I've wasted years of my life playing this game, it may aswell be one of my all time favorites, but something just makes me like Monument Valley more and I've always felt weird for it... Until I sat down and thought to myself. Thing is, Pacific Rift lacks what made MotorStorm what it is for me. The stampede, the rawness, wrestling in the mud and screaming to God that you're alive. It's not a sumo wrestling pack racer anymore but a lunatic running naked through the fields.
It may lack in raw force, but that's not to say it's any bad. Pacific Rift brings speed, adrenaline and pure freedom, it's the very opposite of MV. It's precise and knows what it wants, there is much more thought put into the tracks, the presentation, the menus, music, etc. Everything is organized neatly for your pleasure, and the pleasure comes from the competition.
The added depth into boosting coupled with the sheer speed PR has, gives you a rush of adrenaline only Rain God Mesa could ever have, you're always kept on your toes and the environment only pushes you off them. Your opponents' engines scream as they hurl their trucks at you with reckless abandon, and watching them tumble into a boulder as they miss makes me grin like a maniac.
You can't get cocky here though, take one wrong turn and your vehicle will crawl for its life. It wants you to learn the tracks much more than MV, yet the routes seem less spread out. It forces you to be careful.
The big advantage Pacific Rift has over its predecessor is the replayability. Coupled with almost every car and driver from the previous game, it makes sure you have plenty of new content to try out aswell and at your own pace too. The festival campaign is set up nicely with every zone being divided into it's own, and to keep things fresh, you have much more than just vanilla racing.
Once you figure out the AI and the tracks, they're really not much of an issue. There are tons of intentional and unintentional shortcuts for the player to take. At that point, things come down to your own reflexes and skills, they will be tested here and only the strong make it through. The AI system is the opposite of MV, it starts difficult and gets easier with each lap. At the very end, this becomes a problem because the hardcore AIs can begin so fast that by the time they're forced to slow down, they'll already be crossing the finish line. If they're not sacrificing themselves just to get you, that is.
The visuals at a stand still are very pretty and improved compared to before, the flowing rivers and volcanoes really help sell it all. It still holds up, even if it doesn't look as good as MV at speed.
The online is a strong point but it's a step down from MV which had tons of options like extra gamemodes, mirrored tracks and catch-up. Instead it has tons of badges to collect and keeps the ranking system, along with trophies. Nothing beats chasing and crushing your victims with a dump truck as you cast your shadow over them, making a convoy to block ramps with jet engined big rigs, ram-boosting your friend off a cliff and sending everyone in the field flying with one loud blast. Heavyweight fights in this game are damn fun. You can connect to the servers via PSRewired.
But the compliments end here, PR has tons of technical issues. Be warned that updating your game and installing DLCs will turn your save into a ticking timebomb, and when it explodes, your game becomes unplayable. They were programmed improperly and force the game to write over memory it shouldn't touch. Your game may crash on boot, when you try to do a festival race, when you enter the garage or something really specific like a wreckreation race where you've changed the opponent vehicles. Time attack is the most sensitive to this, which sucks because there are almost 200 times to beat for a new ride.
If you're on real hardware it's a pain in the ass, but on an emulator you can just backup your save and replace it whenever your game bricks. Thankfully, all time attack saves are stored seperately and aren't affected.
I hope you have a great vacation at the Pacific!
It may lack in raw force, but that's not to say it's any bad. Pacific Rift brings speed, adrenaline and pure freedom, it's the very opposite of MV. It's precise and knows what it wants, there is much more thought put into the tracks, the presentation, the menus, music, etc. Everything is organized neatly for your pleasure, and the pleasure comes from the competition.
The added depth into boosting coupled with the sheer speed PR has, gives you a rush of adrenaline only Rain God Mesa could ever have, you're always kept on your toes and the environment only pushes you off them. Your opponents' engines scream as they hurl their trucks at you with reckless abandon, and watching them tumble into a boulder as they miss makes me grin like a maniac.
You can't get cocky here though, take one wrong turn and your vehicle will crawl for its life. It wants you to learn the tracks much more than MV, yet the routes seem less spread out. It forces you to be careful.
