Riptide GP: Renegade Review

From the developers Vector Unit, a new game to the Riptide series is introduced, Riptide GP: Renegade. Riptide GP: Renegade is a simplistic, yet awfully addicting, water-sports racing game that was released on 26th of July, 2016. It was released on PC as well as PlayStation 4, and is soon to come to Xbox One, iOS and Android devices.
Riptide GP: Renegade Review

Riptide GP: Renegade Review

INTRODUCTION

Riptide GP: Renegade is, as stated above, a very simplistic game, with only a few of different game modes. Don’t let this throw you off, though, as you will quickly find yourself addicted to it. There is a slight bit of story in the career mode, which has the player starting off as the character Impact getting arrested for illegal racing. Other than that, the game has you completing different races and upgrading your hydro jet. You can unlock different hydro jets and different characters by defeating bosses in one-on-one races.

Just to name a couple of the game modes, you have the generic 1-3 lap races, the Freestyle mode in which the player has to get the most amount of points from doing tricks in order to climb the leaderboards, and there’s Elimination, my favorite game mode. Elimination makes racing much more interesting, as it eliminates the racer who’s in the last place in a short amount of time, so you’d better get to the front! You could easily clock in a couple hours with this game as it is very addicting.

Those interested in buying Riptide GP: Renegade can wander over to the Steam store, and grab this great title for $14.99.

CONTROLS & GAMEPLAY

For a racing game, controls are a vital part of the game. Riptide GP: Renegade has great, easy to remember controls, with steering and acceleration using the direction keys, as well as tricks (“Z” on the keyboard) and boosts (“A” on the keyboard). Honestly, the controls felt really smooth, and I found myself navigating the courses with ease once I got used to them. As for the vehicles, the most customization that I saw within the game for them was different colours. You can, however, obtain new hydro jets by defeating bosses. The hydro jets obtained through said boss fights tend to have higher stats and a nicer looking body. To get more in-depth with how you come across racing bosses in one-on-one races, it’s really quite simple; once you beat all of the levels in the course (in 3rd, 2nd or 1st place, that is), you come to a final boss fight. They’re really quite the same as normal rivals you’d see in regular races, however, since it’s a one-on-one, they tend to be more aggro, which makes the encounters seem harder than regular races.

Once you get into the game, it’s really hard to get out. You’ll find yourself halfway through the game, asking yourself where the time went. One problem I did have, however, was that the bots I was against didn’t feel very difficult, so they didn’t really prepare me for boss fights, which were somewhat difficult considering they were one-on-ones. But other than that, the game has very solid gameplay that will keep you entertained for hours. There’s also a nice online feature you can use if you get sick and tired of racing against bots. In the online modes you can play against up to 8 players, and eventually, climb the world leaderboards.

Tribal inspired level in Riptide GP: Renegade

COURSES/ENVIRONMENTS

I was very worried if the courses would be bland and boring, but quickly found myself surprised when each course set had various different maps, with unique shortcuts you could take. You definitely won’t find yourself being bored, as every time you complete a set of courses, the next set has a different, more complicated and difficult set of maps, which was very nice. It kept me in the game. Sure, some maps are quite simple in layout, but there are more crazy maps which throw different things at you. One map had ships launching rockets into the structure we were racing in. You’ll often find yourself in situations where you and an enemy are both trying to go off a ramp at the same time, and odds are, one of you is being tossed into a wall. When that happens, you’re best off just restarting the race, as it’s very hard to keep up once everyone is further ahead.

Crazy sci-fi looking level in Riptide GP: Renegade

Music & visuals

The music was kind of generic, making the levels feel slightly less action packed, which was kind of disappointing. Different levels have different music tracks. Even though your focus won’t be on the music, it still would be nice to have much more fast-paced EDM styled music for a game such as this.

As for visuals, they were pretty good. The art style reminded me a lot of Hydro Thunder Hurricane, another Vector Unit game, which is understandable. Would I consider them way above average? Not entirely. If I’m being honest, they were kind of generic, compared to most PC games, but the gameplay really makes up for that.

Player doing a trick in Riptide GP: Renegade

NEGATIVES

Despite the game being incredibly fun to play, I did notice some flaws. Sure, the game modes were fun, but there were only a couple of game modes. It would be awesome if they would introduce unique game modes, however what they currently have is fine. The dialogue, for what was there, was fairly bland and really just felt like a filler to me, the bosses that give us dialogue felt very mediocre. The menus were very boring, which was a cause for concern when I first launched the game. One more flaw, as stated before, the NPC’s felt very easy. I found myself coming in the first place a lot, and only ever lost to the bosses, which I had to re-do.

Player finishing race in Riptide GP: Renegade

Final Thoughts

This game is great fun. It’s got a great art style, the hydro jets remind me of the pod racers in Star Wars, the levels are very enjoyable to traverse through, and the gameplay is fun. If you’re an avid racing game fan, then this game is definitely for you, as it most definitely feels like a racing game. With Riptide GP: Renegade you’ll find yourself playing it for a couple hours, then coming back to it a few hours later. Overall I enjoyed it a lot, and I think with just a bit more additions to game modes, this will most definitely be one of my top indie racing games of 2016.

Player doing a trick in Riptide GP: Renegade

Pros Cons
+ Great art style – Few game modes
+ Appealing graphics – Bland menus
+ Lots of customization for hydro jets – Easy AI
+ Fun courses  
+ Hours of entertainment  

 

8.7
Great

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