It doesn't do much out of the ordinary, but Ridge Racer 6 is worth a test drive for any avid racing game enthusiast.
The single-player mode of Ridge Racer-Ridge Racer Universe is a series of multiple racing events that works a bit differently than most racing games. As you move to the right of the race map the challenges will get harder and the cars you’ll unlock will be faster. You gain cars by completing races that cover a certain section over the map; so if there are four races that form a section together (kind of a connect the dots fashion) and you complete those four races you’ll get a car. The idea works well and helps to encourage the gamer to take part in more events and branch out across the map.
There are well over a hundred and fifty races within the Ridge Racer universe, and they’ll get quite tough if you’re a newcomer to the series. Each race has a total of fourteen racers including yourself and you’ll have to zip from fourteenth place to first place within the three laps allotted in each race. The races themselves are relatively tight and it’s rare that you’ll be far behind or far ahead of the competition, which is a nice touch for the game’s replays. The racing in Ridge Racer 6 is pretty straightforward and there’s nothing complicated about it. The catch to this is that the game encourages insane drifts around the many hairpins scattered throughout the various courses. There’s also a fairly unique nitrous system implemented into the game which allows you to activate either singe, double or triple nitrous; the higher the nitrous level, the more power and length to the burst from the nitrous. You are able to refill your nitrous meter by drifting around sharp corners at high speeds, which is a nice touch. It’s really a good thing Ridge Racer 6 has nitrous and exciting drifts, otherwise it wouldn’t be anything more than a mediocre racer with nothing to spice it up.
Now, as this Ridge Racer is on the 360 you’re probably expecting the game to deliver great visuals, which for-the-most-part it does. The car models look decent and feature a few logos from Namco put in for good measure. The cars aren’t too detailed but they do look fairly sharp and the lighting; while subdued, is used pretty well. There are several courses in Ridge Racer, but most of them look pretty dull and lack detail. The environments that do have detail look pretty good, but they don’t stand out too much compared to other 360 games and give the gamer the impression they’re playing a high-def Xbox game. Fortunately, Ridge Racer 6 does have a good sense of speed while you drift around corners and the game has a smooth framerate throughout most of the races. It doesn’t look as good as other 360 launch games, but Ridge Racer 6 does look decent and certainly looks better than Gun and Tony Hawk.
Sound-wise, Ridge Racer 6 just doesn’t hold its own. First off, the music isn’t in anyway good and doesn’t even fit the game that well. The soundtrack is composed of techno-like tunes that are really slow-paced and in no way fit any of the excitement the game provides. Also, the DJ, he’s got to be the worst, most annoying DJ ever put in a game and sounds even worse than the announcer from Perfect Dark Zero (that’s pretty bad in case you haven’t guessed). Luckily, you can turn the DJ off, and trust me, after your first race you’ll be muting him as if your life depends on it. As for the cars, they sound pretty average, none of them have a real punch to them but they sound a whole lot better than the soundtrack and DJ. The nitrous sound effects sound good and have a real oomph to them. But the only thing that stands out about Ridge Racer’s sound is its tire sound effects, which are used constantly throughout the races amongst the drifting and are really some of the best, most well-used you’ll hear in a racing game.
All things considered, Ridge Racer 6 isn’t much more than an average, by-the-books racer. If you’re a long-time Ridge Racer fan and are looking for more of the same that you’ve gotten in other Ridge Racers then you’ll probably be all over this installment. If you’re new to the series like me then this is as good a place as any to start, as you’ll probably get a good kick out of the drifts the game offers. But other than that Ridge Racer 6 doesn’t prove to be far beyond a solid racing game with crazy drifts, different ways to attack nitrous and some good graphics for your 360.