RIDGE RACER UNBOUNDED (XBOX 360 X360)

Ridge Racer Unbounded is an entry in the long-running Ridge Racer racing series and the first to be fully developed by a western studio. It follows the tradition of having players race in expensive sports cars through an urban environment with pounding electronic music, but departs from previous games by shifting the focus from clean racing to crushing opponents and Breakthrough objects in the environment to use shortcuts and introduce debris onto the track. The game's story focuses on the Unbounded, a gang of street racers who use the fictional town of Shatter Bay as their racing environment. The player assumes the role of one of the racers and must participate in events to gain rank. In the main Shatter Bay mode, level growth makes more cars available and opens up different areas of town.

During races, a power bar can be filled by drifting, jumping and staying in the wake of other cars. Once the bar is full, a power mode can be activated. It provides a speed boost but also turns the car into a weapon to "frag" (crush) other cars similar to burnout series teardowns. It also becomes possible to cross certain buildings and walls to destroy them and cause debris to fill the course to hinder other runners. Minor obstacles can be hit at any time, but very large ones such as tankers, for example, are only highlighted in power mode, wreaking havoc similar to Split/Second. Different racing modes include regular domination racing based on finish position and smashing other cars, Shindo Racing which focuses on clean racing without damaging opponents, Drift Attack and Time Trial. In Frag Attack, the player controls a special vehicle and must destroy as many police cars as possible. Player performance is rated up to three stars and these are required to progress in the game.

Completely new to the series, City Creator is a full-featured 3D editor where new cities, courses and scenarios can be designed and shared with other players. These are played through The World game mode, which consists of towns designed by other players. Many building blocks for the editor only become available after unlocking them in the main Shatter Bay mode.