 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Ubisoft |
| Publisher: | Ubisoft | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card, Dolby Digital 5.1 | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Car combat games are not a new idea and they have been around for at least a decade, so you would think in that time that the concept would be perfected. However, there must be a level of complexity to them that I simply do not understand, because every now and then a game comes along that makes you rethink everything you thought you knew.
Take any such game, like say, Twisted Metal, probably the genre-defining game. Now take every and any bit of fun and tear it away like a still beating heart, and in its place put an unholy amount of "gangsta" vibe, repetitive racing and gameplay nuances that add nothing to the actual game but frustration. The corpse that is now staring back at you is 187 Ride or Die.
Now, this is normally where I would tell you about the story, and, while I will try my best, I'm not sure I can. You see, the story of 187 Ride or Die is buried beneath a string of dialogue from cut scenes and mission briefings that must have English teachers rolling in their graves (and if the English teacher isn't dead, well, this game should do the trick). This isn't just a case of the English language being butchered by developers in their attempts to capture that gritty, urban feel of the inner city. No, this is genocide of anything resembling English, broken English or even bad translation - we are going to need dental records to identify the remains. Atrocities on this level are usually considered an act of war, though, I am sure Ubisoft will go unpunished for their hand of this.
The story, near as I can tell, is that of Buck, who years before was taken in by crime boss Dupree, and now Buck is one of his most loyal and most skilled street soldiers. After a hit on Dupree by rival Cortez, Buck takes to the street to defend his turf, using every weapon and vehicle he has at his disposal.
This "street racing war," as the game puts it, is probably the only thing in 187 Ride or Die that does work to the games advantage, though even that is flawed. At first, the idea of controlling the driver and the passenger, who is quite literally riding shotgun, may seem a tad difficult, but this game pulls it of wonderfully. Anyone who has played Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas could easily go on for hours about how difficult the drive-by controls were, which at best required a second person just to press all the buttons involved. Granted, there is a lot more to GTA than there is to 187 Ride or Die, but it is such a key element to both that it bears mentioning. The controls are simple: you use the analog stick and shoulder triggers to race and you use the buttons to either shoot in front of or behind the car (with the game auto-tracking the other cars as they race around you), change or drop a weapon (you can have two weapons at a time) and use a speed boost.
Of course, for as much as this game got right, it also got so very much wrong. Perhaps the biggest flaw of 187 Ride or Die is the repetitiveness of it. You will probably notice it first with the tracks, as every street race in every neighborhood is almost exactly the same. Unfortunately, that is only the start of a bigger problem, as it will soon become clear that even the missions of 187 Ride or Die are the same. I didn't know that street races decided turf wars, but apparently they do, and they are also very organized. You start out with a typical street race (albeit with guns), and then you have a mix of lap knockouts, demolition derbies and races where the only weapons are mines. The only thing to break up the monotony is the occasional race to outrun police and missions that are only cut scenes. You need only play through the first neighborhood to get the full measure of the rest of the game.
Aside from simply being repetitive, the races of 187 Ride or Die are also made even more annoying by a busted damage system, which may cause your car to blow up unexpectedly, even though you have almost perfect health, and a sloppy rewards system, which tells you the scores you need for a medal (bronze, silver and gold bullets) and their prizes (there a plenty of ho-hum unlockables, by the way) only after you have finished the race. You also have to decide whether or not you want to even attack your opponents, because doing so will trigger a cut scene that, while it looks nice, actually plays while the race is still going on, so you may come back to the race and find yourself slammed into a wall and in last place. And, even if you do kill one of the other racers, they just keep coming back! I mean, what's the point of being able to blow them up if they are only going to stay in the race?
There is not much to say on the graphics and sound of 187 Ride or Die. The game is quite eye pleasing, slick and polished and with very cinematic cut scenes. In fact, the cut scenes often have more action than the game itself, so that could go either way. But, all in all, it is nothing to get too excited about; I have seen better and I have seen worse. The sound effects, on the other hand, are horrible. The engines and guns are both quite droning, and they will grate on your nerves after a while...unless, of course, you have already muted the game to stop that awful music from (and only from) Guerilla Black. I can't say enough how much this game would have benefited from a custom soundtrack, where available.
187 Ride or Die also has multiplayer racing, just in case you hate a friend that much. You can either tether them to the same room with an extra controller, that way you know they are listening, or you can take the game online. Now, I haven't played the game online, so I won't comment. The regular offline multiplayer, however, is just silly. Even with a split screen, the gunner has no control over his camera, and his line of sight is limited to that of the wheelman's!
Bottom Line:
The game may be called 187 Ride or Die, but you will do both, over and over and over again. You might even 187 a few times, I don't know, I still haven't figured out what that means. A solid car combat game is in there somewhere, but it is dragged down by its own repetitiveness and attempt to capitalize of some of the more recent crazes. In an era of lazy Grand Theft Auto-clones, this game is the laziest, and comes off as Grand Theft I-can't-get-the-hell-out-of-my-Auto. At its best, this game could have been considered the lovechild of Mario Kart and GTA, and at its worst, well, it is nothing more than what it is. All in all, 187 Ride or Die had potential, but it squandered it.
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3.5 |
Posted: 2005-12-02 15:44:53PST