Ridge Racer Unbounded: Game Review

Developer: BugBear Entertainment
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

The Ridge Racer franchise has been with us for decades now, initially starting life as an arcade machine you had to pop 20c coins into, but the Japanese published Namco Bandai has decided to take the franchise in a new, more destructive direction.

As the name suggests, Ridge Racer Unbounded removes the boundaries set in place by regular racing games, allowing drivers to basically smash their way through urban courses. See a car in your way? Just smash through it. Concrete pillar approaching fast? Power slide into it and it'll explode in a hail of rock hard chips. Simply put, this is Ridge Racer with a 'Burnout' twist.

The emphasis of Ridge Racer Unbounded is be destroy things in Shatter Bay, the originally named city in which the game takes place, and taking a leaf out of the Burnout franchise you'll be rewarded with intense slow motion follow cameras as you destroy your rivals.

There are also rewards for finding shortcuts by crashing through barriers and the sort, and like its contemporaries you build up a power gauge that you can unleash to increase speed and more easily destroy obstacles or even set off chain reactions.

This iteration of the Ridge Racer franchise is developed by Finish studio BugBear and the Finnish developer has clearly brought the game in line with many other popular arcade racing games on the market today, and away from the cutesy anime theme it was heading toward in the past.

Ridge Racer Unbounded provides a sense of adventure not found always found in modern racing games, with the ability to lock on targets and take out obstacles of interest, wether that be a building or a explosive vehicle (fuel tanker anyone?). However there aren't any realy innovations for the genre. The idea of carving your own racing line and not worrying about obstacles in your way is interesting, but not novel.

There is a story of sorts: You join the Unbounded street racing gang, led by the smouldering Kara Shindo, and must test your driving skills against rival gangs in every street and alley of Shatter Bay. There's also a few classic Ridge Racer track in there, which is good. Anyway, you must prove your worth to get respect and expand your turf, and you do this not only by winning races, but racking up high scores by destroying rival racers and your surroundings.

The environment is strictly urban:  Shatter Bay lives by its own rules and is ripe for being torn apart by the overpowered vehicles spearing through its many areas, which consist of the commercial zone, refinery, port, and high-rise construction sites.

In terms of how the game plays, Ridge Racer Unbounded is a success. The physics engine is equal parts arcade and sim, with a good feel to the way the cars sit on the road and plenty of difference between different cars. Yes, it's unrealistic in that you can smash through traffic and the odd concrete pillar but the cars handle nicely. There's also lots of eye candy and the special effects are designed to involve gamers even more with directly with the environment and vehicle destruction.

The game breathes new life into the Ridge Racer franchise and though its nothing amazingly new for the destruction/racing genre, it is a lot more fun than we were expecting. Well worth playing.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is now available in Australia and New Zealand on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.