Rage Racer

Infobox VG| title = Rage Racer


developer = Namco
publisher = Namco
designer =
engine =
released = December 3 1996 (JPN)
May 15 1997 (NA)
June 1997 (EU)
genre = Racing
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: Everyone (E)
platforms = Sony PlayStation
media = CD-ROM
requirements =
input =

"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.

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. In the track there's also having real adboards, mostly tire manufacturers such as Yokohama and Advan.

;VehiclesThe 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 forwards, although it's on the Extra GP, with backwards races.

The Makes are particular for different courses. Age is for "Lakeside Gate", Lizard is for "Over Pass City", Gnade is for "Mythical Coast" and Assoluto is for "The Extreme Oval".

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". [cite web | url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=10541 | publisher=Computer And Video Games | title=Ridge Racer V: the definitive interview | accessdate=2007-05-17]

"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.cite web|last= Mielke|first= James |date= 2006-09-14|title = Reiko Nagase Feature| url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3153582 |accessdate = 2007-05-15 | publisher=1UP.com]

oundtrack

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.

Reception

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)". 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.

References

External links

*allgame|id=1:24316|name=Rage Racer
*moby game|id=/rage-racer