A large portion of the scenery in Unbounded can simply be driven through, from stone walls to metal pylons and fences - which creates visual chaos on practically every straight and turn. The reason for their scarcity is probably down to the level of destruction offered up in Unbounded’s core racing modes, which do a good job of blowing things up during regular play. Frag Attacks offer a bit of variety and the chance to smash your way through enemy cars to score a victory, but they tend to act as pallet cleansers, and are few and far between. Domination races are the most prevalent (straight-up races against up to 11 other CPU drivers), whilst drift events and time attacks round out the traditional pedal-to-the metal modes.

The events themselves are mostly broken up into four categories. Dominating races (which involves placing in the top three) unlocks new tiers and new locations, and the unrelenting difficulty means there’s plenty of longevity to be found in Shatter Bay. As you accrue those scores your overall racer level increases, unlocking tile sets, vehicles and various other trinkets to play with in the track editor (more on that later). Each of the themed zones is broken up into individual races, with high scores the primary focus for progression. The traditional singleplayer career mode is set in ‘Shatter Bay’, which is an amalgamation of locations that represent the industrial and commercial side of various US cities. It’s a little bit Burnout, it’s a little bit Split/Second, and it’s quite the refresh for a series that had developed its own seemingly insurmountable stylistic trench. It’s far more concerned with grime and ‘underground’ racing this time around, with the traditional rail-drifts and all-out acceleration ditched in favour of a more weighty, damage-laden physics model that crunches and grinds where the series used to gracefully slide.

It’s a game of incredibly contrasting experiences as a result, with enjoyment levels mapping almost directly to whether or not the controversial drift mechanic manages to ‘click’.īacking it up a little, Unbounded is a departure for the Ridge Racer series as a whole, with development duties transferred to Flatout creators Bugbear. As much as we bemoan too much hand-holding in modern gaming, Unbounded takes the opposite route, leaving you to figure out its arcade racing mechanics entirely for yourself. If ever there was an an advocate for the inclusion of thorough tutorials in videogames, they’ll likely illustrate their point with Ridge Racer Unbounded for years to come.

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