Rage Racer

Dúlio Borille

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Hoje trago para vocês uma das melhores memórias de minha infância.

Sempre que pensamos em Ridge Racer, já nos vem a cabeça aquele jogo com pegada arcade e drifts insanos característicos da série. Porém, em seu terceiro jogo para o Playstation, a Namco trouxe algumas inovações e fez desse um dos melhores títulos da série.

Lançado no Japão no final de 1996 para o Playstation, Rage Racer é um jogo de corrida produzido e publicado pela Namco, e faz parte da famosa série de jogos Ridge Racer, que até hoje recebe novos títulos, mesmo que sem a euforia de antigamente.

O jogo se diferencia de seus antecessores por trazer pela primeira vez um sistema de progressão para a série: O jogador deve competir em diversos GPs para avançar no ranking e ganhar dinheiro (aqui chamados de eg) para melhorar seus veículos. Rage Racer também trás uma diferença nos gráficos da série, que aqui ficaram mais sérios.

Apesar de minima, essas diferenças já tornam o jogo um pouco mais atrativo para jogadores que procuram uma experiencia um pouco mais sólida em jogos de corrida. Mesmo não sendo um simulador completo, o jogo agora deixava de lado um pouco da mecânica de arcade presentes em seus antecessores.

Como novidade, o jogo foi o primeiro da série a ter uma introdução totalmente feita em CGI que nos apresentou oficialmente a Reiko Nagase, personagem que seria deflagrado como mascote da série.

Como era comum na época, Rage Racer não conta com uma grande variedade de circuitos: apenas 4 se não contarmos as variações de sentido; também possui 13 veículos diferentes de transmissão automática e manual que podiam ser adquiridos ao decorrer do jogo

Rage Racer é um jogo curto, e tem suas corridas divididas entre os GP regulares: que possuem 5 classes, cada uma mais difícil que a anterior; e o Extra GP: que possui 6 classes, sendo as 5 primeiras apenas uma variação com o sentido do circuito invertido. Embora seja um jogo curto, o seu fator de replay é altíssimo, pois por conta de como o jogo flui, você sempre irá voltar para mais um pouco.

Outro ponto do jogo que vale destaque é sua trilha sonora: produzida e composta por Tetsukazu Nakanishi e Hiroshi Okubo ela segue a linha mais eletrônica, algo que estava em alta nos anos 90. Mesmo nunca tendo recebido um lançamento oficial, o CD do jogo pode ser reproduzido em players convencionais. A trilha também foi responsável pelo inicio da Namco Sound Team, banda da casa que viria a trabalhar em outros jogos da empresa.

Por conta de todos esses pontos, o jogo sempre muito bem recebido pelas criticas especializadas e com certeza fez parte da biblioteca de muitos gamers dos anos 90.

Fonte: https://gamesandcigarettes.com/2018/02/28/rage-racer-ps1/

Gameplay

Flow of the game

The racing is separated into five classes, named 'Class 1' through to 'Class 5'. The game's objective is to earn money (Credits, or 'eg'), which can be spent on new cars or on upgrading existing cars. There are three races in Grade 1 and Grade 2 - Mythical Coast, Over Pass City and Lakeside Gate. The Extreme Oval is introduced from Class 3. The game begins with the player in Class 1 with the Gnade Esperanza, the game's only Grade 1 car. The player must place in the top three in all of each Classes' events to progress to the next class. Each class has 3 chances to try. This is different than the early Ridge Racer when the player can have unlimited restarts. The player must retire from the Grand Prix if all 3 chances had been tried and failed to get into the top 3 position. All of the money and cars that the player won stays, but the medals would be lost. If the player wins all three races in a class using the correct grade of car (e.g. a Grade 1 car in Class 1), the gold trophy for that class is earned. Otherwise, the player simply moves on to the next class. When the player has completed the five 'Normal GP' events, the 'Extra GP' is unlocked. This allows the player to race the same Classes on reversed courses. As well as unlocking the Extra GP, the player receives 999,999,999 e.g. in Normal GP - more than enough to purchase all of the cars and upgrade them to Grade 5. Upon finishing Class 5 in the Extra GP, Class 6 is unlocked, along with the three 'secret' cars. Although it's in the Extra GP, the races in Class 6 are driven on the forward tracks. Class 6 features only four opponents rather than the eleven faced in all other classes.

Tracks

First person view during a race in Mythical Coast course.

Rage Racer has four tracks, which all can be driven backwards as well as forwards. Compared to the tracks in the previous games, Rage Racer tracks are very long and detailed, except for "The Extreme Oval", at 3,074m. The remaining 3 tracks are "Mythical 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. "Mythical Coast" has a varied range of corners and hills, and suits an all-round vehicle such as the Gnade Esperanza. "Over Pass City" features many steep inclines, and suits the high acceleration Lizard vehicles. "Lakeside Gate" is a technical, twisting course, to which the quick handling Age cars are best suited. "The Extreme Oval" is a flat out oval with wide banked turns. The high speed Assoluto cars are most at home on this track.

