How's Robotnik Ring Racers going for everyone so far ? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

it is a good game, though some people have complained about why the tutorial is long and having to play grand prix to unlock addons and online multiplayer. though these have been resolved with the addition of passwords in 2.1.
 
After the tutorial, and also after the patch, it is not that bad actually.

While it may not have quite the same level of polish as say, Mario Kart, I would argue it is about the best karting game you can get for free (as for starters it is completely free, not 'free' as in heavily monetized with roulette wheels, timers, and unfair AI designed to drive you to the built-in store).

That leaves with what led to this really getting my attention, and that is the fact that we can now have a fully functional offline experience with AI racers. They can be pretty tough on just the normal setting, so thank goodness for the easier mode. The impact of UDMF is also quite amazing with the track designs it enabled. It is amazing to see just how far the technology has come for what essentially used to be Doom.
 
I've really been enjoying it.
Unlocking smaller things like colors and characters is actually pretty fun in my opinion.
I've also been warming up to the gameplay and its mechanics. The entire game is really good once you get into the groove of it.
 
Sandwichface said:
It's atrocious and I'm not sure what people are seeing in it beyond the graphics.
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While I do have my own gripes with the game (such as the handling in v2 feeling worse than v1), the game right now is very fresh, you have Kirby Air Ride style unlockables, some item changes (some being good, some being bad), and you can race against AI, which doesn't exist at all in base v1.

Besides the commonly mentioned issue of rings being binded to the same button as using an item, hills being egregious, and the rubberbanding of AI, what else has you calling the game atrocious?
 
If Imma be real, the only reason I can enjoy the game is because of how I learn things as a gamer. It's NOT great, not in the slightest, but I respect the effort put in.
The only real good things of RR is the sprites and music. That's it.

Gameplay is... how do I even explain? Complicated.
A tutorial should not be presented as it is here, forced and a literal half hour. The unlock system is the literal bane of my existence. I can get unlocking characters or those pet/sidekick things, but colors? Addons? ONLINE PLAY!? Genuinely one of the most baffling decisions I've seen. Chose to find a 100% file instead because I'm not grinding this out in the slightest.

The core mechanics are actually decent. You could chalk it up to a skill issue, but I swear the drifting is significantly worse. The ring mechanic I actually like, not bad, although I was it made you a little faster. Spin dash is mid, but the power-ups are sorta fun. At least the ones I've never seen before, like the shrink rays and stuff. If you just do simple things like drift, use Rings and power-ups, then it's a solid experience. The problem is the extra stuff they added. But they're really needs a separate button for rings and instawhip. I'm not using my Lightning Shield because I need to use my rings, and I'm definitely not dropping my rings for a InstaWhip that most likely won't hit.

I've never really played SRB2K much, but after hopping in that compared to RR, it's so much simpler and easier on my mind. The amount of things in RR is annoying. If I remember right, there's:
Accelerating/Brake/Reverse (duh)
Drifting (also duh)
Spin Dash (useless except for the start of a race)
Rings/InstaWhip (the instawhip is the most useless thing ever)
Holding in place
Tricking (in a racer? why?)
and etc.
There's so much crap that you don't need to know in the tutorial that I swear never is put in the tracks. Although I haven't gotten far yet, so someone prove me wrong here.

Character roster (100% roster, not beginner) is honestly great! To see Shadow, Blaze, Chaotix, Jehht, even Whisper and that bird dude from TA who's name I forgot! Really well done sprites and music, each track feels unique with their associated music.

If you're a gamer who likes racers, RR is decent, although compared to even just V1, RR's positives are weaker than SRB2K's negatives, if any. However, if you have friends who don't play racers or play different genres, DO NOT INVITE THEM TO PLAY RR. It is way too complicated for your friend to understand in one session of RR. Invite them to play V1 instead, it's much simpler, and most likely has racer mods of chars they know.



TL;DR, RR is seriously flawed and needed either more dev time or more playtesters. It's way too complicated and does not outclass V1. Sprites and music are good, but nothing compared to gameplay, and while it's somewhat addicting, the skill curve is way too brutal and painful. If the devs remove the more arbitary mechanics, the some of the stupid unlock system (for me, the appeal of V1 is how you can do whatever you want as everything's unlocked), and maybe improved the drifting, RR would possibly be able to outclass V1. But for now, it's not worth investing my time of grinding. Glad I cheated.

