Review #820: R4 - Ridge Racer Type 4

 Going out with a bang

  Well, they finally did it. They finally released the fabled 'complete product' and then some with R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. Analog support? You got it. Split-screen? It's here. Content? Hell yeah! This game felt almost as good to play as Ridge Racer 7 did, and that's saying something.

 So, modes: Grand Prix, Time Trial and the unlockable Extra Trial. Car customization is completely gone, save for the car's color, and honestly, I can't say I miss it. Time Trial is exactly what it sounds like and Extra Trials are collections of trials under certain conditions, such as only Assoluto cars. But Grand Prix is entirely different. First you pick a Team, which determines the story line(Dialogue bits in between races) you'll go through as well as a few of the vehicles' stats, and then you pick the manufacturer. This means a total of 4 teams and 4 manufacturers for a total of 16 different car branches. As you play through Grand Prix, and depending on your positions, you'll unlock different cars with different stats. It's a woozy. Grand Prix's structure is also different, now you go through 8 different tracks, because now we have 8 different tracks(Although to be fair most tracks share elements with at least another track, but then again, like 80% of each track is unique). On the first two races you must finish on 3rd or better. On the second two you need to be 2nd or better and the final four require you ending up on first. Your standings on the first four tracks determine which cars you'll unlock as you advance through the mode and can latter use in other modes.

 Most new tracks are a bit softer than what came before, and the graphics too feel softer, although way more detailed than Rage Racer, so the game as a whole feels a lot more chill. I play racing games with Automatic Transmission because I'm really bad at them, but this game did something I wasn't too fond of... AT also has Drift Assistance. I mean, once again, it made the game even more chill, but I would've wished I could turn off drift assistance, since a lot of my wins didn't feel earned. I'm all in for accessibility options, but they should be that, options. Regardless, the game's feel strikes a nice balance between Ridge and Rage racers, and I wound up loving how this game plays a lot. I also really enjoyed how the new Grand Prix plays out, it's a very interesting idea that feels endlessly rewarding since every Team/Manufacturer combo yields new cars. And if you're really good, you can even unlock Pacman!

 So, by now I've made it clear that this Ridge Racer has it all. But what if I told you that it has something else to offer? This game comes with a bonus disc. It has Namco Museum slides(Lame!!) as well as ads for Guncon Games, like Time-Crisis, and Ace Combat 3. It also comes with a playable demo of Klonoa 1, which is glorious, and contains the first two levels, as well as a demo of Tekken 3 in which you can play as Xiaoyu and Eddy, I played it a few times and I managed to fight Lei and Paul on their own stages so it might have a few fighters. I got Eddy twice as an opponent before I got bored. Pretty neat extra, right? There's more. It has a small sample of the original Ridge Racer, you can play the original Easy version of the track in Time Trial mode... and it also has a Turbo Ridge Racer, which is a new version of Ridge Racer made from the ground up, with new graphics a 60 FPS. You can play both versions of the track in either Time Attack(Try to make the best time with no AI opponents) or Time Trial(You vs a CPU). How AMAZING is that?

 It took Namco a while, but they finally delivered a game that feels more than complete, as it's overflowing with content, content that doesn't feel grindy at all. Gameplay hasn't evolved much since the first game, but it didn't really need to since they hit the nail on the head on their first go, yet driving feels the most polished it has been, I think they learned what didn't work about Rage Racer and tried to make it more similar to the original games. That said, my biggest gripe is how AT comes with a forced Drift Assist, not cool!
 8.0 out of 10