The big advantage Pacific Rift has over its predecessor is the replayability. Coupled with almost every car and driver from the previous game, it makes sure you have plenty of new content to try out aswell and at your own pace too. The festival campaign is set up nicely with every zone being divided into it's own, and to keep things fresh, you have much more than just vanilla racing.
Once you figure out the AI and the tracks, they're really not much of an issue. There are tons of intentional and unintentional shortcuts for the player to take. At that point, things come down to your own reflexes and skills, they will be tested here and only the strong make it through. The AI system is the opposite of MV, it starts difficult and gets easier with each lap. At the very end, this becomes a problem because the hardcore AIs can begin so fast that by the time they're forced to slow down, they'll already be crossing the finish line. If they're not sacrificing themselves just to get you, that is.
The visuals at a stand still are very pretty and improved compared to before, the flowing rivers and volcanoes really help sell it all. It still holds up, even if it doesn't look as good as MV at speed.
The online is a strong point but it's a step down from MV which had tons of options like extra gamemodes, mirrored tracks and catch-up. Instead it has tons of badges to collect and keeps the ranking system, along with trophies. Nothing beats chasing and crushing your victims with a dump truck as you cast your shadow over them, making a convoy to block ramps with jet engined big rigs, ram-boosting your friend off a cliff and sending everyone in the field flying with one loud blast. Heavyweight fights in this game are damn fun. You can connect to the servers via PSRewired.
But the compliments end here, PR has tons of technical issues. Be warned that updating your game and installing DLCs will turn your save into a ticking timebomb, and when it explodes, your game becomes unplayable. They were programmed improperly and force the game to write over memory it shouldn't touch. Your game may crash on boot, when you try to do a festival race, when you enter the garage or something really specific like a wreckreation race where you've changed the opponent vehicles. Time attack is the most sensitive to this, which sucks because there are almost 200 times to beat for a new ride.
If you're on real hardware it's a pain in the ass, but on an emulator you can just backup your save and replace it whenever your game bricks. Thankfully, all time attack saves are stored seperately and aren't affected.
I hope you have a great vacation at the Pacific!
I've always called this game high-speed chess, the weapon combinations and how they interact with the game world open up so many possibilites. There is genuine strategy you must use and think of on the fly, always thinking 3 moves ahead at 200 miles per hour.
e.g. If someone has a rear weapon, it's better to pit them from the side with a blast of your shotgun and watch them spin into an explosive barrel. If someone is far away, you can shoot a magnetized trailer and crush them.
The armor system amplifies the depth of Battlelines even more. Each part of the car has seperate health, so spreading fire will never work. You must always position yourself safely and aim ahead, each projectile obeys physics.
Your choice of weapon is just as important. You can balance output with a defensive and offensive approach or go in guns blazing with 2 cannons and no self-preservation.
Even the map design was done with combat in mind, explosives litter corners and trucks roam the streets, but special set-pieces are the real treat. You can drop a train station on a pack of racers then watch as the incoming trains collapse onto unsuspecting onlookers. You can crush enemies with boulders and watch as they blow up nearby gas stations. Some of them open up new areas entirely, like the tower which caves the ground in when collapsed, giving access to powerups underground.
Speaking of destruction, this game has plenty. And that's an understatement. Everything you can set your eyes on is destructible, every building reveals an interior which can be destroyed even further. It's the only game I've played where chaos is non-stop, no wonder the PS3 couldn't run this game. Even the cars have unbelievably realistic damage modeling, crumpling and turning into a charred mess with your driver ragdolling against the windshield, pieces of your engine littered on the asphalt. It's not just the destruction, environments are detailed and have their own color palettes, cars are modeled down to their badging and rims.
The technology was ahead of its time, and the game's scope was too big for variety. Lacking in content but making up for it with quality, mostly due to re-using assets from Full Auto 1, but updating and improving everything that was carried over. The game was made in less than a year afterall.
The sense of speed is exaggerated greatly with smooth but jittery camera shake and slick motion blur that doesn't blind you.
