Ride 3 Review: Best Motorcycle Racer Ever?

There’s something about being on a motorcycle that just makes you feel free.

Maybe it’s the fact you aren’t enclosed in a metal and plastic box on wheels. Or maybe it’s the ability to easily cruise at high speeds. Or maybe it’s the fact that you are playing a game of Russian Roulette with your life where one simple mistake could be the difference between life and death!

Ok, it’s probably not that last one.

Ride 3 is Milestone’s latest attempt at bringing that feeling of being free on the road into the video game realm.

Featuring over 270 officially licensed motorcycles spanning over seven different classifications, Ride 3 makes sure that players can never say there isn’t enough variety in bike selection. Every bike can be customized in terms of both cosmetics and performance, and the detail on each model is on par with any other racing game on the market. In fact, there are up to 1,000 layers at your disposal when creating you custom look for your bikes.

The game also features 30 tracks to race on with 12 being brand new to the series.

Each track, unsurprisingly, looks very true-to-life with stunning textures and great attention to the details of each environment. From racing through Japan to hitting the popular Daytona International Speedway, it’s hard not to get lost in the details while trying to race. Just don’t be surprised if your crash a few extra times.

One thing that also needs to be mentioned is how incredible night racing is. There’s just something about racing under the lights that make races feel like a bigger event.

Play The Way You Want

On the course, the game can be a bit tough for people to grasp. If you’ve never played a motorcycle racing sim before, then you may find yourself struggling to make the proper turns or even hit the brakes at the correct time. With no tutorials of any sort, you’re left to figure things out on your own on the track.

That said, once you start to get a feel for the core mechanics of the game, racing becomes a much more enjoyable and rewarding experience. From making a perfect turn to finally getting past an opposing racer that always seemed to be just ahead of you, there’s no better feeling in Ride 3 than achieving any goals you have for yourself.

Like most racing sims, Ride 3 allows players to make the game as easy or difficult as they want thanks to the amount of sliders and assists at your disposal.

The game’s physics engine gives the feeling of handling a real motorcycle which, as anyone who’s ever ridden an actual motorcycle can tell you, can be a daunting task. There’s always the risk of overturning or just jerking the bike a little to much on an over-correction that will lead to dumping it to the asphalt below.

Career mode is where you’ll spend the most of your time with this game. Broken up into different volumes of a racing magazine, players go through each volume with a different task or focus.

Unfortunately, the mode does begin to get repetitive after a while due to its straightforward nature. There aren’t any cutscenes, rivalries, commentators, or any sort of off-track appeal to the mode. It’s just race, buy a new bike, repeat.

If you aren’t a fan of collecting and upgrading motorcycles, you’re going to feel like you are simply grinding in order to say you’ve completed the mode.

Ride 3 does offer online multiplayer, but it’s a bit too straight forward with just private and public races. The public races are just quick matchmaking races rather than searching through a list of lobbies to find one you want to join. It would be nice to see racing sims like this find a way to implement online racing series and leagues. There’s also time trials and drag racing to give you something else to do, but if you don’t find yourself spending the majority of the time in career mode then you may not be playing this game too long.

The photo mode is pretty cool to try and get some of those awesome in-action shots that only the professional photographers can get. But, be real, how many times will someone utilize the option?

Verdict

It’s not the easiest game to pick up for newcomers to the series, but the feeling of accomplishment as you improve your skill on the road is not to be overlooked. With the amount of bikes to unlock and upgrade and tracks to enjoy, Ride 3 is a game that will impress with its depth.

That said, the grind that many will feel when playing the game’s career mode is sure to take away from the enjoyment of the game. Compound that with the lacking presentation, no local multiplayer and long load times, and Ride 3 is going to be remembered as a game that fans of the series will enjoy but others will look elsewhere to get into the motorcycle racing genre.