R: Racing Evolution

[Smeghead]

****...

really shudn't have watched them vids. Skint + big to get list + vids = even bigger to get list

[Vaipon]

The Japanese website is worth a look if you haven't already visited. Some nice pics of the courses, cars, and characters. Also a cool history section with all NAMCO's racing games over the last 20 years. Looks like there are a fair few unlockables. Also looks like the only version to get an exclusive vehicle is the xbox (there is a humvee). Could be wrong though, as Soul Calibur 2 had system specific bonus chars.

R:Racing Evolution site (translated via Excite)

[Ginza]

Is it out now in the UK? Have to say i havent seen it anywhere and iv been looking. Where's your copy from Marcus?

Id go for the xbox version too.

[Tom Salter]

Is it out now in the UK on all formats? Have to say i havent seen it anywhere and iv been looking. Where's your copy from Marcus?

UK release, this early? Nah, it's next year apparently. Play-asia are shipping them now, ordered mine this morning, with cheapo econo-packing, so I'll probably get it the same time as the PAL one :P

[Vaipon]

Only Japanese version has been released at the moment.

Worryingly, Amazon.co.uk have the game listed as being released 5th March 2004. I can only see the PS2 version on there too. This isn't SONY playing their stupid European exclusivity games again I hope (a la Prince of Persia).

[Ginza]

Cheers Boog....

Bugger. This thread has made me want the game a hell of a lot more than i wanted it already. Also Marcus's footage is just plain torture.

Some people are just born lucky eh?

[redael]

EA has picked up the PAL publishing rights to this on all formats with a March release date.

Source : Gamespot

Edit : Ooops should have looked at Electric Boogaloo's link

[Vaipon]

I'm quite enjoying this game now. It's not quite as "serious" as it first seemed either. NAMCO have hit a nice balance between arcade and sim. On the one hand, braking is now a major factor (something which was never really the case in Ridge Racer because of the insane drift), but on the other hand, the actual driving and overtaking still feels very fast and furious. You are constantly tailing people using the slipstream off their car, and the "pressure" guage is a great idea. If you stay right behind a CPU car, a bar appears above their car which slowly fills. The higher it goes, the more careless they drive. Get it right to the top, and it's fairly common to see them go spinning off into the dirt at the next corner. This has great implications, such as giving you the ability to defeat an opponent in a more powerful car than yours (by slipstreaming and then pressurising them). You could also take out your closest rival right before the finish line, so that several cars overtake and they lose lots of GP points in the league table. Quite evil when you think about it.

The game also has a nod towards the Ace Combat series with it's constant radio chatter. All the rival cars will insult you and gasp when you overtake. The manager of the racing team is constantly encouraging you as you drive too, and providing a commentary on your performance, sometimes suggesting where to improve. The rally sections also have a lot of co-driver speech to help you through.

So in retrospect, I don't believe this game is the 100% uber-seious sim I first thought it was. It's still very accessible, even to veteran ridge fans, and there is even a nice amount of drifting in the rally sections.

[Mayhem]

So people... yah or nay? If it's good for a proper racing type game, then I'll ask my gf to bring it over from the US, so I can also get Pacman vs with it...

[taurusnipple]

Watched the clip. Does have the looks, but for me Ridge was about the colourful over the top enviroments and crazy powersliding, which explains why the 1st two are my fav's. Certain aspects do intrigue me however, the pressure gauge and the radio chatter, certainly should add more to experiance. If there are fans of the first two I would like to hear what they have to say in comparison to this version. I'm in hope that it retains the feel of them - not really into the GT series.

[mr_sockochris]

Does anyone know if/where i can change the difficulty? It's just too easy at the moment, or does it get alot harder?

[SharkAttack]

Does have the looks, but for me Ridge was about the colourful over the top enviroments and crazy powersliding, which explains why the 1st two are my fav's.

Well this isn't ridge racer.

[John Beaulieu]

Well this isn't ridge racer.

But it is an extension of the franchise - or did you think R: Racing Evolution was a coincidence.

