You May Have Missed Out On Ridge Racer Unbounded

I’ve been playing a lot of Ridge Racer Unbounded recently, and since I’m not aware of the game having been given much exposure by this site, I thought I would offer up a tentative recommendation for anyone who is after a challenging, compelling arcade racer. Bugbear Entertainment’s take on the long-running Ridge Racer series was released early last year to lukewarm reviews, but if you have patience with it, you may find yourself getting sucked into an addictive, underrated racer.

This is my first experience with a Ridge Racer game, and I am aware that Unbounded was a change of direction for the series, being closer to the Burnout games in its feel and style. Initially, I hated it. Getting boost power in this game relies heavily on your ability to drift around tight corners which requires careful timing, as well as going head to head with some aggressive A.I. opponents who are happy to run you off the road without a second thought.

After many crashes and rage quits, I managed to get the hang of things, and started to really enjoy how the game plays. For one thing, the environment is far more destructible than your average Burnout game. Pillars, concrete walls and even petrol stations can be ploughed through so long as you’re travelling at a reasonable speed. Only a head-on collision with the side of a building will cause a serious crash. Even then, a well-timed boost will allow you to break through certain buildings that the game will draw your attention to, such as offices and cafes.

Another neat idea the game has is its HUD, or rather its lack of it. On default settings, the only information consistently displayed by the HUD is your race position and your boost meter. Other information is projected onto the scenery in large white letters. Not only does this add to the game’s stylish aesthetic, it also keeps HUD clutter minimal and saves you having to continually glance into the corners of the screen to update yourself on the progress of the race.

What I’m enjoying most about Unbounded, however, is the very thing that threatened to turn me off it in the first place: the challenge. It’s the more punishing elements of this Ridge Racer game, like the emphasis on meticulously timed drifting or the aggressive A.I., that makes finishing a race in first place feel like a genuinely satisfying achievement. Where other games might liberally shower you with new cars, challenges and unlocks, Unbounded makes you work for your rewards. It demands a certain level of mastery while always giving you just enough sense of progress to keep you from feeling as though you’re banging your head against a brick wall.

Unbounded has its issues. Tracks can start to feel samey after a while, as they’re essentially a series of nondescript streets, motorways and harbours. There are technical issues too, such as the camera occasionally malfunctioning while the car is boosting, or debris obstructing your vision just long enough to cause you to slam into a wall. It’s also true that Unbounded owes a lot to the likes of Burnout and Split/Second: Velocity, something which reviewers were keen to point out when it was released. Despite all that, and the game’s rather unwelcoming learning curve, Ridge Racer Unbounded has a special something that has kept me coming back to it. Give it a rent if it sounds like your cup of tea.