When it comes to racing games, the water-racing game Riptide GP offers a bit of variety that is missing in the genre. Interestingly, its new version Riptide GP Renegade is not just a mobile game but has been released for PCs as well. While the PC version is available on Steam store for Rs.479, the mobile version is also finally available for all Android and iOS devices. The game was initially released only on NVIDIA Shield, an Android based hand-held gaming console by NVIDIA for the first two weeks. The game is developed by a California based start-up called Vector Unit, which also made Hydro Thunder Hurricane, a popular racing game on Microsoft’s XBox 360 game console.
Visual Edge
The racing genre is often dominated by car racing games. Riptide GP is the only water racing game which comes closer to them in terms of gameplay. However, they have never looked as good and graphically stimulating as car racing games. With the Riptide GP renegade, the developer has tried to lift the visuals. The background looks a lot more picturesque than in any of its predecessor while players now have access to more reckless stunts. The game has clearly taken a cue from Asphalt Racing games. Minor details such as the sudden splash from a great height or the different stunts you can perform have been captured vividly.
The game offers more unique looking racetracks set in different locations.
The game’s interface shows the various game modes such as Career, Challenge, Quick race, Online multi-player and Split screen offline multi-player in a horizontal scroll.
The settings option allows user to change the difficulty level in the career mode. Increasing the difficulty levels improves the speed and skill level of the AI and makes the game more challenging.
Flexible and fun to play
Playing any of the games in the Riptide GP series has been challenging and the Renegade is no different.
The Renegade offers more riders and hydrojets (the term used for the racing machine used in the game) along with the freedom to customise the looks and upgrade the skill set.
You can assign a new number to the driver, apply vinyl and paint on hydrojets and upgrade the handling, top speed and acceleration levels on the selected hydrojet.
Acceleration is auto controlled which allows you to focus better on the steering controls which work by tilting the device in whichever direction you want t turn the hydrojet towards. Tilting a little towards right make the hydrojet take a right turn, for example. This feels a lot more intuitive than based on screen steering.
One can perform in-air stunts by tilting the phone right or left.
Verdict
Riptide GP Renegade is one of the bets water racing games you can download right now. If you are little bored of car racing games which hasn’t seen any interesting launch in a long time, Riptide GP Renegade is perfect way to kill the monotony. The one-time payment is nothing compared to the fun it entails.
Developed by Vector Unit
Price: Rs.200
Available on Android, iOS
Tested on Huawei P9 (HiSilicon Kirin 955 octa-core processor, Mali T880 GPU, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage)
