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Ridge Racer DS Review
Written by Modojo Staff on Sunday, January 30, 2005
Fans of the series should be satisfied by this game.
The touch screen controls pale in comparison to the d-pad!
...Continued From Page 1 While Ridge Racer DS provides all of the same thrills that the series is known for, I have a few issues with the gameplay. First, you can't switch controls on the fly and there's just no excuse for it. If I don't want to use the touch screen to control my car, I should be able to put my thumb back onto the d-pad and continue playing, but this just isn't possible. Instead, you have to go into the pptions menu to shift control schemes.
Next, the game's too difficult for its own good. The AI is brutal, and even the slightest mistake will cost you races. Unfortunately, slightest mistakes may happen quite often. Because this is Ridge Racer (meaning Namco hasn't really messed with the formula too much since the first game debuted on the PSone a decade ago), if a car just grazes a wall it's going to go out of control and bounce all over the place. In fact, the box might as well as read Ridge Racer Pinball.
Still, I got to give Namco credit for crafting a solid game that's a lot of fun to play if you really love the Ridge Racer series. Ridge Racer DS is a decent racing title, but after playing just ten minutes of Ridge Racers it's pretty hard going back to the DS version. However, if you're looking for the best Nintendo DS racing game, look no further.