The real feeling is inside the interactive soundtrack, mostly consisting of remixes from the first game. The soundtrack has a version for every action and multiple ones can be mixed together, like 1st place and boosting themes which can turn into one, orchestral and industrial beats mixing into eachother.
The handling model also plays into this. It takes some time to get used to the twitchiness of it all, but once you learn how to take corners properly, you will fly past them at top speed. It highly encourages the use of the handbrake to make quick adjustments and sharp snaps, even entire 180s.
While not a problem to me, the difficulty of the career might be a negative to some people, especially around the Sceptre chapter. I've seen people abandon the game there due to how hard it can become. You need to learn how some missions work and carve out your path. The one time it's a negative no matter what is when the physics act up and fling you into a barrel roll. For that we have something called unwreck.
If you thought Battlelines ran out of ammunition, you're wrong. Unwreck lets you rewind time, simple as that. What's not simple is that it's a part of your nitrous bar, you'll have to manage your energy and make sure you always have enough for both. Play it too safe or too dangerous and you'll end up dead. Energy management is key.
A bonus of having unwreck is one-touch replay. Fancy way of saying instant replay, you can watch one anytime you want with the press of a button.
The two remaining things to talk about would be the story and online. The story is mostly an excuse to unlock content and explain the spy hunter aesthetic. The Ascendants have taken over Meridian City, infiltrate their events and complete tasks given to you by an AI named Sage. It's an unforgiving campaign. I won't tell you anything else, there are spoilers and twists.
The online, while unplayable, had many exclusive arena and racing gamemodes with stat tracking, including rivalries and more. It's sad to see a special part of the game gone, I've tried to OpenSpy patch it before but the game uses tools.gamespy.net which isn't hosted by OpenSpy.
If you ever get Full Auto 2, emulate it on RPCS3. It's a surprisingly lightweight and easy game to run, reaching 60 FPS even on my dying 6 year old laptop.
We do not talk about the PSP port.
e.g. If someone has a rear weapon, it's better to pit them from the side with a blast of your shotgun and watch them spin into an explosive barrel. If someone is far away, you can shoot a magnetized trailer and crush them.
The armor system amplifies the depth of Battlelines even more. Each part of the car has seperate health, so spreading fire will never work. You must always position yourself safely and aim ahead, each projectile obeys physics.
Your choice of weapon is just as important. You can balance output with a defensive and offensive approach or go in guns blazing with 2 cannons and no self-preservation.
Even the map design was done with combat in mind, explosives litter corners and trucks roam the streets, but special set-pieces are the real treat. You can drop a train station on a pack of racers then watch as the incoming trains collapse onto unsuspecting onlookers. You can crush enemies with boulders and watch as they blow up nearby gas stations. Some of them open up new areas entirely, like the tower which caves the ground in when collapsed, giving access to powerups underground.
Speaking of destruction, this game has plenty. And that's an understatement. Everything you can set your eyes on is destructible, every building reveals an interior which can be destroyed even further. It's the only game I've played where chaos is non-stop, no wonder the PS3 couldn't run this game. Even the cars have unbelievably realistic damage modeling, crumpling and turning into a charred mess with your driver ragdolling against the windshield, pieces of your engine littered on the asphalt. It's not just the destruction, environments are detailed and have their own color palettes, cars are modeled down to their badging and rims.
The technology was ahead of its time, and the game's scope was too big for variety. Lacking in content but making up for it with quality, mostly due to re-using assets from Full Auto 1, but updating and improving everything that was carried over. The game was made in less than a year afterall.
The sense of speed is exaggerated greatly with smooth but jittery camera shake and slick motion blur that doesn't blind you.
The real feeling is inside the interactive soundtrack, mostly consisting of remixes from the first game. The soundtrack has a version for every action and multiple ones can be mixed together, like 1st place and boosting themes which can turn into one, orchestral and industrial beats mixing into eachother.
