Ridge Racer 6

Ridge Racer and console launches seem to go hand in hand. Taking many queues from the PSP launch version, Ridge Racer 6 power slides onto the 360 just in time for the system launch. As the RR series grows and matures, it seems the developers have found a comfortable niche in the over the top arcade racing category. In fact, racing games just don't get more arcade than this.

Ridge Racer 6 is an entertaining title if you go in with the correct expectation. If you are looking for the next Forza or Gran Turismo, well, you clearly have not done your homework. Just about the only thing RR6 has in common with these games is the fact that they're car racing games. I would almost say a better comparison is Quantum Redshift or WipeOut. The name of the game is drifting (i.e. power sliding) and nitrous. The more you drift, the quicker your nitrous recharges and faster you can go? allowing more drift recharging your nitrous quicker. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Once you get the hang of the crazy car physics, you will actually find the races to be pretty entertaining, albeit a bit on the easy side. You always start the race in last place so you have to work you way ahead of 13 other racers. Most of the time this can be accomplished by the end of the first lap unless you happen to bump a wall, leading to one of my annoyances with the game. Bumping a wall results in a strange sticking phenomenon which made it overly difficult to break your car free. This was frustrating and just did not seem to fit the arcade nature of the game.

The game progression also worked well allowing you the option of branching paths. Taking certain branches opened higher class vehicles and better rewards. All cars are won via races and they do not have any upgrade abilities. They are what they are out of the box. I found the lure of winning new cars strangely motivating and kept me playing.

If you are not a fan of the Ridge Racers games, this one is sure not going to change that. This is old school arcade racing right down to the shiny looking graphics. After playing Need for Speed Most Wanted, I missed the obstacles such as oncoming traffic and hidden shortcuts. Oh, and the announcer guy has to be the most annoying person in videogame history. Aside from all of that, you can't deny the game has some good fun to offer but just not for everyone.