There is no career mode, or any way of stringing races together at all really, present in Ridge Racer on Vita. You might be wondering how Namco can stretch a decent career mode out of such a meager offering, and the simple answer is that they haven’t. Namco have left in the option to upgrade your car, as you collect credits from races, as well as your driver level, which adds a nice element of progression even if repetition quickly sets in. This is immensely disappointing, as not only does it mean the collection aspect of past games (which saw you even collecting novelty cars like a Pac-Man vehicle) is absent, it also means that you can see everything that the game has to offer in less than hour, if that. Included with the (admittedly budget-priced) game are four cars and three tracks, all of which are just visually upgraded versions of older tracks. You see, the boat-load of content that recent Ridge Racer games have included is all but gone in Ridge Racer on Vita. Now, here comes the ‘but’ – and it’s a big one. The few songs that are included with the game are also pretty cool, and it’s great that there’s a bunch of optional free DLC songs available as well (including classics from Ridge Racer Type 4). There’s a nice new effect when you get hit as well, blurring the screen briefly as if you were watching a camera feed that was suddenly interrupted. The graphics are as high definition as you’d hope for on the new console’s OLED screen, with sleek cars that just look plain cool and environments that are full of vivid colours and sights. The game looks and sounds great on Vita as well. Aside from a small addition in the use of the rear touch-pad for gear shifts, the gameplay in Ridge Racer on Vita is pretty standard for the series, so all I can say is if you’ve played any Ridge Racer game since 2005, you’ve played this one and will already know whether you’ll enjoy it or not. It’s an odd style of racing, but one that series veterans swear by and one that newcomers will have fun adjusting to, as you try to balance drifting (which fills your nitro meter) with more direct racing and slip-streaming. Cars drift around corners at high speeds, often making 360 degree turns while doing so and losing no steam, acting like they’re on little invisible tracks rather than actually making contact with the road, but this is all part of the Ridge Racer charm. Unchanged from other recent Ridge Racer titles, the arcade-style racing experience is still almost completely divorced from reality but still immensely enjoyable. Oh, the fundamental gameplay is still fun. Now, the PS Vita has arrived, and Namco have provided a new Ridge Racer that I was kind of hoping would provide the same high-quality experience the PSP version was applauded for. Ridge Racer 6 and 7, as well as all portable incarnations of the series since have followed the PSP game’s lead. It brought the series back into the collective consciousness after being absent for four years, receiving rave reviews and providing several features which are now series staples – the nitro meter, top-notch graphics and boat-loads of content. You may remember that Ridge Racer on PSP was, at the time, kind of a big deal.
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