Ridge Racer: U, GRID, & Driver: San Francisco

Right now, there are rumors circulating about this Daytona "port."  Is this a straight up port of Daytona USA?  That's what I think.  But it's certainly strange that the namesake defies tradition because it doesn't have "Online Arcade" in the title...why do we have OutRun Online Arcade, Sega Rally Online Arcade, then just Daytona USA?  There's other theories floating around that this is really a Daytona USA compilation or even a Sega All-Stars Racing 2 but...I don't know.  I don't know enough to talk about it.

Every day I accumulate all these thoughts in my head and I need to post them on this blog.  So I can't just "drop" everything because we're on the verge of Sega history.  We're doing okay so please take it easy.

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Anyway, I'm looking at this Ridge Racer Unbounded game and there's not much good to say about it.  I'm still cryin' over this game's release.  Putting aside all the crap Burnout elements, I first notice that the game runs at 30 FPS, a glaring demerit that all racing games should avoid (Sega All-Stars Racing unfortunately does this, but it redeems itself in other ways).  Also, it still doesn't look anything like Ridge Racer.


I really love the part at :50 and 1:13 where the sports car was able to plow through three concrete pillars AND a wall without so much as a dent.  About as absurd as driving through the water in California Speed.


As a matter of fact, Ridge Racer Unbounded looks like Flatout (a previous Bugbear game, see above) with a Burnout/NFS motif.  Believe it or else, Bugbear also handled the PSP port of Sega Rally Revo....

You could take out the "Ridge Racer" part of the title and you'd never even know.  The only thing that has to do with Ridge Racer is Reiko Nagase, the Ridge Racer girl.  WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???

Unshameful Reiko Nagase Pic

EDIT: ARRRRGGGHHH, why don't these pics work the first time???

Also, another thing you see here is a very unique alternative to the traditional racing HUD.  The score & position are emitted holo-screen style from specific walls on the track.  Kind of like in Split/Second with the HUD items glued to the car bumpers.  My main problem with this is that I can't just check my position/score anytime I want--I have to wait for one of those screens to come around.  That's okay, I like waiting...it's "cool" that way.

We went over something like this at FIEA, my gaming school.  One of the things that games are really pushing for is limited HUD's.  Basically, the less numbers on the screen, the better.  Numbers make you feel like you're playing a game!  Lack of numbers makes you feel like you're actually driving a car!  The whole goal is absorb as much data as possible without actually having to "think" (or glaze over) HUD items.

Really?  Are HUD items really that bad?  I like games like Daytona and they have all sorts of stuff on the screen--lap info, track layout, timer, tach/speedometer, etc.  You start taking away these things and it usually makes the game more shallow.  Get rid of the tachometer--bam, no need for manual transmission since you can't tell when to shift.  Get rid of the track map--bam, you stop driving tactically and start driving reactionary--no need to "plan" your racing line, just twitch at the sign of any turn.  Get rid of the speedometer and--bam, you might as well be riding a bicycle instead.  Get rid the timer--bam, you have all the time in the world to jerk off.  See what I'm getting at here?

As a matter of fact, you can use the HUD to make the game more immersive.  For instance, in Daytona USA 2, when you crash, the HUD rocks back and forth along with the car suspension.  So implicit details like this are just icing on the cake.

Also, Ridge Racer Unbounded will have some sort of Create-A-City Mode...odds are it won't be as detailed as we hope and it doesn't even matter anyway since I'm not looking to invest in this game anyway.

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And here's GRID--some Codemasters arcade game published by Sega.  Yes, I know GRID was also on home consoles, but any decent arcade games that Sega can get out there, that's money in their pocket so w/e.  Basically, I feel like I'm watching the Project Gotham Racing trailer.  Although it kind of reminds me of Scud Race with the various real-life sports cars (the Saleen, the CCGT, etc.) and cool tracks like Spa Francorchamps.  Does this game have over six cars per race though?  Remember playing Gran Turismo with just six cars on track at once?  How pathetic was that?



That eBay car is now burned into my brain.  Most eye-popping advertisement ever?  You can't avoid that logo no matter what you do (barring those leaderboards that get in the way).  Anyway, nothing new to see here--move along everyone...

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And then there's Driver: San Francisco.  Well, we all know about Driver--that free-roaming driving game that was soon usurped by Grand Theft Auto.  But this time, Driver: SF is actually....good.  Drive 100+ licensed cars around San Francisco.  This included Lamborghinis and Vipers--just like Forza except you can break the law!  Sadly, this game also comes with a lousy-ass plot involving cops & criminals.  That's completely original to me, I must admit.

The "plot" in this game involves protagonist John Tanner being put into a coma.  That's great, we're playing as a guy in a coma.  But somehow, he has the power to to "shift" to (or possess) any car (or driver, I dunno) on the road.  I admit that this concept is completely new to me.  You can use it for pragmatic reasons (assist in completing an objective) or just for fun (steal your favorite car).  So if you're in a police chase, you can immediately jump into the body of a nearby truck driver or texting teenage girl and have them plow into the suspect to aid your cause.  Or if you're crusin' and you see that rich guy's convertible, you can take it and just splatter everyone on the road (well, you can't run over anyone in the game, which is good).



John Tanner...you are that wheelchair guy from X-Men.  NO, not Xavier, that creepy hospitalized guy.  While you're getting your sponge bath, you're breaking up massive drug/smuggling cartels and pitting soccer moms in a game of Chicken.  Now that's some scary s*** there, gentlemen.

