In the past few years, the development strategy Ubisoft raises more and more questions. It seems that the French publishing house is rushing from one side to another, unsuccessfully trying to grab onto all the trends at once. Players have already witnessed the failure of the battle royale Hyper Scape, and the announcement of the shooter Tom clancy’s xdefiant provoked a lot of jokes like “Tom Clancy is spinning in a coffin.”
WITH Riders Republic everything turned out to be a little more interesting. The trailers gave the impression that Ubisoft was trying to make a sports competitor Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, in which dozens of players slide down the mountain on bicycles, skis, snowboards, trying to get to the end of the route. After the beta test, it became clear that the first conclusions were incorrect.
In fact, Riders Republic is a full-fledged sequel to the extreme sports simulator. Steepwhich did not live up to the expectations of the French company. Therefore, it was decided to carry out a complete rebranding in order to reach the maximum audience.
As a result, Steep was crossed … with Forza horizon… We also have a festival of extreme sports here – with crazy challenges and extreme events. The time rewind function is also in place.
Rafting from seven US national parks acts as a playground, thanks to which snowy peaks, desert canyons, forests and plains are present on one map. This allowed to solve the problem with the variety of content, as well as create absurd situations when the character is trying to ride on an asphalt road on alpine skis.
The protagonist is a promising newcomer to the world of extreme sports, who decided to take part in competitions. As it should be in the latest Ubisoft games, you can create a character yourself, so we made a green-skinned girl with a purple beard (how else?).
Several disciplines are available to players: bicycles (mountain and road), alpine skiing and snowboarding (can be combined with each other), as well as a rocket pack and wingsuit. In addition, you can explore the world on a snowmobile, paragliding or run on two legs.
Since Riders Republic is based on Steep’s work, it will be easy for veterans of the game to get used to. And for beginners, there are several additional options for control layouts in the style Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Skate…
The first thing that attracts attention in Riders Republic is the thousands of daredevils who roam the map in droves. Ubisoft has taken on the idea of Forza Horizon with drivers. The game remembers the routes of movement of the players, after which “ghosts” are created on their basis. Real users are also present on the map (they have nicknames).
Although progress was limited in the beta, all contributors were able to sample a decent chunk of content. There are many types of different activities available on the map. By pumping this or that sport, as well as earning stars, new competitions are opening.
However, there is a serious nuance that can scare off some of the players. The fact is that Riders Republic is clearly sharpened for cooperative passage, which is why it is not very interesting to go to the races alone. The developers tried to compensate for this by “ghosts”, but in fact we are playing a kind of time trial.
In competitions, additional challenges are also available, for completing which they are awarded stars (perform a long combo of tricks, do not slow down when descending, and so on). In addition, trick competitions are available, in which victory is awarded on points.
Travel lovers have a lot to turn around, because the map turned out to be very diverse and beautiful. Points of interest with sights are scattered across the locations, and several “comic” types of equipment are hidden (skis from sticks, a bicycle of an ice cream seller, and so on). You can also stumble upon Mega tricks – additional tests, in which it is necessary for a limited time to descend along a completely insane route (up to rolling along a steep cliff) or using a certain trick.
For participating in competitions, players are generously rewarded with more efficient equipment options. At the same time, only customization items will be sold in the in-game store. There are a great many of the latter, although the most idiotic and carbon monoxide outfits are available only for real money. We especially liked the giraffe and dinosaur costumes.
After reviewing the sports available in Riders Republic, it is worth noting that winter options are best implemented in the game, as well as bicycles. However, the game menu for some reason is not allowed to see the available tricks, which prevents the completion of the tests.
The developers also managed to screw up the camera. Similar to Steep, Riders Republic can also enable first person view. The problem is that in competitions the camera is constantly buggy, due to which the view is constantly blocked by other reckless drivers or their own arm / jacket / head / torso. Oddities are also observed with skis, which are visible in some types of competitions, but not in others. The reason for this we could not understand, but it suffered from the immersiveness characteristic of Steep.
The worst thing in Riders Republic is the rocket pack, because it is inconvenient to control it, and in competitions the camera periodically goes crazy. There are also complaints about ordinary running – the character does not turn well and does not know how to jump, which makes this option of movement meaningless.
The most controversial element of Riders Republic was its most touted feature – Massive Races, which can be played by 50+ players on PC, Xbox Series X | S and PS5, and 20+ on Xbox One and PS4. In fact, this is a triathlon, divided into three races, in which players will constantly change modes of transport.
Due to the large number of players, any mass race turns into uncontrollable chaos, in which it is extremely difficult to fit into a checkpoint. Not only rivals, but also gameplay miscalculations hinder staying in the top lines of the tournament table. For example, a character can get stuck somewhere, and the above problem with the camera becomes simply unbearable.
It is in the mass races that the rocket pack causes the most irritation. When a checkpoint is skipped or the character falls, the time rewind function does not help much, because the step between the character states turned out to be too long.
Frustration is also caused by points for changing transport, which occurs with a second delay. When it comes to bicycles and ski / snowboards, then everything is bearable. But when switching to a rocket pack, the character, instead of flying, can stand in place or fall somewhere.
As a result, mass races begin to infuriate rather than entertain. After a couple of attempts, you simply don’t want to return to them.
The competitive team mode looks more interesting, although there are some mistakes here. The idea is as follows: two teams perform tricks on a map divided into several sectors. By “capturing” one of them (performing tricks), you can temporarily activate the x5 multiplier. If team members move together, this also provides additional bonuses. The group of players that earns the most points wins.
It destroys the idea of sliding along the railings and pipes, which, when the bonus is activated, gives the greatest increase in points. And this can be abused, which destroys the balance. Obviously some changes need to be made.
Riders Republic GameMAG.ru edition tested on Xbox Series S. On the junior next-generation console from Microsoft the game produces 60 frames per second. However, this is leveled by the extremely low drawing range, which is why the texture of the ground turns into a mess in the middle planes. But the presence of an SSD allows you to almost instantly move to checkpoints or teammates.
In Riders Republic, you can have a good time, but singles will get bored here. In addition, the game has a whole bunch of nasty sores that can ruin the passage. However, the developers still have a little time to improve the situation.
The release of Riders Republic will take place on October 28, 2023 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series, X | S, PS4 and PS5. At the start, players will have access to the crossplay function.
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