Riders Republic

Review

I don’t know about you, but I find it fascinating to sit back and watch some of these Xtreme sports, (I would not for the life of me try any of them myself!). However, I reckon it would be incredible to experience the adrenaline rush. Which of these crazy sports would you be tempted to take on? I used to ski in my youth, and now enjoy a bike ride every so often (on a flat road at a slow pace, rather than flying downhill on a mountain while other crazy individuals literally fly by me in wingsuits - what an experience that would be!) Well, you’ll encounter more than that playing Riders Republic.

Riders Republic is a sport/racing game developed by Ubisoft Annecy and published by Ubisoft on the 28^th of October 2021 on the Ubisoft platform. The game is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S consoles.

What a breath of fresh air Riders Republic is! I enjoyed this game, but I must admit that I wasn’t sold at all when I laid my eyes on it the first time. I was intrigued and a bit worried in regards to the game’s controls. After all, there are 4 different sports with different categories. The racing aspect is pretty straightforward, but when you include skiing, snowboarding and biking tricks, my first thought was how complicated the controls would be and how different they would be between the different sports. If you are using a gamepad, the button sequences are the same for the bike, ski and snowboarding (mind you, you’ll get a different trick for each sport). But the wingsuit and rocketing will be slightly different as you’ll not be able to do tricks, and it will be more a case of racing and proximity flying for these sports. However, you do have the choice to set up your controls as a racer or trickster when you launch the game for the first time.

The open world of Riders Republic is a combination of snowy, rocky mountains and valleys with stunning rivers networks. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering the world and finding its collectables. There are 500 collectables scattered (R&R balloons) in the open world. You also have landmarks and some relics to uncover. There are stunts events which are usually harder and more technical with a specific time to complete them. They can be quite frustrating but do give you a sense of euphoria when you complete them. I also appreciate the wildlife you encounter while playing the game; bears, birds, eagles, rabbits and more make the game even more compelling. 

So, you can play Solo or ultiplayer, which has two aspects as far as I can see. In the Solo campaign, you have events popping up after you successfully finish the one you previously selected. In my case, I enjoy skiing and biking rather than the rocketing or flying suits events. Mind you, as I compete in more events and unlock new suits, I seem to get slightly better at it, which is always a good feeling.

So, in the Single-player or Solo, as new events become available, you can select them, and you’ll spawn around 1.5 kilometres to 600 meters from the start of the event. As you reach your destination and before starting the competition, you’ll be presented with three tasks as well as the levels of difficulty. You can choose to play on the Standard, Pro, Expert and Elite Difficulty. In regards to the tasks, they vary depending on the sports and will also increase if you choose to play the event on a higher difficulty. Not only will you receive experience points for that sport/event, but you’ll also receive golden stars if you manage to complete one or more the tasks. So, you’ll level up by accumulating experience points per sport and therefore unlock new bikes, skis, snowboards etc. You”ll also will receive new gears, money and other gizmos by accumulating stars. So far, I have accumulated around 500 golden stars.

You’ll be prompted by Mass Races announcements every now and there. So, by opening the map world and locating the mass race icon, you’ll spawn within its vicinity. The Mass Races are multiplayer races that usually combine three rounds of combined sports. 64 players will take part in these races, and let me tell you they are just a blast! You’ll receive stars and experience points, too. Ultimately, you’ll try to win these mass races to receive not only 6 golden stars but valuable experience points and of course, fame. I believe you can select any individual event available on the map to play in a multiplayer aspect as long as you are part of a group. However, I haven’t created or joined any groups at this stage. You also have season multiplayer events, which are free for all, where you compete against 12 other players and trick battles where you take part in a team of six against another team of six players.

Character customisation is super in this game as you can totally change your character’s gear for each of the respective sporting events. In addition, I found the interface super easy to use, making this all-around customisation a pleasure to engage with.

You also have daily sponsor tasks to complete to earn additional gear, stars and of course, money. There are two types of currency. You’ll receive in-game currency when completing sponsor tasks as well as finding collectables, for example. You can use this money to purchase new gears at the shop, but the price of most items is usually fairly high, and therefore you need to accumulate quite a bit before you can purchase something funky. Or, you can buy republic coins directly through the Ubisoft portal, if you like. Personally, I’m not too fond of this type of option, but it is what it is.

The gameplay itself is very good all-around. I must admit that I am still using the racer setup, and I still have significant crashes in most of the events I enter. Sure, you can flashback and try the same move over again until you nail the trick perfectly, but you will probably be penalised as one of the three tasks in each event doesn’t allow you to flashback or brake for instance. It will take you a while before you successfully complete all three side tasks for each event. The feel of speed for each sport is quite realistic and fun. If you want to chill out and would like to discover the entire map of Riders Republic, why don’t you ride your snowmobile around or use your paramotor to see it all from up high?!

The biggest issue I encountered with this game is that it kept freezing on me, which occurred at least once every session. It is a shame because I didn’t experience any other bugs.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

Riders Republic Ubisoft Store Page