Now all the girls will be MINE!

I know that this feature is a substitute for the on-foot portions of the game...where you're walking around finding cars to hijack.  Now I know that was my favorite part of the Driver games--don't drive, just go for a jog.  I'm disappointed that the got rid of that feature.

RUN FOR FUN?

Anyway, if you take out all the Burnout elements, I'm pretty sure this is a damn good game...but another free-roam driver around a massive city?  See every GTA, every modern Need for Speed (except Pro Street), Saints Row 1/2, Midnight Club, previous Drivers, Streets of LA/NY, Burnout Paradise, The Getaway, L.A. Noire, etc.  I don't know man.  I know cop chases are fun, but dammit it's so cliche nowadays.  I'm undecided here.  I'd sure as hell take Driver: SF over RR: Unbounded, Split/Second, or all of that crap out there.

Or if you want a "boring" sim racer, check out F1 2011, nice to see a good traditional racer again (Formula 1 baby).

Woo........I'm tired......laters

New Carmageddon, NNOOOOOOooooooo.... (Driver, GTA, LA Noire)

Age gates are stupid, just set the date to 1965 or something and move on.



SO BEAUTIFUL...

Stainless Games is in the early stages of designing the next instalment of the Carmageddon series; Carmageddon: Reincarnation.  As the game develops, you’ll be able to follow progress in the Blog.

Of all the racing games to get a reboot, how come Carmageddon?  Wow, I completely change my mind on Burnout and Split/Second now, those are sparkling gems on a hill compared to this.  At least those two try to keep some "professionalism" while Carma looks to shock as many soccer moms and Jack Thompsons as possible.

I'm checking out the blog and it's interesting to learn about where their inspiration came from:

When we set Stainless up, the plan was to kick things off with a relatively simple Destruction Derby game (this was before the Reflections title) to establish the company, and then go onto greater things. The Destruction Derby game – codenamed 3DDD, as ‘3D’ was actually still a buzz word back then – was born from an observation of people playing driving games. Most driving games were pretty dull (this was well before Gran Turismo changed that forever). Even the top of the pile like the original Ridge Racer were as boring as an accountant’s pillow talk (well, OK then, to me), so the less patient amongst us (well OK then, me), used to turn our cars around, race around in the other direction and try to hit our opponents head-on in order to alleviate the ennui.

...

What then happened is documented in detail elsewhere, but to cut a long story short, about two years later we were well into development of what was by then, “Carmageddon”. By this time, the concept of “being naughty and breaking the rules” had grown wings, climbed up to the roof, flown off, landed on the head of the tabloid soap-box preachers, and shat down the back of their neck.

Basically don't follow the rules of conventional racers.  Oh and check this out.  This site gives you the materials to make your own paper cars...really?  I could never make any of those paper things, I suck.

There's not much else to say.  I'm not a fan of "dark" games but they can make whatever they want.  And now you know the whole story.

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Cool, check this out.  I'm looking at related videos and here's a Carma 2 stunt video.  It's relatively tame compared to the actual game.  These are custom-made cars and on display, but I'm amazed at the car damage and physics...not bad.  This game came out in 1998.  I also assume this is online multiplayer.  Too bad the actual game isn't like this.



LISTEN TO THE SKA, F-YEAH

Now more these free-wheeling PC racers.  This Carma 2 footage reminds me of Driver 1 and 2 (yes, the prequels to Driv3r).  I actually did play Driver for the PC a long time ago.  It was an okay diversion.  That came out in 2000 which was two years after Carma 2.  It was developed by GT/Reflections Interactive.

This is Driver 1.  Clearly, the whole Driver series is based off of 70's car chase movies which is pretty sweet.  You can't run over pedestrians which is nice.  The cops' method of stopping you is simple--recklessly smash your car to bits without regard to anyone's (including their own) safety.  Cop chases are kind of fun, but they spawned in front of you and never, ever stopped coming so it was always a losing battle.



Now this is Driver 2 for the PS1...unlike Driver 1, you can get out and steal other cars GTA-style and that's about it.  It's entirely driving, no killing.  Also, the city actually has curves, highway on-ramps, more than just hard 90-degree turns.  Surprisingly, Driver 2 also came out in 2000.  This video's just a funny glitch.



But in the end, we all know Grand Theft Auto 3 is better.  It came out in 2001 and just shut everyone up.  I like the PS2 GTA games, but not all the violence and cursing (sorry).



Anyway, this mission is making fun of Tanner, the protagonist of the Driver games...  Rockstar had their way with the competition at the time.  Driv3r was released in 2004 and included a character called "Timmy Vermicelli," a parody of Tommy Vercetti of GTA: Vice City.  Unfortunately, Driv3r was mediocre at best.  By then, GTA became the golden standard for free-wheel drivers.

Fast forward seven years to 2011 and this LA Nwah game handles a lot like GTA 4...except that you can't kill pedestrians.  Yes, they jump out of the way so Rockstar has decided to spare peds for once, aww how kind of them.  This makes sense since you're a good cop, not a criminal (you can still "borrow" civilians' cars).  Although you CAN kill a pedestrian with a car if you use exploits.  I think the devs modded the GTA4 code but forgot to completely fool-proof it...



Only thing that really sucks about the game is that the 40's cars are obviously much slower which sucks.

LA Noire...hmm...it's like a better version of Dick Tracy for the NES.

And that's it, your history lesson for today.  I'm fairly sure there's other games like this (like, uh...Tony Hawk's Underground) but I cannot mention them all.  ADIOS.