Introduction
Lowriders aren’t a common presence in video games. Most car customizations and the certain subcultures which might entail them, rarely go beyond scratching the surface. Ride ‘em Low wishes to combine the hydraulic system competitions with more conventional street racing. It succeeds in a large part and despite not aging so well (2013 release), it’s still among the few titles focusing on this particular type of cars. It was the Steam debut of Red Dot Games and this is quite obvious even if in recent years, the developer has shifted towards comprehensive and far more entertaining Car Mechanic Simulators than the game I’m writing about today.
Story
Much like the hot rod/rat rod car customization style and subculture, the lowriders also trace their origins in Los Angeles, California and share a similar time frame, even if the similarities end there. Lowriders never go to the same extremes of stripping an old car apart and keeping just the essentials which are also exposed to the elements, most of the time. No grandpa’s car which youngsters decided to “freshen up” and also offer an entirely new look. Low rider vechicles focus more on what’s under the hood than the aesthetics. In case you’re wondering, I’m a fan of any type of customization, cars included. Stock parts and looks, simply don’t offer owners the same satisfaction as an object which they took an interest in and decided to add a personal touch to it.
I first came in contact with the term and the (digital) visual representation of lowriders in 2005, while playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The slick maneuvers and stunts which were achieved with those custom hydraulics as well as the subsequent portrayal through rap music videos, captivated me. Back to Ride ‘em Low, players get to forge their own tales in real time. As with the older titles within the Need For Speed series, you also get to name your in-game avatar and have the freedom to choose which car model you want and then go crazy with the customization of it. The car brands themselves aren’t named as such, for obvious reasons. Time has proved that even more established series such as DIRT and GRID, may suffer from costly licensing issues. So naming the car as “Caddy” instead of Cadillac, makes sense in the long run.
American car brands, naturally. Even if you have limited interest in automobiles, you’ll still recognize the form factor on those generic names used in Ride ‘em Low. For some weird reason, opting for the Metric unit system instead of Imperial, also changes the currency from US Dollars to Euros. A career mode is implemented in the sense in which players shall have to earn cash through racing events before even having a large enough budget to install a noteworthy hydraulics system and participate in the traditional lowrider competition involving that iconic bouncing and “dancing”.
Graphics
From the looks of it, Ride ‘em Low features a proprietary graphics engine. The cars are rendered quite nicely, with both the textures and reflections to show off the attention to details. If only I could say the same about the racing tracks or the fonts and scaling within this game. Those are abysmal. Playing in my monitor’s native 4K resolution, I had to choose between downsampling enough until the cars looked like they came from a PlayStation 2 port or accept the glitchy fonts to all the in-game text which had line collision or even fused sentences & words. First time I experience this with a Steam game and I’m quite disappointed since I couldn’t find a workaround.
Audio
The sounds are all repetitive and forgettable. Take my advice, mute them altogether and blast off some old school rap to your heart’s desire. It will make those races and hydro competitions far more enticing.
Gameplay
What more can I say of the gameplay? It certainly offers a challenge at the very start of your lowriding career. The stock car you purchase is underpowered and no matter how much you cheap out, you won’t be able to afford crucial upgrades until you grind those race tracks and up the ante by betting on yourself. Not a exactly the definition of sportsmanship but hey, these are street races afterall. I doubt something like this would be legal in real life. I would have enjoyed some more details relating to the mechanical upgrades instead of just naming the next upgrade which seems like an improvement only because it costs more than the previous one. At least you can customize the exterior as well. Don’t expect the absolutely bonkers customization from the Saints Row franchise though.
Verdict
If I didn’t find the lowrider topic and the classic cars even remotely interesting, you can bet I would have rated down Ride ‘em Low. 60/100 is my minimum prerequisite for recommending a Steam title and I felt generous enough since my scaling issue can’t be replicated by those which play in lower resolutions. Your mileage may vary and that pun is intended. I’m also not gonna act as if Steam game from 2013 absolutely had to include Cheevos and Cards. It would have been a nice touch, if added in a future update, but even as it is, you almos get your bucks’ worth out of this title. Waiting for a Steam Sale or bundle is ideal and the game shall certainly entertain fans of the lowrider subculture.
Strong Points
+ Pleasant graphics.
+ Decent customization options.
+ Sufficient racing track & vehicle diversity.
Weak Points
- No Steam Trading Cards nor Achievements.
- Resolution and font scaling issues.
- Limited sound selection.
Rating 60/100
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