From the car models to the fmv to the music this game screams out Ridge Racer - its just that the play mechanics are different and that the track designs are boring compared to the street courses we are used to in the RR franchise.

Personally i feel that this game isn't too shabby - whilst not being as good as others in the franchise it still exhibits enough good things about it to please the majority of driving fans. I do feel that combining all the different racing genres dilutes each one - for example the rally style sections pale in comparison to a dedicated rally game - and the Oval sections have been done much better in both Nascar and Indycar releases - but add them altogether and you have a nicely rounded game. People will be wrongly associating the changes made to Namco trying to emulate Gran Tourismo (exactly like people did with PGR1 + 2) but this is still an arcade racer rather than a full out 'driving simulator'

One thing i would take note of - all the menus are in japanese so either a knowledge of the language would be required to get the most from the game or its all gonna be hit and miss - this is of course until we have translated screens up the same as we did with we7

camps

[Vaipon]

People will be wrongly associating the changes made to Namco trying to emulate Gran Tourismo (exactly like people did with PGR1 + 2) but this is still an arcade racer rather than a full out 'driving simulator'

Camps has hit the nail on the head here. It's not "Ridge Racer 6", and it's not "Generic GT3/PGR2 rip-off 4" either. It's not even "Ridge Racer Evolution" really, which was undoubtedly what this game's working title initially was. It's NAMCO's own new little concept, that they have developed using their unmistakable style. The design of the game still screams out that it's NAMCO, it's got their fingerprints all over it from the music to the CGI to the slick 60fps game engine. It's a driving sim that would be right at home housed in a cabinet with a 30" screen, wheel/pedals and a coin slot. It's got that arcade style hook, with it's noisy radio chatter, the "pressure" guage discussed previously, and red-hot bumper-to-bumper track rivalry proving the Japanese company's racing lineage beyond a doubt.

The more I play it, the less I think it's strictly a serious sim and the more I think it's another NAMCO original. There's something in this game for arcade and simulation racing fans alike, combining nice smooth fast track racing with a well implemented rally experience. The drifting is intact too, it's just far harder to pull off successfully than it is in Ridge5, but let me assure you that you can have an Impreza WRX going sideways round hairpins in a perfect controlled arc if you get your corner entry braking just right. Watch a couple of the attract mode demos to see some nice sliding.

The new game modes are an interesting addition, but have yet to prove themselves to me. The drag sections complete with nitro really do feel too short (especially compared to NFS:U), and the sense of speed isn't quite there (even after activating nitro). I think the dual-lane rally concept looks like it could be a great idea though. I'll reserve jusgement for when this game mode gets introduced into the "Racing Life" story mode, as I've not encountered it yet.

With regards to the menus. They are all really simple to figure out apart from a couple of settings screens. All menus are exactly what you would expect in a racer, and you will get them all within an hour through trial and error. There are about 2 screens of technical car settings though, which are presented as a series of sliders. Would be nice to have a translation of these at some point. I'll scout a few Japanese sites to see if any of them have posted a guide yet.

Overall, I'm not nearly as disappointed with NAMCO's new racer as I would of been if it was a straight GT/PGR rip-off. It's arcadey, and unique enough to be appealing to existing NAMCO/Ridge fans. I would of loved a true "Ridge Racer 6", but that was simply never going to happen. It's not all doom and gloom for the series either as this latest game isn't an official Ridge title, meaning that we may yet see a proper sequel. I can hope...

[bowser123]

Glad to hear its more arcade in style than being totally serious, straight out realism.
That bar that increases on the opponents car that fills up when you get close looks like a good, innovative idea and the speech from rivals sounds impressive.

Think I'm going for the USA Cube version, it's out real soon.
Seen some Mini's in a video, are they instantly unlockable or do you have to start off with a shed like in GT?

A nice little video and screen shots here, good for us Mac users who don't get a picture on Marcus' vids. It's Quicktime and shows a mixture of in game footage, replays and cut scenes.