Rage Racer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rage Racer | |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Platform(s) | Sony PlayStation |
| Release date | December 3, 1996 (JPN) May 15, 1997 (NA) June 1997 (EU) |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Media | CD-ROM |
Rage Racer (レイジレーサー) is the third title in the Ridge Racer series of racing games on the Sony PlayStation. Created by Namco, it was first released in Japan on December 3, 1996.
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[edit] Gameplay
Visually the game takes a different approach compared to the previous PlayStation titles. The game looks more realistic and has a darker colour scheme, it takes a lot of this from the arcade game in the Ridge Racer series, Rave Racer. Rage Racer introduces a brand new singleplayer credit system.
- Tracks
Rage Racer has 4 tracks, which all can be driven backwards. Compared to the tracks in the previous games, Rage Racer's tracks are very long and detailed, except for "The Extreme Oval", at 3,074m. The remaining 3 tracks are "Mystical Coast" (4,641m), "Over Pass City" (6,640m) and "Lakeside Gate" (6,237m). Rage Racer was also one of the only games in the series that did not feature an onscreen map during the race.
- Vehicles
The player starts with a very basic and slow car, and must win races to upgrade and buy new cars. Each car can be upgraded a certain amount of times (depending on the car's grade when bought)and offer visual changes to the car body.
This is the first game in the Ridge Racer series that permits the player to race with a truck, but it only comes with manual transmission. The only truck in this game is the Lizard Hijack, and is available from Class 4 in the game. In an extra Grand prix,there is an extra grade 6 class where you can buy super cars for ridiculous prices.These cars are called the Vanquire [2,000,000],Bulldog [3,700,000] and the Squaldon [6,000,000].The grade 6 has only 5 cars in the race and can only be done backwards.also the prizes are about ten million credits on that grade.The cars are all different brands making it impossible if you drove the Squaldon on a tight course to win.Its like if you hit a wall you will lose.
The Makes are particular for different courses. Age is for "Lakeside Gate",Lizard is for "Over Pass City",Esperanza is for "Mythical Coast" and Ausolotto is for "The Extreme Oval".
[edit] Development
In an interview with the Namco development team, Nobuhisa Mikoda (Rage Racer game designer and project director) admitted that the game was "somewhat off series and aimed to pursue enjoyment in shift controlling".[1]
Rage Racer was the first in the Ridge Racer series to feature a CGI animated introduction. Here the Ridge Racer "mascot girl" Reiko Nagase was introduced for the very first time.[2]
[edit] Soundtrack
As with Ridge Racer 6, there was never an "official" direct-audio soundtrack released for this game unlike its prequels, Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer 2, and Rave Racer, which all had soundtracks on Victor Records in Japan before the Playstation was released in the United States. Produced during summer/fall 1996, the genre of music consisted mostly of Electronic Music, which was a slight departure from the strictly euro-dance/club styles that early Ridge Racer. It marked the beginning of Namco's new primary sound team after their former members began working with other companies doing production on games such as Street Fighter EX (1996) and Driving Emotion Type-S (2000). Notable tracks include "Silverstream", "Deep Drive", "Rage Racer", and "Lightning Luge" among others.
[edit] Reception
| Compilations of multiple reviews | ||
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| Game Rankings | 83.7% (based on 17 reviews)[3] | |
| Publication | Response | |
| Game Revolution | 4/5[4] | |
| GamePro | 4.5/5[5] | |
| GameSpot | 7.6/10[6] | |
| IGN | 7/10[7] | |
The game received generally favourable ratings, IGN concluding "It's not a bad game, we've just seen it all before (and before that even)".[7] GameSpot described it as "an outstanding sequel" but added "let's hope Namco addresses the collision problems in their next racer", a reference to the unrealistic crashes in the game.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Ridge Racer V: the definitive interview. Computer And Video Games. Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
- ^ Mielke, James (2006-09-14). Reiko Nagase Feature. 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
- ^ Game Rankings staff. Rage Racer Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ Rage Racer review for the PS. Game Revolution (2004-04-06). Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ Major Mike (2000-01-01). Review: Rage Racer. GamePro. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ a b Gerstmann, Jeff (1997-05-20). Rage Racer for PlayStation Review. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ a b IGN: Rage Racer Review:. IGN (1997-05-19). Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
[edit] External links
- Rage Racer at Allgame
- Rage Racer at MobyGames
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