Ridge Racer™ Unbounded

the game is good, nothing more

Oh, my poor BUGBEAR studio... I expected so much more from you when I bought this game considering how I like FlatOut 2 and FlatOut Ultimate Carnage... Even more so when I saw one of the DLC vehicles were a hearse. The DLC vehicles are crap, and while the game itself is just "okay" at best there is an annoying issue where the game tries to connect to the game's online servers which have long since been shut down. It does this until it times out and you can not skip this process. Do not buy ANY Ridge Racer unless it's by NAMCO. THAT is my recommendation

★ Please check out my curator pages and my other content ★

★ Regular Cuppa Tea Reviews

★ Adult (18+) Cuppa Tea Reviews

★ My Classy Content

★ Screenshot/meme image dump

I'm really sorry but I tried really hard to like this game but theres so much wrong with this game:

-The graphics in this game are great however, the graphics is not good compared to Blur and Split/Second which were released an entire year before this game

-The Drifting Physics and Corners is awful in this game, in my 7 hours of gameplay i don't think i went through a corner perfectly because of this really garbage drifting physics and if you would drift a second early it would usually oversteer and ruins you're advantage of winning.

-The car selection is good but the DLC vehicles are alot better for playing through the game except for the ridge racer vehicles.

-The Drift attack mode seems unfair to me because for some reason even if you get a 70+ drift points in one go it wouldnt add the 7 seconds on the clock sometimes.

-The Map editor is not good at all, basically it contains parts of map which you can use to create different maps which i think is great, however, the destructable buildings are also included in them which makes the game feel repetitive if you play more than 1 map editor.

-The Shindo mode is one of the worst attempts by namco to give old fans an excuse for old racing mechanics but its basically just a map without any destructable buildings and all vehicles are colored yellow which makes it even worse, not even the new nitrous color can help it.

-The nitrous physics and vehicle is just so bad in this game i tried really hard to like it but it justs getss worser as you progress, if an ai and you try to collide with eachother while using nitrous, the physics becomes disastrous and you would usually slow and most of time collide to the wall. and sometimes if you destroy a building and go through it, it would sometimes bounces off your car.

-Other modes are fine to me but the time attack feels like the game gave us way less time to complete them

-This Game is not a good game at all and the game gets even worse when you realize how different the older games were compared to this it would make you say, "What the hell happened?" and the developers behind this game are the same developers who made the flatout series. They were originally supposed to make the third game for the series, However, they had to work for this abomination which gave Team6, a developing who are specializing in making shovelware games to take the ip of the flatout series and created the third game which was not only the worst rated game in the whole steam for an whole decade but the game was also give a psychological horror genre. flatout did made flatout 4 but it wasnt very well rated by the fans as well. but the fact that how this decision not only killed an iconic racing game in the 90s but the best destruction derby racing game series aswell bothers me so much about this game...

Seriously, I would love to see this game comeback but if the gameplay remains like this but its better for it to rot to death for another decade or two.

**Final Rating: 5.5/10

I have been spoiled by burnout on the PlayStation 2. And because of it, the review is going to be a reflection of that. The rubber banding in this game is terrible. Meaning, you are ahead of the vehicle after you crash them, and yet they manage to be right behind you and overtake you after you slow down to make a turn, despite being five to eight seconds behind you. The vehicles feel like you're driving a boat. You have to practice using the Spacebar, or what you assume is the brake button, which is actually drifting, to try to get ahead. It is a poor version of Burnout. With the prevalence of emulators and the multiplayer portion having been shut down, this game is very hard to recommend.

Last time I played this game it was on a Intel i7 (Gen 1!) 5870m laptop. Now I got more horsepower to run it and it's a much better experience, than it was the first time.

Absolute blast to play if you have the patience.

This is a weird game, it's not necessarily within the Ridge Racer formula of games, but it's a flawed masterpiece, in my opinion. It's a good mix of Burnout with Split/Second, i'd say.

I had played the demo back in 2012 in my 360 and i found it fun. The only issue with this is the lack of graphical settings to lower graphics and etc. and the fact the Steam overlay makes the frames drop.

Shame the franchise is dead. Bandai Namco should have a renaissance of their dead IPs. It's happening, slowly, but surely.

