that people might buy it by mistake?
February 6th, 2011 on 2:50 pm
So what paper’s Ridge Racer’s obituary going in then?
Times? Guardian? Edge?
And someone need to edit its wiki page to read 1993-2011.
Surely this is just the final disrespectful nail in its coffin?
And while we’re talking nails in coffins, this is a Namco/Playstation game series we’re talking about here (and fondly reminiscing about), yes? Just checking, not a problem.
Weatherbox, I’m sensing you maybe didn’t like The Green Hornet?
February 6th, 2011 on 4:10 pm
It wasn’t a Playstation game to me..
The only ones that were ever any good were Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer 2, and Rave Racer.
As soon as it was on the Playstation, Namco slowly but surely flushed it down the toilet.
…Rave Racer never even got a home release, and by Rage Racer you could tell Namco didn’t know how to continue making the game. RR Type 4 has a story mode, for crying out loud! A story mode in an arcade racing game?
Imagine if that type of shit happened in Outrun, and before you race, you have to make sure that blonde you’re always driving around with was happy, by taking her out for meals and sending her flowers via Interflora.
Fuck that noise, son!
February 6th, 2011 on 5:09 pm
That is some abysmal CG. I’m pretty sure the intro to Ridge Racer Type 4 on the PS1 looked better than that.
I had hope for this trailer the first time I saw it, the beginning wasn’t very reassuring but then the silly car showed up and my faith was rekindled… for about 5 seconds.
As soon as that generic American muscle car showed up I felt like I’d been betrayed and possibly even raped.
February 6th, 2011 on 9:55 pm
RR4 was seen as the high-point, wasn’t it?
They’d have been much better off making a TDU clone than a Burnout clone. Split Second has just done Burnout. Nobody need another one. Let alone one named Ridge Racer.
It makes you wonder if Road Rash ever gets a repreive it’ll have Quingos for five wheeled stability and chains have been replaced with those metal walking sticks.
February 6th, 2011 on 10:27 pm
Well I suppose the CGI is bad but this is the alternative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvX8ho1UGzg
February 6th, 2011 on 11:07 pm
Ridge Racer – Not as good as Daytona USA
Ridge Racer Revolution – Still not as good as Daytona USA
Rage Racer – Not as good as Sega Rally
Ridge Racer 4 – Not very good
Ridge Racer 5 – Worse than wank (e.g. Sega Touring Car Championship) etc, etc…
February 7th, 2011 on 1:02 pm
The original Ridge Racer is a classic. I remember the first time I saw it in an arcade – back then the best driving game we had looked like Virtua Racing and most of us were used to playing the likes of Road Rash.
However we then see this brightly coloured, fully textured 60fps racer that looks real (it did then compared to what we were used to).
The graphics were incredible for the time (still looks good now) – especially with regards to the scenery. The helicopter, planes, the giant tv screen, the cars on the flyover etc. Then you had the way it turned from day to night to a foggy morning then back to day time. Brilliant.
It’s true Daytona is often regarded as the better game but Ridge Racer was definately a marvel when it was first released. PlayStation ports be damned, though – it’s the arcade versions where it’s at.
February 7th, 2011 on 8:30 pm
And that’s why you are where you are now Sega.