Welcome to our review of RiMS Racing, a game that made me want to throw my controller at the wall at full speed.
RiMS Racing is a completely new approach to the motorcycle simulation game experience. In our game, you can use the top-of-the-line bikes from the biggest manufacturers in your quest to harness their power. Our game provides an extremely accurate riding experience and precise control of the bike.
So far the official mumbo jumbo and I can instantly say that this game was a nightmare to play. It literally made me want to throw my controller at the wall at full speed. It was truly horrible, very unresponsive, never getting any seemingly braking action in and constantly crashing into walls or slip and sliding into a sure real-life demise of whoever did the driving.
Also this game made my controller make noises it never had before, like there were loose parts inside. Sure, that is a great achievement to do, getting your controller to sound like that, but it is scary as hell when suddenly your controller goes into some sort of overdrive and sounds like parts came loose. Obviously, I pressed the home button and this bullshit stopped, but it got me worrying.
RiMS Racing is also just a weird game where you are getting a lot of options, but the entire hub where you do things is so simplistic. I also kind of disliked the double floor to this hub, it is a video game, is it really on purpose to have a working garage spread over 2 levels? I have played many racing games I disliked before, but this one just feels off in so many ways.
Another way it feels off, in the middle of your first real experience, the race just decides to stop and give you more information on how racing parts are each having their own level of health, and when they are gone, they need fixing or replacing. Sure, all making sense, but stopping AFTER you are supposed to have finished the tutorial already? So many things just do not make sense. I can not wrap my head around it.
What did I like? Well, simple, I loved flying through the air after missing another curve because the brakes did not work. I love the double entendres that can be made with the title, but enough about rimming and more about failing to produce a game that is open to new aspiring racers. I just felt the entire experience to suck.
The Nintendo Switch version
Written by Lander
Since RiMS Racing was also released on Nintendo Switch, we decided to give it a go on the hybrid console as well. For the sake of the review, I played it on my Nintendo Switch Lite to see how well the game could perform in handheld mode. Just as Timmy already explained, RiMS Racing isn’t meant for those who dislike super realistic simulators. I don’t mind playing those but RiMS Racing really is pushing the boundaries here. Yes, it’s extremely realistic, and yes, it’s definitely a huge achievement to get this level of realism in a game like this but it also makes the learning curve incredibly steep. I played it with assisted control, which would allow me to maneuver through curves better and it would also make the braking mechanic a bit easier. Sadly, I never managed to truly master the controls and my bike. It’s not that I haven’t played heavy simulators like this one before, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it, which ended up in a constant failure.
Perhaps I’m not the targeted audience and perhaps there are people out there that will adore the crazy amount of realism but for me personally, it’s all a bit too much. I don’t have a problem with realism but things get problematic when you lose track of all individual components in order to win the race. It’s clear the development team loves motorcycles and they definitely achieved in making a hyper-realistic simulator, it just won’t click with most of the gamers since it’s all a bit too much.
On top of that also comes the fact that the game doesn’t look that good on Nintendo Switch. It’s all very playable and the performance is rather noteworthy but compared to the other versions, this one definitely took a serious hit. The surroundings look bland and boring and even the circuits and bikes are missing some crucial details to really make them pop. Of course, Switch owners already know you shouldn’t buy multiplatform games for the graphics but it’s still a shame, especially when you compare it to the other versions. Nothing game-breaking but not that pleasant to look at while playing.
In conclusion, coming up with funny NSFW puns on the title is perhaps the most fun we had with this game. Not for everyone but perhaps suitable for those looking for an extremely deep motorcycle simulator.
