About Genre Racing Rating Rated 'T ' for Mild Language, Mild ViolenceSummary The popular racing franchise takes a hard swerve in a unique direction with Ridge Racer Unbounded, adding a punishing. Namco's latest overhaul of its long-running Ridge Racer series, Ridge Racer Unbounded, look to bring some changes to the franchise. While you wait for the game to drop sometime in 2012, take a look at these new screens.
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I didn’t expect a whole lot from Unbounded as the last couple of Ridge Racer titles left me with a bad impression. The most recent disappointment was Ridge Racer for the PS Vita. The game felt incomplete and lacked of content, which really damaged the series for me. However, upon playing Unbounded for the PlayStation 3, I felt as if my faith in the Ridge Racer series might have been restored. While the series still has a way to go, Ridge Racer: Unbounded shows a bright future for the Ridge Racer series.One huge thing that I found awkward with Unbounded was the lack of feedback of what exactly the game was trying to be. With Gran Turismo, the game was specifically designed as a simulator and with Need for Speed, this is a series that has always been set-up as an arcade racer. With Unbounded, while yes it was an arcade racer, the fact that it felt so different made it hard for me to get into at first. If there’s one racing game on the market that Unbouned could be compared to then it’s Burnout: paradise, though minus the free roam option.
The game features a vast amount of destruction, which at first I didn’t quiet enjoy. It felt like it was something that was just tacked on and used to add more cinema to the game, however as time went on I began to slowly fall in love with this feature. Visuals and lighting are done wellWhile it’s not as robust as Burnout Paradise when it comes to destruction, I have to admit it’s still fun driving around towns and blowing small sections of it up. The visuals are actually surprisingly well done, and never once was there an issue with the frame-rate during these sequences.
Watching buildings collapse and cars catching on fire is all enjoyable, especially when they slow down at certain moments to add more of a cinematic effect. This felt like a way of rewarding the player for their actions, which I’ll explain later on, but for now, I’ll discuss controls and mechanics.I’m not to familiar with the Ridge Racer series, but if casual is the norm for the series then this is what Unbounded follows. Not saying that it’s a bad thing as this allows easy accessibility for anyone, but for those who are looking for something a bit more challenging I don’t see Unbounded being a title for you as you’ll most likely breeze right through it.
Anyway I can’t argue that there was anything wrong with the controls aside from drifting, which could have been better explained or tweaked as many times I found myself spinning out, but otherwise the controls felt pretty satisfying and easy to learn. One thing about the gameplay that fans would appreciate is the “Power” feature.
Using Power to your advantageThink of it as your boost or NOS system. Basically you are rewarded for the way you drive. Actions such as driving fast, tailing another driver, causing damage, and drifting all reward you with some points to fill up the power meter. Once this meter is filled there are many different actions that can be taken.
Either you can use your Power as a boost to catch up or gain more distance between other racers, or you can use it as a way to destroy structures and “FRAG” other racers. When your Power meter is full, on-screen aids will appear and indicate which structures can be destroyed. Destroying structures will allow you to create useful shortcuts that can be used to your advantage later on in the races. To “FRAG” another racer, all you have to do is use your Power right behind them and it will instantly destroy the other vehicle (though they’ll re-spawn).
Typically when I play racing games where I can destroy other vehicles I don’t really use it to my advantage, yet the developers behind Unbounded have created a system where it’s actually enjoyable to do so and doesn’t feel like you’ll be penalized for actions that would normally be considered bad. In fact here I felt like the more damage I caused the better the outcome. It’s a great way to feel rewarded for causing enough chaos, which in a sense falls into the plot of the story.The plot to the game isn’t really much to go on. Before you even start the game there’s a small sequence that will fill you in on the back story of rival gangs fighting for dominance in Shatter Bay. Your main role is to take control over districts found throughout Shatter Bay until you reach the final level. I wouldn’t call it much of a story, but it is a racing title and the main focus is gameplay.
Either way, the career will take you through a complete 30 ranks and through the five game-modes that are currently available. You’ve been FRAGGEDAside from your basic racing mode, time attacks, and drift mode, Unbounded introduces a different type of mode that I have never seen in a racing genre.
The mode is called FRAG mode, and like I described FRAG previously, this mode will require you to destroy specific amounts of vehicles. This is by far my favorite game-mode available in the game as it’s a nice break from your normal racing mode, and honestly it’s just plain fun driving in a huge monster vehicle causing havoc all across town.So aside from career and a multiplayer mode, Unbounded also offers one more little surprise that I wished more games supported.
