The real stars of Riptide GP Renegade are not the paper-thin characters who pop up in the game's totally unnecessary cutscenes.
It's the tracks.
In one, a rocket ship takes off and the blast causes huge ripples in the water. In another, cops on jetskis try to nudge you off track and massive gunships float past to become impromptu ramps.
Times like this, Riptide really leans in to its arcade influences: the campy retro thrills of Hydro Thunder and Jet Moto. And when you're doing crazy stunts, breaking through glass, and doing a nitro-boost into first place the game is a lot of fun.
More often, though, Renegade plays it straight. The graphics are realistic - showing off the power of the iPad, but not Vector Unit's imagination. The colours are muted and the music is a tad bland. And those story bits? Oof. Let's not mention them.
And, for the most part, the racing can be rather tame as well. There's not an overwhelming sense of speed outside of the expert mode, racers rarely tussle for first place, the jumps aren't as huge as you might like, and the splashes aren't the mini tsunamis you might expect.
Which leaves Renegade - much like the other Riptide games - feeling like a pretty standard racing game, only on a lumpy road that jiggles about sometimes.
That's not a bad thing, mind you: the App Store needs more racers that look this good, and have responsive controls and formidable opponents.
And Riptide has its own charms: one clever system sees you doing tricks off jumps to fill up your boost meter. You'll have to carefully pick and time your stunts to avoid wiping out.
Plus, the game's packed with modes. You've got a career mode, a quick race mode, and a challenge mode where you climb the leaderboards. Plus, you've got full on online multiplayer and even splitscreen mode - provided you've got a bunch of MFi controllers.
This is easily the best Riptide game yet - far more accomplished than the first, and free from the microtransactions that drowned out the sequel - and an easy recommendation for those who want a good racer on iOS. But it'd be nice to see Vector Unit cut loose in game four.
Riptide GP Renegade review - Man overboard?
Another fine racing game from Vector Unit, filled with modes and great tracks. But it's often too stuffy and serious for its own good
Mark Brown
Mark Brown spent several years slaving away at the Steel Media furnace, finally serving as editor at large of Pocket Gamer before moving on to doing some sort of youtube thing.