Ridge Racer Unbounded Review
A racing title that is unable to fully utilize the mechanics it borrows from other games, resulting in a positively average experience
Aside from the campaign mode, you can also head online. Things do tend to get better here, as real opponents will actually make shortcuts (AI never does this), and utilize them. In addition to standard events set by developers, players are encouraged to create and share tracks using the game’s city editor. Similarly to Gran Turismo 5, you can put together large stretches of road and then arrange them in any order you see fit. It’s an easy and intuitive process, though the game did crash a few times just trying to start the editor. Playing through the campaign will unlock more elements to use, but overall the amount of assets is respectable. You can then upload your cities and tracks for the world to see, attempting to set or beat your own score. There’s some concern with lack of quality control – a large number of user created cities floating around are designed specifically to boost your XP with minimal effort by creating near-endless explosions, thus somewhat exploiting the tool. Perhaps most surprising of all is the lack of basic online leaderboards.
Ridge Racer unbounded is a decently looking game. The graphical options on PC are minimal at best, but at least things like AA and aspect ratio adjustments are included. The HUD in the races is lacking – which is both a positive and a negative. While racing, various messages such as laps remaining and how far behind or ahead you are get displayed across the environments – Splinter Cell Conviction style. It looks great and does work as a viable alternative to simply having a HUD element. On the other hand though, it sure would have been great to see a boost bar actually deplete during use so that you could estimate if you have enough left to tag the next opponent or create a shortcut – rather than hit a brick wall as your boost has just ran out. A basic map would have been beneficial as well.
There is a speedometer, but it’s unnecessary at best – mostly because the game lacks any real sense of speed. Going 50 or 100 km/h hardly feels any different. The tracks utilize mostly the same textures over and over, not that they can be seen very well through all that darn sun glare right into your eyes. Destroying the environment isn’t very detailed either; instead everything just explodes in a bit of dust and debris. Cars all mostly sound the same, most of the audio effects are basic, and the soundtrack is composed of very forgettable techno music. In other words, the game often looks and sounds rather low budget. At least the loading times are extremely fast.
So what is Ridge Racer Unbounded? Well, it’s not really a Ridge Racer game, nor is it a very enjoyable racing game either. Taking a few key mechanics from other series and attempting to use them is a sound strategy, had those mechanics not been stripped down and otherwise mangled with. As it stands, Unbounded is neither as cinematic as Split Second nor as fun to drive and crash as Burnout. It’s a game that has little identity, beyond its important yet frustrating drifting mechanic. There aren’t issues on the technical front – but again, nothing stands out either. It’s a game that’s tough to recommend – the elements included should have created a fun game in theory. But in reality, Ridge Racer Unbounded is just plain and rather uninspired.
Our ratings for Ridge Racer Unbounded on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Performance
(Show PC Specs)
CPU: Intel Core i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
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