Open-world sports games are becoming more of a normal thing as the years go by. Whether it is an action RPG, MMORPG, or a racing-style game, open-world is a great way to go in game development. Ubisoft has brought us another title worth diving into and its name is Riders Republic. Full of bike, wingsuit and snow races down and through the slopes see our thoughts in the review below.
Massively multiplayer used to mean you could go online with a bunch of people in an RPG type of game only. Now titles such as Riders Republic are taking advantage of huge servers to create a living and breathing sports enthusiast community. Up to fifty people can be online at the same time and in a free-roaming mode. This makes for some great chaos and you run around and into people. Every event has to be traveled to. Sometimes there are quick travel spots for these events but they still end up being a ways away from the event so traveling by snowmobile, rocket bike, or rocket skis becomes the best way to travel quickly. The map for the world of Riders Republic is massive, not unlike Forza Horizon 5, it has a very similar feel to it. All of the events are spread out all over the map. Dry areas for biking, snowy areas for skiing and snowboarding, and wingsuit races where applicable.
Much like Forza Horizon games, Riders Republic thrusts you into a very detailed story as you start your career as an up-and-coming racer. You are taken under the wing of a mentor and learn how to perform tricks for your different rides through tutorials. The first tutorial which introduces you to the entire world takes a little while and requires that you earn eleven stars to open up the rest of the story. Similar to opening the story for each different level of stars more and more will be opened up including equipment and even modes such as skiing and wingsuits.
One of the event modes that I love is Mass Start Races. Similar to arcade races in a way these events have you ride to a certain spot and then you have to race forty-nine other racers to the end of the track. I have done a couple of these now and it is fun to switch from snow to bike and back again to complete the races. Other multiplayer modes are available including solo matches, six versus six-team PvP arena modes, and online ranked cups. Try your best to take the top spots as you go through each of these modes. The greatest item with regards to multiplayer is the full cross-play and cross-progression from one system to another. If you have it on an older console you can also upgrade it to next-gen for free. We all know what happens in MMOs lately with season modes and this game is no different as a season is already running for you to collect new gear and level up your character and help you earn sponsors.
Speaking of characters, right from the beginning there is a customization for your brand new character. Choose whichever options appeal to you. There are options for hairstyles and color, eye colors, and more. These aren’t the most expansive customizations but they work for what you need within the game.
I don’t like some of the controls as the main source of grief with the game. With autolanding turned on you land a lot of tricks if you have enough time to adjust, with manual controls it feels like it is three times harder than it needs to be for a racing game. Even when you are using the correct set of controls they feel very slow to react versus how fast you are trying to move. Even after a few hours of playing manual mode still feels wrong for some reason. When you try to do grab and rotation tricks it just seems to die in the middle of the trick and there is no more movement.
Note: Our copy was reviewed on the PC with a code provided by PR.
