Riptide GP: Renegade Review

Since the moment Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was released, every other racing game released on the Switch has a very hard time to get their own audience. This clearly does not mean that every other racing game besides Mario Kart is bad, just that other games need to put even more effort to call the attention of players. Riptide GP: Renegade tries to do this by going for a different audience, one that is more closer to the one of Wave Race.

Even if it’s rare in racing games, Riptide GP: Renegade does have an actual story. Of course, it is a really light and simple one to give a small background to the single player campaign of the game. Your character falls for a trap against a rival racer and is caught by the police for illegal racing. After finally being free again, your partner explains you that while you were away, your rival is now the champion of the GP and if you want to beat him, you need to practice and prove yourself through other racing competitions until you earn the right to participate in the GP again. Like I said, it’s really simple but works well to give some background to the whole game’s single player mode.

The game uses the usual controls for any modern racing game, with ZR being used to accelerate and the left stick being used for driving. The controls respond well and feel the way you would expect considering the physics of the water. Besides the already expected acceleration button, the game also features tricks and a boost function. The idea of the game is that, whenever you are in the air, you pull off different stunts which will fill up your boost meter. And then, by simply pressing the A button, you’ll use your boost to help you speed up significantly and beat other racers. This mechanic works well as you need to finish the tricks before touching the water again, so there is a risk and reward involved. The longer and more complex tricks take more time to finish but fill more your boost meter.

At the start of the game, you’ll have very few options available for vehicles to choose from and stunts that you are able to pull off. As you progress in the single-player mode, though, you’ll be earning money and experience depending on how well you do in the events. The better you do, the more money and experience that you’ll earn besides unlocking the next stage. With the money you earn, you’ll be able to buy upgrades for your hydrojets. The experience you get will help you unlock new stunts or skills and simply clearing the game’s single player events will earn you new vehicles, decals, and their characters for use in every mode.

Riptide GP: Renegade also features a multiplayer mode which includes just the basic features you would expect from a racing game. There’s both local multiplayer mode and online multiplayer. The splitscreen mode lets you choose between four different set of tracks to play and see who’s the best player at the end. Unfortunately, there’s no way to choose a specific course to play in.

The game’s online mode is even more simple. You directly go into a list of lobbies that are currently available. Selecting one will get you into the room which is just a black screen with no music showing the list of the current players in the lobby and how much time until the next race starts. You can also create your own room which you can limit to friends only if you wish. Overall, it’s pretty barebones but it works and on the few races I tried, there was no lag.

The game’s graphics aren’t impressive at all but do their job well. The game has a realistic art-style with graphics that remind you of old 3D games. Its models look like something from early GameCube games but the high resolution textures and almost perfectly smooth framerate makes the game look modern and decent. There’s only a few rare moments where the framerate of the game gets hit but it doesn’t last long or really affect the gameplay. This applies for both docked and portable play.

The music is really generic. There’s really nothing really special or memorable in the game’s soundtrack. There’s also really little variety in it as it seems to only have around 3 or 4 different background music tracks and none of them really stands out. The good thing is that at least they fit in with the game and don’t sound off while playing. On the sound effects, it’s well done with all of them playing and sounding exactly how you would expect from a racing game.