Reviews// Ridge Racer 3D

Perfect drifts add to your nitrous boost bar giving you and option to hold on for double or triple boosts or tactically let off short ones. Slipstreaming (or ‘drafting’) is also a helpful tool when trying to overtake your rivals. Tuck in behind a car for long enough and you'll pick up a speed boost in order to overtake it. As with many of these features, we've seen it all before but never as perfected and fun as it is here.

Bumps in the Road
This is a game that rarely disappoints and when it does it's only in a minor way. Ridge Racer 3D suffers from what the gaming public are referring to as 'Ghosting'. It's when the code used to create the 3D effect fails slightly, resulting in one of the images being visible in the wrong eye.

It's not too common and only appears for a short space of time but it's noticeable. Thankfully though it seems to be a software fault and once developers get used to working with the 3DS we'll see this issue fade from existence.

There is one gaping pothole in this delightful package and that's the lack of online modes. It seems strange that a game so heavily focusing on profile pictures and custom cars only lets you show off your personal touches via local play.

Online gaming would have added to the already extensive play time and would have made this a staple game for the console, one that you'll turn to time and time again. It wasn't to be, and that's a massive shame.

Enter Coin
The one thing that did surprise me about this game was just how lost I got in it. As I slide around track after track setting off nitrous boosts and drifting around tight corners, I feel like a kid again.

It took me back to the first time I had walked into an arcade and put a coin into SEGA Rally or Daytona USA. It reminded me of how new and special every race could feel and how I hadn't quite played anything like it before.

Before I knew it, I was lost in the moment and as my car sailed passed the finishing line in first place, all I wanted to do was advance to the next race. For any racing game to do that in the first place is impressive. For it to do this as a launch game, even more so but to do it on a handheld console is just outright mind blowing.

Conclusion
There's little to complain about here. Some might argue that not enough has been added to the series to justify a new release. Others will see its lack of online mode as an instant turn off. Despite all this Ridge Racer 3D is one of the must have titles available for the 3DS.

It won’t convert those who have hated the series in the past but it will keep fans happy and attract a new audience. It's solid, expansive and extremely fun and shows off everything that the 3DS was built for.

It is, in my opinion, the best portable racing game on the market and if you have a 3DS, you really should own it.

SPOnG Score: 88%