Ridge Racer Unbounded Demo

Arcade racing games have only one purpose, when it comes to raising to the expectations: providing the players with a lot of fun, using any means at its disposal. However, there are some other defining characteristics as well,without which the entire scheme collapses, regardless of how much potential the game has under its hood.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is an arcade racing game that aims to continue the tradition of the series and help you have some consequence-free fun on the streets of a fictional city by the name of Shatter Bay. By participating in a variety of intense game modes, such as domination or drift, you must do your best to overtake the opposition and obtain some prestige in the process, as well as perform crazy stunts.

Naturally, most of the handling and the mechanics have nothing to do with reality, although that has been one of the defining characteristics of the series since the beginning. However, the handling is much less responsive this time around, which fails to be fun and becomes frustrating instead. Not being able to properly control the vehicles makes it difficult to properly enjoy the races as well.

Since drifting was a big part of the series, you would expect it to make a comeback in this title as well, which it does, unfortunately. Although it is still possible to perform drifts, they are not nearly as entertaining, while the bad controls make it very difficult to keep them going for longer distances. Hence, they quickly become to boring to keep on executing, which is yet another dent in the overall gameplay rating.

Visually, the game does do a lot better, especially when it comes to level design, reflections and car geometry. It still could have used a bit of work in the texture department, but the night makes it more difficult to notice the imperfections, what with the neon signs spread throughout the city and the aggressive reflections that cover everything.

In the end, Ridge Racer Unbounded could have been a lot more fun and entertaining, but a lot of effort went into all the wrong places, rather than where it matters the most. Thus, the bad handling system and the somewhat disappointing drifting experience make the entire game look bad, even if the potential is there.