(P.S. I didn't mention addons since that wouldn't have been fair as RR is brand spanking new while V1 has a colossal amount of mods for it.)

Sandwichface said:
It's atrocious and I'm not sure what people are seeing in it beyond the graphics.
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The gameplay, when simplified, is shockingly a little addicting. Besides that, your guess is as good as mine. This is not a successor to SRB2K, it became own game.
fireflower9000 said:
the rubberbanding of AI
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Oh I completely forgot about this! So I played Ring Cup Grand Prix, and dear god the AI rubberbanding. I could be in 1st, end up slowing down because of the worse drift, and Eggman, Metal, and Knuckles pass me and now I'm in 4th. Or how about Metal abusing his somehow infinite ring supply and passing me and putting me in 2nd? The AI here is horrendous, I don't know if I've seen worse before.
 
I think it's alright, I haven't played it much but like, I think it's okay

Dunno how to feel about unlocks tho, something about that just kinda bugs me
 
fireflower9000 said:
While I do have my own gripes with the game (such as the handling in v2 feeling worse than v1), the game right now is very fresh, you have Kirby Air Ride style unlockables, some item changes (some being good, some being bad), and you can race against AI, which doesn't exist at all in base v1.

Besides the commonly mentioned issue of rings being binded to the same button as using an item, hills being egregious, and the rubberbanding of AI, what else has you calling the game atrocious?
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It's a racing game where the driving doesn't feel good and the racing isn't fun.
There's so much sensory overload at any one time that you can't figure out what's happening at any moment in a race.
There's a trillion pointless gimmicks such as position, tripwires, and the insta-whip that are entirely unnecessary and overcomplicate a genre that shouldn't be complicated. It can't even figure out what kind of game it wants to be. Does it want to be a racing game or a fighting game? Does it want to be casual or competitive? There's no focus, it's bouncing off the walls like a rabid ferret that drank too much coffee.
It fails to understand what made its prequel so great.
 
I can definitely understand why some (maybe even a lot of) people will end up not liking Ring Racers or prefer SRB2Kart. If you were expecting Ring Racers to be an upgrade of SRB2Kart, then yeah, RR is not that at all. In some aspects, it seems to have gone in the opposite direction of SRB2Kart. And if those aspects were what you liked most about SRB2Kart, you'll probably not be all too fond of Ring Racers.

But that said... the many mechanics and more complex handling, while certainly alienating, are the main reasons why I'm liking this game so much right now. At every moment I'm having to make multiple decisions. Should I use my rings here? Should I drift? Should I brake? Should I fast fall? How sharp is that next turn? Should I save my powerup and try to take the shortcut?

Your mind has to be constantly engaged, fighting sometimes literal uphill climbs with strategic use of every tool at your disposal. But when you play your cards just right and find yourself zooming up those hills, it feels like winning... even if you're actually in 12th place.

Weirdly, going back to SRB2Kart for a bit, it feels almost relaxing in comparison. I'll definitely continue to play both games, depending on my current mood.

I don't think Ring Racers is a replacement for SRB2Kart, but then I suppose that's why they decided to give it its own name and release. Ring Racers is not a traditional kart racer at all... but I think that's kinda why I like it so much, to the point that I think I prefer it over SRB2Kart.

I'd say that SRB2Kart is an excellent pick-up-and-play kart racer with Sonic-themed characters and tracks. Ring Racers, in contrast, is a hardcore physics-based platforming racer that feels specifically designed to be a Sonic game... not just in terms of aesthetics, but also in terms of mechanics.

I think a lot of people are going to like this game for the same reasons that other people don't like it. Time will tell just what the ratio of one to the other will be, but regardless of which proves more popular in the long run... I think it's a good thing that both games exist.
 
ring racers? I absolutely adore it. I've got a few gripes. too many unlockables, the unlockables themselves are egregious, the unlock conditions are obscene. the character select is too messy and unorganized. there are way too many mechanics, some don't have very many practical uses (instawhip). and finally, this game is way too hard. that's about it. I adore this game and everything about it otherwise
 
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