It really brings the AD to ADventure Sports

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Riders Republic (Reviewed)

Developer: Ubisoft

Publisher: Ubisoft

Released: June 8th, 2023

Price: $60 USD

Riders Republic is a fast-paced, exciting combination of many sports crammed into an open world adventure. Whatever your interests are or who you are, there is guaranteed to be something here for everyone to enjoy, whether it's the leaderboards, challenges, or open world exploration. It has basically everything.

I still spend the most of my time downhill mountain biking because it is the most exhilarating game mode in my opinion, especially in first person.

Presentation

Good but lacking

This game's aesthetics aren't all that fantastic; it's bland and tasteless at points, as well as choppy with a few skips here and there, making it less immersive and more aggravating. The music is likewise on the same level; it might be nice, but it's largely mainstream rap and songs you've heard before; I'd say the music was 90% rubbish and 10% catchy and worth a re-listen most of the time.

Tutorial Characters

As indicated in the first impressions review, the instruction is long, dull, repetitive, and... cringe-worthy. It's awful the way they speak and the overexcitement they emanate with that can-do BRO mentality, nobody is that excited about sports.

The easiest way to enjoy this game is to silence both the music and the dialogue while playing your own favourite tracks in the background; else, the duration will grate on your nerves. I'm still not sure if I'm in some sort of lingering tutorial 5 hours into the game. It's perplexing because the games are constantly presenting new locations and new dialogue with the primary cast of people.

Customization

Pay to Customize

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Ubisoft and many triple A brands prefer to milk their communities for as much money as they can from things that don't always matter. If you want to dress to impress, you'll have extremely limited here because some of the interesting things you see in game need a lot of real-world money. In the same way that games like Fortnite do it through progression.

You can definitely unlock gear and color customization here and there to look relatively basic and interesting, but the really cool gear like animal costumes and such are pay to dress. The problem here is that in comparison to other games like Steep which is basically the same game, this game provides very little basic customization. I didn't spend much time bothering to really make anything because there isn't anything interesting especially the avatar customizer.

Mass Event Gameplay

Kind of unfair at times

This is the only game mode where I felt like I had a substantial even advantage, but owing to the absolutely random locations and sports involved, it is and always will be a 50/50 split for enjoyable material.

If you know all of the track's shortcuts and boosts, you will have a lot easier time finishing in the top ten. But once you go to a completely new site that you haven't seen before, you're pushed to the back of the pack, which is a genuine bummer.

Don't know the track, location or topography? All of which are guaranteed to trip you up on the first run you'll never get a decent placement.

Adventure Gameplay

Whatever you want

The open world gameplay is basically just going around doing anything you want. Events, stunts, mischief, collectathons, and more.

The events and such that occur in the open world can be irritating because it becomes less about your talent and understanding and more about who has the better gear. Gear is linked to overall stats, therefore an epic bike with sprint and speed stats of 64 and 74 will beat someone with a common or uncommon bike with 34 and 44, even if that person manages to screw up, they have the speed to recover, however, you do not as a rookie player with under geared equipment.

If you are the curious and adventurous sort, there is enough to do while you wait for the next mass event to take place, as those are the most enjoyable events.

Other Game modes

Empty

While there are additional things to play at the hub area, I was never able to get them to work, despite the fact that they looked more arcade like than the rest of the game and fun. I discovered it after running around and exploring the hub.

However, it appeared like most people were there for the mass gatherings and world exploration / events rather than them directly which is a bummer.

Problem

Feels like a 1-trick pony

Don't get me wrong, the game may be entertaining at times. But once you've done the same events over again, unlocked the same looking gear and clothing while flying and racing over the world, it doesn't feel all that engaging.

You do certain events, beat a goal, acquire stars and do events and races while waiting for the mass event. Sometimes some irritating dialogue between you and the tutorial characters appears but for the most part the fun starts to fade.

Outside of the arcade-like structure of the events, there isn't much here besides running around, locating hidden areas, and competing for the best spot on the leaderboards. While trying to persuade you to buy skins and accessories with advertisements for big companies all over the place.

Conclusion

Everyone is different

I believe it all comes down to what individuals find enjoyable in a game. For example, I've always liked the Tony Hawk series, but I never once tried Skate.

RR definitely moves into the arcade genre more so than anything serious. When I first saw this game, all I could think was, my childhood and all of the fun sports games and road rage battles but this time with an online community of players.

Riders Republic is quite dull. The controls are messy at times, the camera is often times a secondary input to keep track of where you are, rather than moving on it's own. The rewind feature makes the entire game feel incredibly stupid.

The controls for performing tricks are, at best, limited. You can spin to the left or right, or roll forward and backward and if desired, employ triggers for grabs.

Quite basic compared to a lot of other trick games; even Tony Hawk felt way more exciting, and those games were played so many years ago, but the amount of customization for your techniques and personalities was quite extensive.

This concludes my views of this game; while my opinions may be met with criticism, that is what distinguishes gamers; you don't have to like the same things as others, nor do you have to agree with them.

If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.

Twitch

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- Pawkt