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jp's Ridge Racer DS (DS)

[December 12, 2022 04:28:19 PM]

I'll admit that I was very, very, positively surprised when I first started playing this. The camera was set (default?) to "first person" view (camera on hood of car, not 3rd person) and the game runs REALLY fast, the controls are really responsive, and the sense of speed was quite remarkable. I felt like I was driving fast and this seemed quite out of place on the DS! (weirdly, this would have felt fine on the PSP, which is generationally similar? huh. I'm thinking the PSP versions of Wipeout). Perhaps I've just been playing too many "bad" games with driving in them so far?

So, things got strange when I realized I could change the camera view - in this case to 3rd person, and then the driving felt really slow and sluggish! I don't know if this is a rendering thing (harder to render 3rd person?) or just a perceptual/experiential issue? It feels fast and responsive but it actually responds the same? I wonder....

So, I played a few races and was having fun when I realized that the AI is kind of wonky, and the collisions also (the game is pretty forgiving when you go up against the wall). But, what really bugged me was when a car coming up behind me, crashed into me and then "collisioned" through my car to jump ahead. That felt too unfair! (especially because I was now racing on a slightly higher license class or whatever it's called - so it was not easy and I was fighting tooth and nail just to stay in the race)

I wonder how well the game was received critically when it came out - it feels technically super polished in some areas, and weak in others?

I think my favorite part - and this is just eye candy - is that when cars in front of you move horizontally (like changing lanes quickly) their taillights streak across the screen in a way that is totally unnecessary, but totally cool as well. Reminds me of the effects on the motorcycles in Akira.