The handling model also plays into this. It takes some time to get used to the twitchiness of it all, but once you learn how to take corners properly, you will fly past them at top speed. It highly encourages the use of the handbrake to make quick adjustments and sharp snaps, even entire 180s.
While not a problem to me, the difficulty of the career might be a negative to some people, especially around the Sceptre chapter. I've seen people abandon the game there due to how hard it can become. You need to learn how some missions work and carve out your path. The one time it's a negative no matter what is when the physics act up and fling you into a barrel roll. For that we have something called unwreck.
If you thought Battlelines ran out of ammunition, you're wrong. Unwreck lets you rewind time, simple as that. What's not simple is that it's a part of your nitrous bar, you'll have to manage your energy and make sure you always have enough for both. Play it too safe or too dangerous and you'll end up dead. Energy management is key.
A bonus of having unwreck is one-touch replay. Fancy way of saying instant replay, you can watch one anytime you want with the press of a button.
The two remaining things to talk about would be the story and online. The story is mostly an excuse to unlock content and explain the spy hunter aesthetic. The Ascendants have taken over Meridian City, infiltrate their events and complete tasks given to you by an AI named Sage. It's an unforgiving campaign. I won't tell you anything else, there are spoilers and twists.
The online, while unplayable, had many exclusive arena and racing gamemodes with stat tracking, including rivalries and more. It's sad to see a special part of the game gone, I've tried to OpenSpy patch it before but the game uses tools.gamespy.net which isn't hosted by OpenSpy.
If you ever get Full Auto 2, emulate it on RPCS3. It's a surprisingly lightweight and easy game to run, reaching 60 FPS even on my dying 6 year old laptop.
We do not talk about the PSP port.
The worst crime of this game isn't ruining the Ridge Racer name, it's being boring. Nothing but boring. The tracks are dull, the cars are uninspired, the physics are just confusing, the AI is unbalanced and the amount of orange has burnt my eyes. Drifting is the worst part, the key feature of a Ridge Racer game is ruined. Drifts slide you out into walls and make you slow down to a crawl in complete understeer.
Unbounded was never supposed to be a Ridge Racer game to begin with, It is the remains of Bugbear's cancelled 'Crash Club' project rebranded into the Ridge Racer name by Namco. It's not trying to be Burnout, it's an edgy FlatOut. That's what it always was.
There are a few saving graces however. Shindo races are Ridge Racer like, with better handling, increased speed and much tougher cars. Ironically, the tough, immovable cars encourage combat more as you can't one tap opponents anymore. This leads into fights and takedowns.
The damage model and track destruction akin to Full Auto 2, is a highlight. Both are janky due to the heavy physics of the game and cars just don't stop rolling.
I don't like the soundtrack at all, Sampling Masters and Skrillex sucks. Only the older Ridge Racer songs they have are a good listen.
Unbounded was never supposed to be a Ridge Racer game to begin with, It is the remains of Bugbear's cancelled 'Crash Club' project rebranded into the Ridge Racer name by Namco. It's not trying to be Burnout, it's an edgy FlatOut. That's what it always was.
There are a few saving graces however. Shindo races are Ridge Racer like, with better handling, increased speed and much tougher cars. Ironically, the tough, immovable cars encourage combat more as you can't one tap opponents anymore. This leads into fights and takedowns.
The damage model and track destruction akin to Full Auto 2, is a highlight. Both are janky due to the heavy physics of the game and cars just don't stop rolling.
I don't like the soundtrack at all, Sampling Masters and Skrillex sucks. Only the older Ridge Racer songs they have are a good listen.
2002
The music is enough to get me to play but man those tracks are shit and half the ships are useless
Story is way too long and open world exists for no reason, but the outrun races are fun and give you bodykits. If the handling was less heavy, it would've been a much better game. Even then this is one of those games with an incredible vibe and even better music, it gets you to play it just to experience that.
One thing I hate is how car customization parts really test you, it's easy to make an ugly car.
Very fun LAN party game with friends when no one takes it seriously. I've gotten rammed off the map by a friend before.
One thing I hate is how car customization parts really test you, it's easy to make an ugly car.
Very fun LAN party game with friends when no one takes it seriously. I've gotten rammed off the map by a friend before.
2007
I could never put my finger on what's wrong with the physics, but they seem tighter and lighter than Pure, which is why I don't enjoy this one as much as it. The track design quality is less consistent compared to Pure aswell. HD Fury is a much better way to experience Pulse.
2007
I've forced myself through this game twice, don't ask why. It's the most bland and uninspired game in the already samey Burnout series, but unlike the game before, there is no traffic checking or any crash modes. Instead, we get vanilla gamemodes with an amalgamation of agression and burnout boost types. This makes the game easier than it already is, you basically earn infinite boost for doing fuck all and jet through the career mode.
The signature shortcut system replaces the signature takedown system. This seems like a good idea on paper but with this game's weird takedown physics and the placement of shortcuts themselves means you will never get any unless you actively set yourself up for it.
Both the car and track designs are horrid, tracks have blind turns and are worsened by the floaty collision physics of the game. Their wide roads, extra routes and anormal turns create a lack of combat and risk. The car designs are cartoony and exaggerated, commisioned to another studio then touched up by EA UK. You need to take a look at them yourself.
Besides like 5 versions of Girlfriend, The music is fine. It's a mix of Paradise's music along with other licensed tracks. Nothing of note.
Two things really good about this game are the online and the maniac game mode. In maniac, you do every stunt you can in order to rack up points while your boost chain acts as a multiplier. Then there's the online. It's damn fun, especially team road rage events.
Going through a development hell, it came out of it playing safe. Get Revenge instead, if you can.
The signature shortcut system replaces the signature takedown system. This seems like a good idea on paper but with this game's weird takedown physics and the placement of shortcuts themselves means you will never get any unless you actively set yourself up for it.
Both the car and track designs are horrid, tracks have blind turns and are worsened by the floaty collision physics of the game. Their wide roads, extra routes and anormal turns create a lack of combat and risk. The car designs are cartoony and exaggerated, commisioned to another studio then touched up by EA UK. You need to take a look at them yourself.
Besides like 5 versions of Girlfriend, The music is fine. It's a mix of Paradise's music along with other licensed tracks. Nothing of note.
Two things really good about this game are the online and the maniac game mode. In maniac, you do every stunt you can in order to rack up points while your boost chain acts as a multiplier. Then there's the online. It's damn fun, especially team road rage events.
Going through a development hell, it came out of it playing safe. Get Revenge instead, if you can.
2008
This game taught me how to bowl. I'm serious.
2018
Does the bare minimum to qualify as a game, baits people in with free achievements. Got it when it was free
Update: Turns out the whole entire game is a store asset
Update: Turns out the whole entire game is a store asset
2012
I got this game back when it came out, thinking it was a fighting game.
I would've kept playing if not for a game breaking bug that requires me to make a new profile everytime. Can't emulate it either, it doesn't boot up.
Besides those technical difficulties, the game is a slow isometric racer with some genuinely cool combat. The problem is that only the combat is fun, nothing else. You can grapple onto people for speed then turn 90 degrees sideways to machine gun them, your own death can lead into chain reactions, each character has a special move, etc. It reminds me of Fatal Inertia.
Like Fatal Inertia, the driving is floaty and slow, leading you into lots of crashes. Crash and you bounce off of scenery, that happens and you'll have to get back on your feet at a snails pace. At that point you've already lost the race and lost a bunch of your health.
The chaotic online is where the game shines, mostly because no one has any idea what's going on and blow up into a fireball in the middle of the road, causing crash after crash.
There is a story but besides the antidote and clans, I didn't listen to anything else. It's generic anime slop with cringy moments. I'll replay it someday.
Buy it for the tits
I would've kept playing if not for a game breaking bug that requires me to make a new profile everytime. Can't emulate it either, it doesn't boot up.
Besides those technical difficulties, the game is a slow isometric racer with some genuinely cool combat. The problem is that only the combat is fun, nothing else. You can grapple onto people for speed then turn 90 degrees sideways to machine gun them, your own death can lead into chain reactions, each character has a special move, etc. It reminds me of Fatal Inertia.
Like Fatal Inertia, the driving is floaty and slow, leading you into lots of crashes. Crash and you bounce off of scenery, that happens and you'll have to get back on your feet at a snails pace. At that point you've already lost the race and lost a bunch of your health.
The chaotic online is where the game shines, mostly because no one has any idea what's going on and blow up into a fireball in the middle of the road, causing crash after crash.
There is a story but besides the antidote and clans, I didn't listen to anything else. It's generic anime slop with cringy moments. I'll replay it someday.
Buy it for the tits
2007
This review contains spoilers
This game has a lot of interesting ideas and design choices but the execution leaves a LOT to be desired.
With the slippery handling and janky physics, you'll be flying across the track (literally) while mashing every button to activate an adrenaline power. The powers themselves don't do much besides artificially damaging opponents and pushing away traffic. Controller support for these powers are the bare minimum, having strange binds and being the only unbindable mappings.
In singleplayer, the only fun gamemode is the vanilla racing. Anything else is either too short or takes too long, and the AI just can't handle it.
Online though, is surprisingly fun and can even have split second outcomes with people using powers to their very limit. Someone launched me into the skybox once.
The DLC campaign is a pain, the island map runs at about 15-5 FPS if you're lucky and the entire campaign takes place there.
The story is bizarre, your girlfriend gets kidnapped by her terrorist twin sister and you have to ramp off a missile after saving her from a bomb. I have nothing to add to that.
Car customization is a pain and the car designs themselves are comically cartoonish, with some supercars being the slowest ingame.
If not for some of the worst optimization I've ever seen and the game only working on your system if it feels like it, it would be a tolerable and strangely fun experience. It has impressive elements, tearing through traffic in freeroam with beautiful dynamic weather is a different kind of experience with this game's trance soundtrack.
At least this version comes with pre-installed DLC and mods (which adds a jet dogfighting mode).
If you want an easier, less confusing experience, try the PS3 port - Anarchy: Rush hour.
10/10 One of the characters is called Semen.
With the slippery handling and janky physics, you'll be flying across the track (literally) while mashing every button to activate an adrenaline power. The powers themselves don't do much besides artificially damaging opponents and pushing away traffic. Controller support for these powers are the bare minimum, having strange binds and being the only unbindable mappings.
In singleplayer, the only fun gamemode is the vanilla racing. Anything else is either too short or takes too long, and the AI just can't handle it.
Online though, is surprisingly fun and can even have split second outcomes with people using powers to their very limit. Someone launched me into the skybox once.
The DLC campaign is a pain, the island map runs at about 15-5 FPS if you're lucky and the entire campaign takes place there.
The story is bizarre, your girlfriend gets kidnapped by her terrorist twin sister and you have to ramp off a missile after saving her from a bomb. I have nothing to add to that.
Car customization is a pain and the car designs themselves are comically cartoonish, with some supercars being the slowest ingame.
If not for some of the worst optimization I've ever seen and the game only working on your system if it feels like it, it would be a tolerable and strangely fun experience. It has impressive elements, tearing through traffic in freeroam with beautiful dynamic weather is a different kind of experience with this game's trance soundtrack.
At least this version comes with pre-installed DLC and mods (which adds a jet dogfighting mode).
If you want an easier, less confusing experience, try the PS3 port - Anarchy: Rush hour.
10/10 One of the characters is called Semen.
2004
Crash 'n' Burn is a must on the PS2, it's the ultimate 'turn off your brain' game. Just drive and crash into anyone in sight. It sounds really simple, but the creative game design and ideas make it a very replayable game that made me come back multiple times. Crazy physics, great online, fun gamemodes and car customization make sure you're hooked, along with a good mix of licensed and original rock soundtrack.
When you drive through a wall of fire only to meet half the run-up driving in the opposite direction, you begin to realize that's all you really need in life.
When you drive through a wall of fire only to meet half the run-up driving in the opposite direction, you begin to realize that's all you really need in life.