Ridge Racer Unbounded

[Yoshi]

Oooh... with Steamworks support no less.

I still can't believe this is actually apparently good. I don't wildly miss often with my initial perceptions, but this one appears to have been a complete whiff.

[GohanX]

Well, in your defense the inital information we had was just a video of the Ridge Racer girl being homicidal.

[bVork]

I like this game! A lot! It's most reminiscent of Split/Second, but without any rubberbanding. This is both a good and a bad thing. You can end up ten seconds ahead of the pack and not see anyone for the rest of the race via awesome driving skill, but you can also get creamed really early on and never have an opportunity to catch up. The boost mechanic is almost identical to the powerplay mechanic in Split/Second: you do drifts or drafts or jumps to earn boost, then you can use it for a nitro boost that can either easily take out other racers, ala Burnout or allow you to plow through marked buildings and objects, creating new shortcuts (and probably blowing up any other cars nearby). But unlike Split/Second, you can chain this stuff: creating a shortcut or taking down another car will probably net you almost enough boost to immediately perform another. This means that you can go on a complete rampage, chaining together shortcuts, takedowns, and drifts to boost for long periods of time.

The handling is much more akin to FlatOut than Ridge Racer, though without any of the reactive physics that would slow you down in the former if you bumped an object on the track. Instead, you just plow right through anything that isn't a wall. This is a little disorienting at first, as you'll probably swerve to avoid things that you can actually go right through, but it doesn't take all that long to learn what can and cannot be destroyed. Drifts don't act anything like those in Ridge Racer. There's no automatic control over your path, and you'll probably plow right into a wall the first few times you attempt one.

I haven't really messed with the track editor yet, but it seems to be incredibly powerful. It might even allow for more complexity and detail than Trackmania's wonderful editor.

This is not a Ridge Racer game. It is its own thing. And it is very well done.

[Changeling]

Damn I want this game! I dug split/second and could use a new racing game. Are there any takedown mechanics like Burnout Revenge?

Also, are you playing the PC version or console? I wanna go were there's the most people online.

[haohmaru]

Yeah, played for quite a few hours yesterday and really like this game. The single player is pretty challenging. Though, I have to disagree with the above in that I feel that the stuff you plow through actually does slow you down, if only a little. Also, you can destroy larger objects with a charged power up, but going through them again actually seems like it isn't beneficial in some tracks. There are takedowns ("frags"), crashes, etc... The game is reminiscent of a split/second / burnout hybrid. This is nothing like Ridge Racer 6. You can upload your created tracks and other people can play them. Only tried multiplayer once and got my ass handed to me. I got the 360 version.

[Changeling]

This sounds like it has all the influences I want in a racing game. I'll be picking this up!

I read on an inferior board that the PC version has problems with connecting online and some issues with Radeon cards. Just a heads up.

[Chux]

I do like Burnout, and I do like me some Split/Second.... hm.

[GohanX]

For some reason, I'm more excited now that it seems like a Split/Second sequel than an actual Ridge Racer game. That seems wrong.

[haohmaru]

Nah, RR 6 sucked ass

[GohanX]

I didn't think it sucked it was just like this:

Ridge Racer PSP: Totally awesome!!!!

Ridge Racer 6: Hey, this plays like the PSP game in HD? *10 minutes later* Okay, I've had enough, I've played this before.

Ridge Racer 7: Oh, this is just like 6. *10 minutes later* Okay, I'm going to go play some Metal Gear now.