Riders Republic - Pockett Car impressions

Riders Republic players have finally received the first of the new Pockett line of Toys in the form of the Pockett Car. This nimble, miniature speedster is quite the interesting piece of kit in comparison to most of the other gear in the game. That said, it makes for a very fun and technical addition that provides an amusing new challenge for players to master—albeit, with mixed value.

Small, yet powerful

The Pockett Car offers quite a lot of agility. Similar to that of the mountainboard (which arrived a few months ago,) it’s powered by a beefy battery that provides a lot of juice.

It can easily get up to around 65+ mph, making it one of the quicker motorized vehicles in the Republic. While its boost doesn’t last for very long, using it while going down a decent enough decline can get the vehicle up to just under 100mph.

Along with its quick agility, the Pockett Car offers snappy cornering and prime grip. This little (seemingly-plastic molded) monster makes easy work of paved surfaces, but also handles exceptionally well across most off-road paths. There was even a moment where I caught myself performing an epic recovery when I began to slide down a cliff; the car curved upwards and snapped back onto the trail in seconds, allowing me to keep my run going without a crash.

Out and about

Trails and courses previously used by standard bikes are a great proving ground for getting acquainted with the Pockett Car. Its feathery nature also allows it to effortlessly take off from ramps and small inclines, with a host of tricks your rider can perform. Of course, as is the case with all the other gear, you need to butter the landing, otherwise your rider will be rag-dolling all over the terrain.

Despite making use of some of the trick assists, I still find the Pockett Car a bit technical when it comes to keeping a good combo flowing.

Nothing is wrong with the vehicle itself, though its small center of gravity allows it to fly almost too well, so sticking the landing at speed is not the easiest feat. But, again, that’s what Riders Republic is all about—honing your skills no matter how crazy the gear you’re using is.

One real downside to its move set is that the ‘LB’ button (when playing with an Xbox controller) is used for both boosting and performing a quick 180°-degree turn. The turnaround is done by simply tapping the button; something that’s easy to do by accident when the actual intention is to perform a quick boost.

Unlike when on a skateboard or snowboard/skis, doing this maneuver in the Pockett Car slows it down almost to a halt, which can be quite costly in a race. It’s just something that takes getting used to, thus forcing you to train yourself to be more deliberate with that particular button press.

That aside, the Pockett Car is still more fun than I would’ve imagined. Yet, what would make it even better is if I got to use it more.

Finding the fun

For launch week, there’s a mere single event that allows all players to try out and get formally acquainted with the Pockett Car—the LIVE edition of “Meat-Balls Spaghetti” over in Bryce Canyon.

It’s a standard checkpoint race that has you whipping around the tight corners of a very curvy mountain road. I took the liberty of playing the event a few times and at some point decided to swap through the various camera modes.

While I usually tend to avoid the game’s GoPro-style first-person view, it’s arguably the superior camera mode for the Pockett Car.

Seeing that this is a car, this viewpoint feels more natural, while also providing an insane sense of speed as the scenery warps around the edges of the FOV.

When performing tricks, the camera will quickly pull back out to the regular third-person view to help you aim your trajectory, before smoothly flowing back to the FPV mode after you land. It’s a really tight setup that looks and feels very cohesive.

That aside, the fact that there’s only one official launch event—as good as it is—blows a pretty big hole in the value proposition of this new piece of kit.

The silver lining in this particular situation is that the Pockett Car has arrived alongside a big update to the Event Creator; something the Ubisoft Annecy team has been gradually fleshing out. This Season 14 update has brought with it a lot of new props and building tools to help creators conjure up even more complex custom events.

Popping into the Labs menu, I perused through the ‘Toys/Multi Sports’ section. This is where Pockett Car custom events are housed, alongside the several other pieces of gear in what is now the vast Toys category.

This lack of proper filtering does make finding a Pockett Car-specific event a little cumbersome; definitely something the devs should address for all the gear in the Toys category, especially as Custom Events have become a larger focus of the gameplay experience. Nevertheless, I tried a handful of creations, which were all mostly good, even if they were on the shorter side.

Most consisted of checkpoint races through existing roadways and courses, though a few took more creative liberties and had the Pockett Car tearing through more rugged paths and vaulting over ramps.

One such more extreme event was the creative “Celestial Glow” by ‘Ket-Ocean’ (Event Code: VKCZFV) and it was pretty well put together. ‘GalaxyGirlHero’ made a more traditional race-style event with “The East Path” (Event Code: 89FZK3,) another stand-out.

As of right now, it’s clear that taking advantage of such community creations is the best way to get the most out of the Pockett Car, aside from roaming around the map and finding your own fun.

I did just that by taking the Pockett Car down to the old stunt course at Sheep Bottom in the Canyonlands region (located towards the very south of the map.) This is perhaps best enjoyed with one of the standard bikes, but the Pockett Car felt right at home throughout the course.

It made me love its near instant cornering and slick air maneuverability even more. It also helps that the thing can actually grind somehow, as there are a few old cable lines in the park right after big jumps. Indeed, a few runs in this spot alone should be enough to help you sharpen your skills with this cool Toy.

Putting a price tag on pleasure

Considering how capable this little mean machine is, the Pockett Car truly is a great addition to the gear roster of Riders Republic. But, it is a shame that it doesn’t come bundled with a new list of Career events.

The recent arrival of the mountainboard and longboard both come with their own events, as does the skateboard pack.

Though, truth be told, many of the Toys in the game do not feature their own dedicated career path—the hoverboard being another such example. Just as it was disappointing in that instance, so too it is with the Pockett Car.

Both of these Toys are extremely fun to use and offer a much wilder experience than the more realistic pieces of gear featured in the game.

This is, unsurprisingly, due to the fact that they both happen to be fictional. They bend the laws of reality just enough to not break the game, allowing for a slick, fun experience that players can exploit to their heart’s content. It’s a shame that there aren’t dev-made events to truly show off their potential.

There will be more LIVE events for the Pockett Car sprinkled throughout Season 14, thus offering tryout sessions for interested players. This is in addition to giving content owners something official to sink their teeth into—an overall lukewarm state of affairs, but it does count as something.

Still, as mentioned before, the improved functionality of the Event Creator cannot be overlooked. The community (as small as it might be) has already demonstrated an interest in crafting courses of their own to pad out the usability of the Pockett Car.

You can nab a single car for 1,050 Republic Coins (valued at $10 USD,) or grab all three of the skins as a pack alongside the rest of the Year 4 content with the Year 4 Pass for 2,300 Republic Coins (valued at $20 USD.)

It’s arguably more worth your while to go for the Year 4 Pass, considering it’ll grant access to the upcoming Pockett Plane and Pockett Hovercraft that are set to come in Season 15. Additionally, the dirt bikes releasing later this year will be part of the Pass.

That said, none of these new pieces of gear will feature dedicated career events, so their usability will be much like the Pockett Car: a really neat concept that’s left primarily up to the community to flesh out.

Considering these have to be paid for in order to access rather than being given for free, the lack of dedicated events is an annoying drawback at best.