Ridge Racer 6

With the series missing out Xbox, this is the first time Ridge Racer has been taken on Xbox Live, or online for that matter.  2 – 16 players can battle it out, and the frantic racing experience should make for the ultimate online experience.  However, as well as limited options I found there to be some serious frame-rate issues online.  This of course won’t happen for everybody, but I have had no such issues on any other game.  The abundance of far-eastern players certainly doesn’t help this problem, but I was also having the problem with people in relatively close parts of England.  Another problem for some will be the sheer skill of many opponents.  This is one of those games, where if somebody has mastered it you’ll have absolutely no chance against them, and you may find yourself being embarrassingly timed out and lapped a few times too many.  It’s not all bad though, an incentive is provided to play online by earning a car every 10 races and many of the achievement points are obtained through online success.

Cars are available to download for free in the marketplace too.  An idea rarely used in 360 games, and one that hopefully more developers will implement.

Offline multiplayer is available too, in the form of split screen, but unfortunately only 2 players can be accommodated.

The controls are pretty standard with the usual right triggers as accelerate and left trigger as brake.  The RB and LB buttons are used to shift gears should you chose manual, and B is assigned with nitrous boost, Y double boost, or Y and B together for a super boost.  As with most racing games the controls are very simple, and the drifting makes it even more so, eliminating the need to hit the brakes with perfect timing.  This makes for a very gentle learning curve, easing you into each faster class  One difficulty that cropped up, albeit rarely, was the activation of drifts.  Sometimes the drift simply doesn’t activate and you find yourself bouncing straight into a wall, sometimes ruining all hopes of glory.  However, this issue is too rare to be considered as a serious game flaw. 

Ridge Racer 6 offers a real contrast in visuals at times.  One moment you’re admiring the shiny car models, eccentricities such as low flying aircraft, excellent roads and great night lighting effects.  However despite some decent lush environments, courses are often uninspired, underwhelming and repetitive.  Those expecting the awe-inspiring courses of PGR3 will only be disappointed.  The latter mentioned ‘eccentricities’ are of interest, and are trade mark to the Ridge Racer series, they soon wear thin.  I suppose this can be forgiven since there are a huge 235 tracks, but some players may grow bored of the game long before they experience the real challenges because they’ve had quite enough of mountainous courses that are essentially the same as those from other Ridge Racer games. While car models are generally attractive, the fact they aren’t Ferrari’s and the like somewhat detracts from the drooling.

Do you remember that extremely irritating commentator in Burnout 3?  Well, after enduring the ‘craziness’ of Ridge Racer 6’s commentator, you’ll be begging the Burnout guy to fill in, even if it’s just for an hour.  After a few hours of play, you’ll really be dying to track this commentator down, break his jaw and fill it with quick drying-cement.  The words “Wow, you’ve got some crazy moves” will, ironically, drive you crazy.  You’ve got to credit Namco for trying to make it more exciting by having this guy, but they should be hanged for giving him so few lines that you hear them over and over, and for putting ‘crazy’ into every one!  You’ve told us it’s crazy through the gameplay, telling us every other second is just trying too much.

The vehicles noises are all standard, and the “whoosh” noise from releasing a nitrous is ever-so satisfying.

Final Word

Ridge Racer 6 is really a game you’ll either love or hate.  This fact is clearly shown by its fantastic sales in Japan, but very poor ones in the USA.  If you’re a fan of simple arcade racers, there are few better around.  If smashing things is you’re style, you may be better waiting for the even faster and frantic Burnout Revenge re-release on 360.  Fans of the Ridge Racer series will love 6, and those who abandoned the series after 4 should try again with 6.  Racing purists will hate it, but if you’re looking for fun over realism, and can see past the fake licenses and niggles, hours of fun are waiting to be had.  If you have played any other RR or the similar handling of Outrun 2, you know what to expect, otherwise it may be worth a rent first.  Overall though I view it as a great game, which dare I say it, has some CRAZY moves!