The game implements a full custom track editor that allows you to edit and create your own race tracks. You can do a huge amount of track editing here, though you are limited with a budget meter AKA the usage meter. Otherwise you’re free to add whatever you earned from campaign mode, and after your done editing your track you can share your “Cities” as they’re called, with anyone around the world. Though I haven’t spent to much time with this feature, since I’m not really into creating my own content, the fact that there’s nearly an endless amount of tracks available means that this game can strive on for a very long time and has a huge amount of replay value added to it. Drifting pass the competition?I have to say Unbounded surprised me in more ways then expected.
While in a sense it isn’t that huge of a title compared to the big dogs, Unbounded is still overall a great game and should be welcomed into the racing community. With great visuals, stable online system, and a user generated content feature, Ridge Racer: Unbounded has somewhat restored my faith in the Ridge Racer series. I only hope that this means that Ridge Racer will continue to improve from here on out.For more information on how we review games check out our criteria here. A copy of this title was provided to The Paranoid Gamer by the publisher for review purposes. If you have any questions about this game the reviewer will be able to answer them in the comment section.
Like first-person shooters, racing games are a dime a dozen. But despite that being the case, there are few series as aged as Ridge Racer, with its first title having been released in 1994 for the PSone. The first RR title I played was Rage Racer, released in 1996 and also for the PSone. Since then I’ve been a big fan of the series.There are a couple of things that make Ridge Racer Unbounded a special release. For one, it’s the first proper RR game to come out since Ridge Racer 7, released for the PS3 in 2006. Second, it’s the first RR ever to be released for the PC.
As someone who doesn’t play consoles much anymore, the fact that this iteration is available on the PC is exciting.Of course, just because a game gets released to the PC doesn’t mean that it’s a “true PC game”. Ridge Racer Unbounded is in fact a console port, but for fans of the series, or racing fans in general who don’t insist on the best graphics possible, few are going to be disappointed. There’s a ton of eye-candy, and overall, the game world looks great.There is one important caveat, however. There are virtually no graphics options to tweak. No AA to adjust, no AF to increase, no texture detail to alter nothing. Sure, you can increase the brightness, but I don’t think anyone considers that to be a valuable graphics tweak.Console portalitis aside, Ridge Racer Unbounded is sure to receive a mixed reaction by PC gamers.
The reason is two-fold. First, if you’re someone who’s never been much into consoles, chances are you’re not familiar with this series at all. That can result in you having expectations that might not be lived up to. Second, if you’re looking for a Need for Speed clone, Ridge Racer isn’t it.Ridge Racer is about as close to an “arcade” racer as you can get. The racing is often unrealistic, and the ease of drifting, unparalleled.
But RR’s goal is to be fun and offer an exciting racing experience – not a realistic one.Even for fans of the series, Unbounded isn’t typical. While the driving mechanics are as expected (and quite good overall), the level of destruction has been cranked up in this iteration. The game comes off to me as a cross between Burnout and Blur, although weapons are not implemented (thanks for not going that route, Namco).If there’s one thing lacking from most racers, it’s a good story. Unbounded doesn’t become an exception, and in fact, its story is about the simplest I’ve ever seen. At the start of the game, you’re briefly given a character backstory, and after that, you’re off to the races.
Unlike Need for Speed games, which typically have “bosses” to defeat and then continue the story with the help of those, Unbounded has no such thing. Once you’re racing, the story is pretty much yours to make up. Unbounded takes place in “Shatter Bay”, a city infused with similarities to some US cities, such as New York and Chicago. This city is split up into sections, each with their own sets of events.
However, these districts can at times intertwine depending on the race, so while you may be entering a brand-new district, you’re sure to see landmarks from adjoining districts.“Domination” is the most common race-type in Unbounded. It’s a standard race, but with the ability to knock-out opponents and also smash through certain buildings for shortcut purposes.
“Shindo” races are also standard, but without those extra perks. “Frag Attack” are special races that avail you near limitless boost to take out as many opponents as you can within the time-limit, and finally, “Time Attack” speaks for itself.Each district has at least seven races, and once all seven are beaten, you’ll have “Dominated” that district. In order to get into the latter races in a given district, however, you’ll need to perform well enough in the previous ones – it’s not only a matter of placing first. Your score can go up based on the number of opponents you take out, drifts you pull off, buildings you smash through and so on.
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