Earlier this year I was given the chance to jump into some of the Riders Republic closed Beta’s. Although I knew about the game, I can’t say that it was on my radar as something that I was excited about. Imagine my surprise after playing for a few hours that I was enjoying my time and ended up looking forward to getting back to it on its full release.
As of the 28th of October, the full game was released and I can confidently say it’s worth a go. There is so much fun to be had, that I’m happy to overlook some of the issues.
Back in the days of the PS2, GameCube and Xbox, you couldn’t go a couple of weeks without another extreme sports game coming out. Between Tony Hawks, SSX, Aggressive Inline, Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer and say it quietly…..BMX XXX…….its not the type of game that was poorly supported.
However, recently, this style of game has been sorely lacking with only the Tony Hawk 1 and 2 remake and Ubisoft’s own Steep. Steep wasn’t a bad game and had some interesting ideas but it never once managed to grab me in its gameplay loop like Riders Republic has.
This time around Ubisoft has nailed the gameplay. It’s not realistic recreation of the sports but the 5 mainline sports (mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, wingsuit flying, and rocket wingsuiting) are a blast to play. It’s available on every current platform, except of course the Switch… I feel like I’ve written that before.
Riders Republic is classed as a “massively multiplayer sports game”, this shows with PS4 and Xbox One supporting up to 20 players in races and the NextGen and PC versions go all the way up to 50. It also features a 6v6 high score trick battle mode. If multiplayer isn’t your thing there’s also a career mode that reminded me of The Crew 2, unfortunately not in a good way. It’s got the same type of progression, where you complete a race and do well enough to unlock the next set. That isn’t so bad but the cut scenes and dialogue used are a bit cringe.
It’s an open-world game and feels massive, it features different areas based on American National Parks and each one has a slightly different style or colour palate. Here’s a game that benefits hugely from being on an SSD as if you decide to fast travel it can make a big difference.
If you do get into Riders Republic, you could be in for the long run as there is a ton of gear, outfits and cosmetic items to be unlocked. As with all games like this, it will be interesting to see how it’s supported with content drops and DLC going forward. Some of the faster bikes I’ve unlocked so far have made a big difference to how the game plays.
It’s a great looking game and the performance seems to be solid considering all the players on screen and the size of the game world. Controls feel good and make sense which is somewhere extreme sports games can fall. Rocket Wingsuiting is madness and has to be experienced, but if I had to pick a favourite so far it would be the bike events. The handling can feel loose to start but once you have your eye in you’ll be flying down the mountains.
It’s not all just about racing as tricks can be pulled off to. The game features two different styles of control depending on your abilities. Racer or Trickster. Racer gives you more simple controls for tricks and lets you control the camera with the right stick. Trickster moves tricks across to the right stick and allows players more control to chain moves together. When pairing this with the option for tricks to auto-rotate for spins and landings, it’s pretty accessible for players of all skill levels.
Ubisoft are on a bit of a roll recently and their last few games have all been great to play (but not without their issues). If you’ve ever enjoyed an extreme sports game before I say check it out!