Ridge Racer Unbounded is a game destined to polarize. On the one hand, it is so fundamentally different from its predecessors that it risks alienating the franchise's most hardcore fans. It borrows several elements from other well-known racing franchises, which makes it come across as somewhat derivative. On the other hand, it absolutely does the best it can with what it has to work with, resulting in a game that is so much fun to play that most racing fans should be able to look past its shortcomings. Whether it's a worthy Ridge Racer game or not isn't for me to say. I can tell you this, though: on its own, it's a great racer.

As long as you're not expecting the ultra realism that is to be expected from a Forza Motorsport game, you'll find that Unbounded looks fantastic. It sports a consistently dark and shiny aesthetic that encompasses every part of the game's presentation. The sense of speed lies somewhere between the fantastical and the realistic, which is apt. The destruction physics are absolutely ridiculous; obstacles that would rend normal vehicles into tin foil are completely pulverized on impact. Chunks and bits of debris scatter all over the track, and fragged cars literally go to pieces as they roll down the road. Displays of your position, lap, and distance from the leader are superimposed on the landscape, much like the objectives in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Load times are minimal, and if you want to retry an event, you won't have to load at all. It's great.

Someone at BugBear Entertainment really likes dubstep. Unbounded's soundtrack is full of bass drops and other assorted electronic chaos. To be fair, Skrillex's "Kill Everybody" is a pretty good track to level parts of a city to. You've got total soundtrack control, as well; if you don't like a particular song, you can flip through it as you race. The rest of the game sounds great. Cars sound angry (if not fierce) and I have to wonder just how the developers were able to replicate the sound of buildings and other collateral damage being destroyed.

I've been waiting for a game like Ridge Racer Unbounded for a good while. I'm a sucker for arcade racers, most particularly the Burnout series. While I certainly enjoyed Burnout Paradise, I thought Burnout Revenge was a better game. I prefer the straight-forward structure when it comes to racing games. And Unbounded delivers just that.

Dominate Shatter Bay is the standard Single Player Mode, and Shatter Bay itself is, of course, the playground du jour. The main Single Player Mode sets you on a course of events all over the city. You start off with only a single area to perform in, but as you earn points, you level up, in turn unlocking new areas of play, cars, and creation tools. It's a great single player tour that has you compete in a diverse collection of events in interesting and varied locations.

Events range, but are generally similar to events in similar racers. Domination Races are standard races that pit you up against eleven other racers. Drift Attack events require you to score enough drift points to satisfy certain grade criteria. Shindo Racing is high-speed racing with less emphasis on the destruction and fragging. There are Time Trials, which speak for themselves. Frag Attacks encourage you to destroy a set number of opponents. Finallly, each event forces you into a particular class of vehicle.

Unbounded's multiplayer offerings are interesting to say the least. The first of the offerings is quite standard. You hop into a match with friends or strangers and compete. You can either use the regular Shatter Bay tracks or delve into what's perhaps the game's most interesting facet.

Finally, there is a Creation Mode that allows you to craft not only your own tracks, but your own cities as well. I'll go into this in more detail in the last section, but all you need to know at this point is that it's an already well-established community of players, creators, and sharers.

Ridge Racer Unbounded isn't easy. If you want to win, you will have to deal with your opponents. However, there are a few things you should know before getting into it. Most importantly, never restart an event. Even if it's abundantly clear that you cannot win or even place, you will still earn points for everything you did. Regardless, there's a car for everyone out there. Find what best suits you and learn its intricacies.

If Unbounded uses a rubber-band system, I can't tell. And God bless it for that. It never seems as if cars behind you are given an unfair edge for the sake of challenge. If you blow past the pack, it's entirely possible to cross the finish line without ever seeing them again. Take note, developers: this is how you balance a racing game. Don't punish players for performing well. Do the opposite of that.

Ridge Racer Unbounded doesn't play like other Ridge Racer games. Sure, you rocket down straightaways and drift through every possible corner, but that's really where the similarities end. This game has more in common with Burnout than its own lineage. Some would argue that that is a good thing. Others will be turned off by this.

So yes, Unbounded features a risk/reward dynamic for drifting, jumping, tailgating, and causing collateral damage. Once you fill up the Power Meter, you can unleash it, resulting in a brief burst of speed that temporarily transforms your vehicle into a battering ram. Merely clipping an opponent while using Power will result in a slow-motion Frag (Unbounded's version of the Takedown). Power has another extremely useful application, though. Once your Meter is full, the game highlights special shortcuts that can only be accessed with Power. Most of these involve plowing your car through an otherwise indestructible wall and rampaging through a special building. Others simply reward you with points for destroying large targets.

The creation tools take some time to get used to, but after a few hours of tinkering around with them, you'll adapt. The Basic Track editor uses a grid-based system that allows you to drop special track blocks into squares. The Advanced Editor is somewhat like Halo's Forge, where you're dropped into a first-person view that allows you 360 degree movement and the ability to place special items on the course. Ramps, pits, and explosive targets all become part of your toolset, and as you rank up, you get more stuff to play with. You can experiment as you create by hopping into Free Drive mode; this helps you to identify any potential problems firsthand. When you're done with your tracks, you can create events for them. Once you're satisfied with the finished product, you can publish it to Live. It's a neat system that should catch on.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is certainly not the most realistic racer on the market, nor is it the most original. However, it is so well-made and exciting to play that it really doesn't matter. If you like fast cars, big explosions, and exciting online action, you should play Ridge Racer Unbounded.