Ridge Racer

The Good
Everybody should know this game by now. Ridge Racer was by far the most famous racing game of the mid 1990s. This game had many fans, and made the Sony Playstation one of the greatest games console of all time.

The game was fun and simple to control. Unlike many other arcade games, the steering was very easy to master. This was also one of the first racing games that enabled you to skid round the corners without braking.

There was also a lack of loading times during the game. The game loads in one go at the start, and takes around thirty seconds. Ridge Racer was the first game ever to entertain the players during a loading time. During the first (and probably the only) loading time, you are given the opportunity to play Galaxian, the all time classic arcade game where you have to shoot aliens by moving a ship and firing its laser at them. This makes the game more value for money.

There are also many cars to unlock. Unfortunately, I cannot explain them here due to MobyGames restrictions.

As with many racing games, you can save your fastest laps to a memory card and swap with your friends.

Thanks to the unbelievable power of the Playstation, the graphics were stunning, and were ahead of their time.

The Bad
Turn the music and sound off please! The tunes are just cheesy arcade rubbish, and the commentary is just so annoying!

Another problem was that the game was a bit easy. The most experienced player could probably complete it in just one hour.

Even worse was the lack of a 2 player option. This was a major disappointment upon it's release, but it was included in the sequel Ridge Racer Revolution as a link-up option.

The Bottom Line
This game is an all time classic. When it first came out everybody loved it, and many still think it's one of the best racing games of all time. The Playstation would have been a complete failure if this game wasn't made, meaning that the PS2 would have never existed. You should play this if you haven't, even if you don't play PS1 games. Children and adults of all ages will have a great time playing this game (especially dads!), even if you don't like cars. Buy it now if you haven't got it!