187 Ride or Die Review

For short bursts the game is quite fun

187 Ride or Die is clearly Ubisoft's attempt at making a game that has some street cred. Essentially a racing game with weapons, you've got your home boys, pimped out rides, guns, women and plenty of hip-hop. There's nothing horribly wrong with it, but the 'street' style seems incredibly forced and the game doesn't have the imagination or variation to keep it interesting.

While there's a story that plays alongside the racing, it's not too great. You work for Dupree, an overweight gang leader who isn't getting on to well with Cortez - the bad guy. So, you take part in endless races against Cortez's crew in order to prove something - I'm just not sure what that is.

Actual gameplay is pretty decent and can be fun in short bursts. If you think of the Mario Kart series, but add a little more control to the weapons, and a lot of 'street coolness' you'll have a rough idea on what to expect from 187 Ride or Die. Whatever vehicle you drive (Muscle, sports or SUV), you shoot at the same time. How much control you have over the shooting is up to you, as the game gives you two options. You can either limit your aim to in-front and behind you, or have full 360 degree control using the right analogue stick.

Scattered around the courses are pick-ups that give you new weapons, more ammo, health boosts and turbos. Most weapons are guns, but you do get the odd mine that you can drop behind you - very Mario Kart. You can blow up other racers and smash into them to take their weapons, and races are generally rather chaotic, with traffic to contend with as well.

The main problem with the standard race modes is the rubber band AI.

Aside from the standard lap races, there are eliminator races (last place after each lap is eliminated), mine races (where all weapons are replaced with mines) and a combat mode that puts you into an arena like environment against a number of enemies. There are also a number of chase and protection missions, with the latter style not happening nearly often enough.

The main problem with the standard race modes is the rubber band AI. No matter how well you 'e doing the other racers will always be within touching distance. You can drive the perfect four laps and take out all opponents numerous times, but one slip up on the final corner can cost you the race. While this also works in your favour occasionally, it makes the four-minute races boil down to the final twenty to thirty seconds, and the game seems to cheat you out of a win far too often.

Visuals are solid, but the audio often feels forced

If you become bored with or finish the story mode (it only lasts five hours) there are a number of multiplayer modes to have a go at. Two players can compete against each other using the game's split-screen mode, or play together through the game, with one player controlling the car's movement and the other weapons and boost. It works well, but taking the two elements of the game and playing them individually is rather less exciting than playing them together.

Online play is also supported on PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but it's not all that different to playing against the AI. If you really get into the game then you'll probably enjoy the online play, but finding opponents isn't easy, and you can only choose from vehicles that the host has unlocked, which often reduces the fun you can have.

There's just not enough to keep the game fresh

Presentation is the game's strong point, with nice shiny visuals, widescreen support and a nice smooth frame rate. There's a decent soundtrack too, which includes fifteen previously unreleased tracks from Guerilla Black. Had it not been for the awful use of slang numerous times in every sentence and constant swearing, the audio would have been far better. As with the game's 'street' theme, the slang and swearing comes across as forced, and sits very uneasily with the game.

187 Ride or Die isn't a horrible game; it's just let down by repetitive race types and rubber band AI that can really annoy you after a few hours' play. Bar the awful slang and constant swearing the game is presented pretty well, and the online play will please anyone who enjoys the single-player game. There's enough here to warrant a night's rental as there's some simple racing action to enjoy. It just becomes tiresome far too quickly.