Nintendo 3DS Screenshots: Ridge Racer

Ridge Racer is a decent racing game for the Nintendo 3DS.  I got it as a Gamefly rental and enjoyed playing it for several hours over the course of a week.  As just a racing game it is a lot fun, but as a 3D game it is only so-so.

The 3D graphics are not bad, but the aspect of a racing game and 3D graphics that require you to look at the screen straight on does not always work out well.  This is because if you are the kind of person that tends to tilt the controller and/or game system when playing racing games the graphics go blurry as you race.  I only do it a little every once in a while, so most of the time I did not have a problem with the 3D graphics, but boy could it cause trouble when I did tilt the 3DS just a bit.

While the 3D aspect does not really work great for a racing game, it is not the game's fault.  I still had fun playing through the first 5 to 7 Grand Prixes.  However, after a while the courses got boring and my thumb got really tired of using the B button.  For some reason, I can go way long if the button is the A button for acceleration.  Even after several hours of playing the game I still wanted to keep using the A button to accelerate at the start of some races.  I think you can change the controls, but not sure if it can be changed to A for the acceleration, as I did not think of changing controls until after I mailed the game back.

Overall Ridge Racer is not a bad game for the 3DS if you are into the Ridge Racer games and/or racing games.  However, if you are the type to tilt the system, it is not worth the 3D aspect.  Also, the first few Grand Prixes are kind of boring and you have to get past them before it gets even sort of challenging and more interesting scenery.

Click the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshots.