Ridge Racer 2
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PSP
| Ridge Racer 2

Just like the title of the film The Never Ending Story or, perhaps more appropriately, the Final Fantasy games, the '2' at the end of this latest Ridge Racer is pretty misleading. Its presence will have you – understandably – expecting a full-blown sequel, when in fact if you indulged in the original PSP Ridge Racer, you'll spend a lot of your time playing a hard game of spot the difference.

It begins before the game has even had a chance to blip the virtual throttle. As the UMD's content is loading you're again given the opportunity to engage in a little retro gaming, this time with New Rally-X, a slight reworking of Namco's classic '80s arcade racer that welcomed you to the previous Ridge Racer.

And aside from the striking, newly-created opening sequence, almost everything from thereon in is equally familiar – even down to the identical, gorgeously minimalist presentation, the loading screen (loading times are just on the right side of bearable) and the main menu display.

Look at the latter a little closer, however, and you'll find two new play modes: Duel (which sees you going head-to-head with a tough AI opponent) and Survival (standard 'last placed car gets disqualified after each lap' stuff). But otherwise the Time Attack, Arcade (previously Single Race, for all intents and purposes), Wireless Battle (sadly, still no infrastructure play) and World Tours options of the first game are all present.

And as in the first game, most of the mileage is in World Tours (which includes an excellent Custom alternative – set a maximum play time and the PSP automatically generates a World Tour that matches your request). Here you'll again find a substantial number of championships or 'tours', each comprising a condensed number of rounds and requiring front-running finishes in order to qualify for progression.

Success unlocks further tours and, so that things get progressively more exciting, better and faster cars. But not necessarily new – of the 62-odd vehicles that are included, split into six classes of performance and delivering three types of drift, only eight haven't been seen before.

It's a similar case with the tracks, where only a selection of the 21 (42 total, when reversed) offer new sinuous challenges – at least for anyone who hasn't previously played the PlayStation version of R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, from where they originate.

So if even the new stuff isn't really new, what sets this apart from the last Ridge Racer? Barely anything, really. And that's a very good thing.

You see, Ridge Racer 2 may be one of the least innovative sequels of all time, but given the original delivered one of the finest arcade racing experiences to have graced a handheld, Namco has wisely refrained from tinkering with the set up. As such, in a virtuoso display that would bring a smile to the face of a synchronised swimmer, the sequel never strays wide of the tracks left by its predecessor.

Every corner, no matter how light, is just another opportunity to make a mockery of physics, throwing the car – at triple-figure speeds – almost boot first towards the apex and effortlessly holding an impossibly perpendicular angle (both D-pad and analogue control is delicately balanced) until the next straight spoils the party.

Then again, if you've accumulated enough boost during the powerslide, unleashing this will considerably reduce the time you need to spend in a straight line before getting the next sideways fix.

It's genuinely thrilling, but by far the biggest high involves nailing a sequence of tricky corners, or, better still, perfectly negotiating a bend, all tyres screeching, while overtaking a competitor.

And all the time the game's ridiculously techno-centric soundtrack and its gloriously vibrant visuals (which, impressively, appear marginally more detailed than the previous game's) urge you on like two mischievous twins – go faster, get sideways, give it everything you've got.

It's a tune any Ridge Racer player already knows intimately, and as such it's difficult to ignore they will be getting very little that is genuinely new in return for handing over £35 – a fact we've therefore reflected in our overall assessment.

Everyone else, however, is in the enviable position of being able to enjoy Ridge Racer 1.5 to its fullest.

Ridge Racer 2

Still ridiculously tail-happy, still gloriously thrilling, still perfectly suited to PSP. But lacking in new content to deserve fully fledged sequel status
Score
Joao Diniz Sanches
Joao Diniz Sanches
With three boys under the age of 10, former Edge editor Joao has given up his dream of making it to F1 and instead spends his time being shot at with Nerf darts. When in work mode, he looks after editorial projects associated with the Pocket Gamer and Steel Media brands.