Coming out from Flatout 2 (same devs) i was thinking it couldn't be that bad (as steam review is mixed) but boy do i regret this. The game have the right hook to pull me in but just like people who addicted with League of legends, they were miserable yet can't stop playing. I was playing this & keep thinking myself the good part of the game will come out, but it ain't happening after 5 hours & now, I have to give thumbs down for this one.

The car in the game is really sticky to the ground unlike in flatout 2, so drifting is really tough to pull & if u did, u might get left behind. Drifting is more likely to slow u down than staying fast. There are few section in a track where drifting will get u far but u have to learn the location & how to tackle it, as not every corner will reward your drift. I never even see the npc's car drifting yet they boosting as many time as they wish & we (the player) have to wait until our gauge filled. I felt manipulated & very disappointed. Also the game gave kinda delayed feedback when u r actually already spun out & skidding so it's hard to course correct the over steer, unlike in flatout.

Another thing is the engine sound don't rhyme with speed. The engine don't feel like u shifting to higher gear, it felt like shifting to the same gear instead.

The great thing that i don't regret is the graphics. It really is AAA quality. Even if u just want to cruise the game it's worth it (on sale mind u). Also the environmental physics with debris flying around just like in flatout is here & just as entertaining. I was having high hope this game is a hidden gem that i would enjoy but the ridge racer formula don't translate well with bugbear i guess. I was thinking the flatout drift will shine in this game & unfortunately it didn't & what we got is unrewarding.

Classic arcade racing with burnout like destruction from the devs that gave us Flatout. MAGNIFICENT!!! This is better than a lot of current gen arcade racers.

i've never played a ridge racer game before so i'd say this is the best one
however
no ridges, but many racers
also has dubstep (be warned for trace amounts of epic) 😎

Wow... I mean, just wow. This game absolutely slaps. Some of the most over the top, fun wrecks in a game I've ever seen. Destructible environments, environmental takedowns, stylish visuals. Whats not to love?

Full video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKPIcd-6U0Q

I knew what I was getting into when I picked this up in a sale but man, I was not prepared!
Not only is this the worst Ridge Racer game ever to hold that moniker, it's not even a good racing game if you remove the moniker.
Controls are awful, the 'drift' mechanic is nonsense at the highest level.
The AI blatantly cheats to the point that Mario Kart would blush.
And the courses are just not fun to race around.
Only positives are the graphics are nice and the soundtrack is decent enough.
Time to turn on my PS1 and play the original Ridge Racer, need to be reminded why I love the franchise.
Do not buy this game, even in a deep sale, put the cash towards a pint, a pizza, anything!

It's made by another maker, but i did happen to win thanks to having my framerate above 60fps.

Is Ridge Racer Unbounded a good Ridge Racer game? No. Absolutely not.

The game is very much a product of its time, the 7th console generation, when Japanese publishers struggled with trying to make their games more relevant to western audiences. For Namco’s part, they would attempt to do this with both their Ace Combat and Ridge Racer series. While fans of both franchises mostly see these games in a negative light, it could be argued that at least Assault Horizon still fundamentally succeeded at being an Ace Combat game, despite its westernized flourishes. However, Unbounded does not. A few throwback DLC cars and music tracks are not enough to turn a destruction racer into a Ridge Racer title, and their inclusion feels more like an insult than a bonus. Like lipstick on a pig.

Does that mean that Ridge Racer Unbounded is a bad game? Ehhhh.

If a destruction racer, a la Burnout or Flatout (also made by the developer of Unbounded, Bugbear Entertainment) is what you want, then Unbounded may be worth a look. Yes, the online aspect has been shut down so you’ll never get to play multiplayer, share your created tracks with others, or get all of the achievements. The drifting is nothing like Ridge Racer, requiring the player to carefully balance their use of the gas, the brake, and the handbrake to effectively do it. The game’s emphasis on building tracks from premade blocks can also make the game feel uncanny when you get too good at recognizing the different corners or straights as you drive through them. The game’s occasional difficulty spikes can be frustrating, although it’s never impossible for someone willing to apply some effort. All of that is the truth.

But there is a very simple pleasure in blasting through the tracks, fragging the other cars and smashing through buildings, billboards and other scenery like an angry wrecking ball. Perhaps this shouldn’t be your first choice for some automotive violence, but for only a few dollars, you can do much worse.

(Also, the game runs flawlessly on my modernish, windows 10 PC without having to mess with any settings on my Nvidia 2080 Super graphics card.)

Mehcommended