Vehicles

There are four car manufacturers in Rage Racer. Each of the four manufacturers favours a different attribute. Age cars are lightweight, and feature excellent handling. Lizard cars favour large displacement engines with high torque outputs which give their cars great acceleration. Assoluto cars are designed with maximum power and top speed in mind. The sole Gnade car, the Esperanza, is an all rounder with average stats in each area. With the exception of Gnade, each manufacturer has three 'standard' cars, and one 'secret' car. Age's three 'standard' cars are the Erriso (Alouette in Japanese version) at Grade 2, the Abeille at Grade 3 and the Pegase at Grade 4. Gnade's only car is the Esperanza. This is the first car you are given at the beginning of the game, and starts at Grade 1. Lizard produces the Acceron at Grade 2, the Bayonet at Grade 3 and the Hijack at Grade 4. Assoluto's cars are the Grade 3 Fatalita, the Istante at Grade 4, and the Ghepardo at Grade 5. All of the 'standard' cars can be upgraded, with the cost increasing greatly from one grade to the next. The highest level to which the cars can be upgraded is Grade 5. This means the Assoluto Ghepardo cannot be upgraded, as it is a Grade 5 car as standard.

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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 the extra Grand prix, there is an extra Grade 6 class where you can buy 'secret' cars. These cars are called the Age Vainqure [2,000,000 eg], Lizard Bulldog [3,700,000 eg] and the Assoluto Squaldon [6,666,666 e.g., an allusion to the Squaldon's 'Devil car' status]. The Age can go around most of the game's corners flat out at the car's top speed, the Lizard can accelerate up steep inclines as if they weren't there, and the Assoluto has a top speed in excess of 360 km/h. The 'secret' cars are known by different names in the Japanese version of the game. The Vainqure is called the 'Victoire', the Bulldog the 'Tempest', and the Squaldon the 'Dragone'.

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".

Prologues differences between Japanese and North America version

At the very beginning of the whole series (either regular GP or extra GP), there will be a prologue movie for the player to see before the race menu appears. However, the Japanese version and the North America version are different. The Japanese version will have the female voice and the paragraphs are longer but the North America version will not have the female voice and the paragraphs are shorter.

Grand Prix classes and names

Regular Grand Prix: (raced in original direction)
- Class 1: Calme GP
- Class 2: Brise GP
- Class 3: Rafale GP
- Class 4: Mistral GP
- Class 5: Tempete GP

Extra GP: (raced in reverse direction)
- Class 1: Aisance GP
- Class 2: Agitation GP
- Class 3: Irritation GP
- Class 4: Colere GP
- Class 5: Rage GP

Final special class: (raced in forward direction)
- Class 6: Diable GP

Courses

1. Mythical Coast
2. Over Pass City
3. Lakeside Gate
4. The Extreme Oval (available starting from Class 3)

Cars list and costs

Gnade (Germany)

Gnade Esperanza (Grade 1) (This car is given in the beginning of the game.)

Age (France)

Age Erriso (Alouette in JPN version) (Grade 2) - 2,600 e.g.
Age Abeille (Grade 3) - 14,500 e.g.
Age Pegase (Grade 4) - 143,300 e.g. (Only provided with manual transmission)

Lizard (U.S.A.)

Lizard Acceron (Instinct in JPN version) (Grade 2) - 4,000 e.g.
Lizard Bayonet (Grade 3) - 15,200 e.g.
Lizard Hijack (Grade 4) - 136,700 e.g. (Only provided with manual transmission)

Assoluto (Italy)

Assoluto Fatalita (Grade 3) - 20,000 e.g.
Assoluto Istante (Grade 4) - 151,600 e.g. (Only provided with manual transmission)
Assoluto Ghepardo (Grade 5) - 695,900 e.g. (Only provided with manual transmission)

The secret cars

Age Vainqure (Victoire in JPN version) (Grade ?) - 2,143,500 e.g.
Lizard Bulldog (Tempest in JPN version) (Grade ?) - 2,836,800 e.g. (Only provided with manual transmission)
Assoluto Squaldon (Dragone in JPN version) (Grade ?) - 6,666,666 e.g. (Only provided with manual transmission)

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".^[1]

Rage Racer was the first in the Ridge Racer series to feature a CGIanimated introduction. Here the Ridge Racer "mascot girl" Reiko Nagase was introduced for the very first time.^[2]

This game uses the same game's covers for both the Japanese version and the North America version.

Soundtrack

Tracklist

Menu theme
Rage Racer
Story
Mathemabeat
Lightning Luge
Industria
Hurricane Hub
Mech Monster
Silver Stream
Stimulation
Volcano Vehicle
Deep Drive (unlockable by obtaining 5 gold trophies)

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, but it's possible to listen to it by inserting the game CD, which is a CD-ROM XA disc, into any CD player.

Produced and compossed by Tetsukazu Nakanishi and Hiroshi Okubo during summer/fall 1996, the genre of music consisted mostly of 90's electronica and drum'n bass, which was a slight departure from the 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).

Reception

The game was received with generally favorable critics, holding 82.70% in GameRankings.^[3] Game Revolution gave a "B" rating, considering it a solid arcade racing game with great scenery and pumping, but citing lack of variety and creativity in the courses.^[4] GameSpot granted a 7.6, described it as an outstanding sequel, but with poor unrealistic collision problems with the cars.^[5] IGN rating the game with 7.0, recommended the game to Ridge Racer fans, but they commented that the new features in the game has been seen before in other racing titles.^[6] Other reviews praised the new progress system in the Grand Prix mode, music, amount of cars and updatings.

Fonte: https://ridgeracer.fandom.com/wiki/Rage_Racer

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Grand Prix
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Extra Grand Prix
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