Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Broken"

Ridge Racer 7 is based around drifting. Thats it. If you can master the drifting technique in this game (which is very easy to do might i add), you will have no trouble in completing this over-simplistic, yet slightly addictive arcade racer.

Gameplay - As always, gameplay revolves around highspeed circuit racing featuring Ridge Racer's "drift" handling, where the player slides the car around hairpin turns without any great loss of speed. New features to this iteration include car body and engine customization which can have an impact on the performance, handling and nitrous system of the car. Ridge Racer 7 also boosted the use of slipstreaming as a prominent feature in the game, compared to previous iterations which included the feature but did not show its presence.

This game sees the "unlimited restarts" return for the first time since Ridge Racer Revolution in 1996, which means the player can restart during the race (including the regular races and the duel races) at anytime if the player is not satisfied with his/her race, race results and so on. Also, the player can re-play the same race series for more points and money.

Graphics - The graphics in Ridge Racer, if you consider the context of the game, is great. It looks great and the gorgeous visuals are a big factor of this game. They didn't just make the cars and the tracks look stunning, but the enviorenment outside the barriers of the track looks great, even from a distance! they've put the tiniest detail into everything.

Sound - Everything from the rawring and reving of the 40 different cars to the commentator that follows you on every step of the UFRA championships are here. And the nitrous is awesome to.

Replay Value - Once you've completed it there isn't much need to come back to it. But that doesn't mean you don't have to! You can still have fun the 2nd time round and maybe hope to beat some of your original times.

Score Breakdown:
Gameplay - 9
Graphics - 9.5
Sound - 8
Replay Value - 7

Overall: 8

Ridge racer 7 is a great game, and seeing as its been out for 3 years the £5 price tag should make you pick it up! The only things I would have liked to have seen included are trophies as a DLC later on, and the game to be more challenging. The over-simplicity can ruin it sometimes.