Ridge Racer V

Ridge Racer V[lower-alpha 1] is an arcade racing game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. Focusing on high-speed drift racing in the fictional Ridge City, the game features 7 courses, 15 vehicles and 6 modes of play.

Ridge Racer V
Developer(s)Namco
Publisher(s)
Composer(s)Kohta Takahashi
Yuu Miyake
Nobuyoshi Sano
Mijk van Dijk
SeriesRidge Racer
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Arcade
ReleasePlayStation 2
  • JP: March 4, 2000
  • NA: October 25, 2000
  • EU: November 24, 2000
Arcade
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay
Screenshot of a race in progress.

In Ridge Racer V the player is a racing driver taking part in events across Ridge City in a variety of fictional cars. The focus is on accessible and fun driving rather than simulating how a car behaves in the real world; as such the player is encouraged to powerslide around most corners by tapping the brake when entering the turn. Racing on RRV is divided into different race formats. The primary mode is Grand Prix, a series of structured championships completion of which rewards the player with new cars. Other modes include Time Attack, a long distance endurance race called the 99 Trial and free runs on any of the unlocked courses. Two players can also take part in a split-screen race against one another. A special race is unlocked after the player fulfills certain requirements: it features the arcade game characters Pac-Man in a roadster and Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde on scooters. Winning this race unlocks special duel class cars for use in other game modes. Duel class cars can be won by defeating bosses in the game's Duel mode after fulfilling certain requirements. After all 4 bosses are defeated in Duel mode, Battle Royal is unlocked, allow the player to choose any duel class cars and challenge all 4 bosses in a boss rush race (including ones the player have selected).[1]

Development

Kohta Takahashi served as the sound director and lead composer of Ridge Racer V, who was previously involved in R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. To create an "exciting new experience", he brought in Japanese electronic music duo Boom Boom Satellites and German DJ Mijk van Dijk, along with Namco composers Nobuyoshi Sano, Yuu Miyake, and Yoshinori Kawamoto, to contribute music to the game. This resulted in the game having a diverse soundtrack, including genres such as trance, death metal and breakbeat.[2]

Arcade

Ridge Racer V: Arcade Battle, the arcade port of Ridge Racer V, first appeared in 2001 for the Namco System 246 arcade platform. The arcade version has some features such as Duel, Free Run and Pac-Man GP removed. It is the last Ridge Racer for arcade platform until the Pachislot Ridge Racer, which was a pachislot game released seven years later. The Ridge Racer arcade games were replaced by Mario Kart Arcade GP and Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series.

Reception

The PS2 version received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[3]

In Japan, Game Machine listed Ridge Racer V: Arcade Battle on their February 1, 2001 issue as being the second most-successful dedicated arcade game of the year.[18] Famitsu gave it a score of one nine, one ten, one eight, and one nine for a total of 36 out of 40.[8][19]

Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot awarding it 7.6/10, saying "Ridge Racer V is a fun, great-looking game that will please older Ridge Racer fans. Players that picked up the series around the third or fourth game may be a little disappointed with the way the cars handle, but not so much that their fun will be ruined. Overall, the game feels a little rushed with its easy-way-out track design, and it's really a shame that Ridge Racer V wasn't given the same treatment that Tekken Tag Tournament received when it was translated for the domestic market".

Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PlayStation 2 version of the game for Next Generation, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Like its predecessors, Ridge Racer V will initially amaze you with flashy graphics and a great sense of speed. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of meat under the basic shell of this game."[16]

References

Notes
  1. Japanese: リッジレーサーファイブ, Hepburn: Rijji Rēsā Faibu

Footnotes
  1. Versus Books. Versus Ridge Racer Official Perfect Guide. USA: Empire 21 Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-9703473-4-0.
  2. Greening, Chris (15 June 2011). "Kohta Takahashi Interview: Cutting-Edge Namco Scores". Video Game Music Online.
  3. "Ridge Racer V for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  4. Berger, Gregory. "Ridge Racer V (PS2) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  5. Edge staff (May 2000). "Ridge Racer V (Japan)". Edge (84).
  6. Edge staff (December 2000). "Ridge Racer (US/EU)". Edge (91).
  7. EGM staff (December 2000). "Ridge Racer V". Electronic Gaming Monthly.
  8. "プレイステーション2 - リッジレーサーV". Famitsu (in Japanese). 915: 55. 30 June 2006.
  9. Reiner, Andrew (November 2000). "Ridge Racer V". Game Informer (91). Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  10. "REVIEW for Ridge Racer V". GameFan. 2 November 2000.
  11. Human Tornado (23 October 2000). "Ridge Racer V Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 12 February 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  12. Liu, Johnny (October 2000). "Ridge Racer V Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  13. Gerstmann, Jeff (10 March 2000). "Ridge Racer V Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  14. Jamie (22 December 2000). "Ridge Racer V". PlanetPS2. Archived from the original on 25 February 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  15. Zdyrko, David (23 October 2000). "Ridge Racer V". IGN. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  16. Lundrigan, Jeff (November 2000). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 3 no. 11. Imagine Media. p. 113.
  17. "Ridge Racer V". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. November 2000.
  18. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - 完成品夕イプのTVゲーム機 (Dedicated Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 627. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 February 2001. p. 17.
  19. Perry, Douglass C. (2 March 2000). "Now Playing In Japan, Vol. 19". IGN. Retrieved 26 March 2017.

Further reading
  • RIDGE RACER V 5 Official Guidebook (in Japanese). Enterbrain,Inc. 6 May 2000. p. 144. ISBN 9784757700208.
  • Ridge Racer V Namco Official Guide Book (in Japanese). Namco. 30 March 2000. 4907892080140.
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