, originally named , is a

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released for the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

as a

launch title This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

on 17 December 2011 in Japan, 22 February 2012 in Europe, 23 February in Australia and 13 March in North America. It is the 5th handheld game in the ''Ridge Racer'' series. The game was developed by Cellius and published by

Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

. The game continues the ''Ridge Racer'' tradition of arcade racing and supports single-player as well as local and Wi-Fi multiplayer games. Upon release, ''Ridge Racer'' was mostly panned by video game critics.

Downloadable content

The Hornet from Sega's ''

Daytona USA is an arcade racing video game developed by Sega AM2 in 1993 and released by Sega in 1994. Players race stock cars on one of three courses. The first game released on the Sega Model 2 three-dimensional arcade system board, a prototype debuted ...

'' makes a cameo appearance as available DLC, as well as an exclusive song (with lyrics by

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi is a Japanese composer of video game music, singer, and video game voice actor. He has composed music for various games produced by Sega, including ''Virtua Fighter 2'' and ''Shenmue''. He first gained major recognition after the release of '' ...

) and course inspired by both franchises. Other cameos include cars with paint schemes derived from '' The Idolmaster'', as well as DoCoMO and ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

''-themed versions of the Kamata SYNCi, the game's cover car. The DoCoMo and ''Idolmaster'' cars are not available outside Japan. Other downloadable content include new cars and courses, as well as music tracks from previous entries in the franchise.

Reception

''Ridge Racer'' received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of one eight and three sevens for a total of 29 out of 40. Elsewhere, it was critically panned by various publications for its barebones nature and a lack of proper progression, unlike other installments in the series.

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

criticized the game's lack of initial content (which consisted only of a limited number of cars and tracks ported from ''

Ridge Racer 7 is a 2006 racing video game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3. The seventh mainline installment in the ''Ridge Racer'' series, it was developed as a launch title for the console. The game has around 40 cars, many ...

'') as a ploy to force users to buy its

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

(while its first DLC pack, despite being available for free as a limited time offer, only consisted of more content originating from ''Ridge Racer 7''), resulting in a poor experience that lacked any of the variety of past installments. In conclusion, the game was considered "a complete and utter ripoff", as a cheap cash-in than a fully thought-out product.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

similarly criticized the game's absolute lack of storyline or progression-based modes or leagues, and unbalanced online races that use a leveling system to determine a player's top speed (giving an unfair disadvantage to newer players). ''Ridge Racer'' was described as

tech demo A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of s ...

, wrapped up in an online-reliant social framework that's fundamentally flawed on several levels. In June 2012, IGN also named ''Ridge Racer'' one of its ten "Worst Video Games of 2012 So Far".

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 video games Bandai Namco games Multiplayer and single-player video games Crossover video games Multiplayer online games PlayStation Vita games PlayStation Vita-only games Racing video games Ridge Racer Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Yuu Miyake