Ridge Racer Unbounded - Boxed - PS3

Ridge Racer Unbounded is a new instalment in the long-running Ridge Racer racing series and the first to be developed entirely by a Western studio. It follows the tradition of racing players 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 crashing into opponents and smashing objects in the environment to create shortcuts and bring debris onto the track. The game's story revolves around the Unbounded, a gang of street racers who use the fictional city of Shatter Bay as their racing turf. The player takes on the role of one of the racers and must take part in events to climb the ranks. In the main Shatter Bay mode, more cars become available and various districts are unlocked as the player's level rises.

During races, a power bar can be filled by drifting, jumping and slipstreaming. Once the bar is full, a power mode can be activated. This provides a burst of speed but also turns the car into a weapon that can be used to "smash" other cars, similar to the takedowns in the Burnout series. It's also possible to drive through certain buildings and walls to destroy them and throw the debris onto the track to hinder the other drivers. Smaller obstacles can be hit at any time, but really large obstacles, such as tanker trucks, are only highlighted in power mode and cause major chaos, similar to Split/Second. The various race modes include regular Domination races, which focus on finishing position and destroying other cars, Shindo Racing, which is about driving cleanly 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. The player's performance is rated with up to three stars, which are needed to progress through the game.

Brand new to the series is the City Creator, a full 3D editor that lets players design and share new cities, tracks and scenarios with other players. These are played in The World game mode, which consists of cities designed by other players. Many of the editor's building blocks only become available once they've been unlocked in the main Shatter Bay mode.