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187 Ride or Die Review
Chris Leyton
30/08/2005
Team up with fierce women and rule the LA Westside in Ubi's outrageous car/combat title...
Ubisoft gets blingāed up and a bad attitude for its latest title as they step onto the streets with their take on the hip-hop culture in 187: Ride or Die. Staring Larenz Tate, Guerilla Black and Noel Guglielmi (doesnāt mean much to us either), players assume the role of Buck, a reluctant hero caught up in gang warfare on the streets of Los Angeles.
Essentially Mario Kart gone bad, 187: Ride or Die features a number of neat ideas, most notably in its co-op structure and online modes, although the inescapable Hip-Hop theme with its āhomiesā and ābustasā has to be the overriding factor as to whether this is for you or not.
Although car/combat titles are not usually noted for strong narratives or storylines 187: Ride or Die does make a reasonable attempt, with an intertwining plot, larger-then-life characters and highly-charged cut-scenes to power it all along.
The actual game is pumped to the max; its extreme nature helps to avoid the genreās typical misgivings in terms of repetition. Driving is as youād expect a distinctly arcade experience which suits the pace and style of the game; more importantly the combat side of things packs a punch with powerful weapons that leave little doubt what state youāll be in if you let up on the peddle.
Single-players take control of both driving and shooting which could have become a tricky hurdle hadnāt the developers worked out a solid control scheme, to make controlling both aspects a relatively enjoyable experience. Driving is handled via the traditional thumbstick and face button setup, whilst the shoulder buttons unleash all manner of firepower in forward and reverse directions. One neat touch is the way in which the AI takes temporary control of the car when the view is switched around, making it possible to maintain a lead but only for short durations.
Performing skids reward the player by charging up the speed boost, with larger skids resulting in a bigger boost to the gauge. Using this is often key to winning the race, however a fully charged bar opens up the possibility of a Super Speed Boost complete with a change of the camera view to accentuate the sensation of speed.
The game features an elaborate arsenal of weapons ranging from AK-47ās to Molotovās, which are scattered throughout the circuit in a typical fashion. Shooting doesnāt really require any skill beyond using two buttons, unless the āDirectā control configuration or co-op is selected as both feature precise 360° combat. Blowing up opponents takes some doing but when it happens a Burnout style slow-mo captures the destruction in all its glory; thankfully the AI takes charge for a split-second to provide enough time for the view to change back, without leaving the player bewildered and ending up in a wall.
Never being fans of the āelastic-bandā technique when it comes to racing AI, the developers worked hard on a solution dubbed āDynamically Unleashed Intelligenceā or DUI for short. The result is racing against opponents that definitely have an edge of fallibility to them; often youāll find them crashing into other cars or occasionally taking the wrong turn, more to the point they put up a fight when the situation looks bleak. Not only does this help to avoid the shallow feeling of other titles, but ensures both driving and combat are equally intensive affairs.
Each mission has a set of times/kills to beat which rewards the player with a Silver or Gold bullet, unlocking cars and homies while providing certain bonuses for the next mission. A map structure covers progress through the game; itās a strictly linear experience but allows you to easily come back to beat times and unlock all the extras. The levels are packed with explosive barrels and oil tankers which add a tactical element and continue to intensify the experience, while the 90° turns and sweeping bends accentuates the drifting style of the game.
Thereās a significant variety of mission objectives on offer to the player which helps to eradicate the usual repetitive issue faced by games in the genre; from standard races to the excellent Minefield variation, last-man standing, deathmatch and escort missions. Combined with the intense action a lot of the game modes prove to be hugely enjoyable in a first-person-shooter kind of way; with its two-gun setup, deathmatches actually require a little more thought then youād expect from a car/combat game, while the Minefield race (replacing all weapons with mines) is a lot of fun. So itās little surprise that on and offline multiplayer modes feature so strongly in the game.
Two player co-op works brilliantly in the game as you actually have to co-operate; one player takes control of driving while the other shoots, however the smart touch is granting boost control to the shooter while the driver has the ability to switch the camera around for a better view behind. The importance of co-operation is emphasised by the fact the controls are reversed for the shooter when the driver switches the view to behind, thus thereās plenty of banter between players about when to activate the boost and when to switch views.
