Ridge Racer 6

It’s one of those games that relies more on instincts and experience than reflexes.

If you want arcade style racing complete with high-speed corner bending, annoyingly foppish announcers and the most fun driving you can have without smashing the other guy off the road... then you want to pick up Ridge Racer 6.

Let's just call it very, very good and remind Namco that they'll need to surprise us next time. [Dec 2005, p.55]

Quite simply, Ridge Racer 6 is loaded with soul, and comes as a very good and very welcome sign that, underneath all the hyperbole and multifunctionality, the Xbox 360 can be what it needs to be at the core; a traditional gaming console for traditional console gamers.

Though it isn’t the most technically advanced out of the Xbox 360 launch titles, the sense of speed is amazing, which almost makes you forget that it isn’t as pretty as it could be.

The graphics really make the high speed races seem incredibly fast and besides the few hiccups I ran across, they even hold up in online mode as well.

It's the best Ridge Racer yet... If all you're looking for is a fast, fun, and highly replayable racer, you're getting a solid, full-featured package in Ridge Racer 6. But if you're looking for slightly more meat on the bone, "Project Gotham Racing 3" is a bit more filling.

Fans of the Ridge Racer series will love 6, and those who abandoned the series after 4 should try again with 6. Racing purists will hate it, but if you’re looking for fun over realism, and can see past the fake licenses and niggles, hours of fun are waiting to be had.

Given the fact that single-player will take you 30+ hours to complete, with plenty of unlockable achievements and cars, there’s a lot of fun to be had playing RR6. I strongly suggest fans of the series pick it up.

The same enjoyable arcade racing has entered the next generation of gaming, and despite the lack of major gameplay innovations, it’s still a great title to pop in and play for any amount of time.

While not really bringing anything too revolutionary to the table, the Ridge Racer 6 package is very close to being flawless.

Realistically, very little of the series’ gameplay dynamics were changed for Ridge Racer 6. The nitrous system is an evolved form of the one found in the PSP version, but beyond that, it is still a good old-fashioned Ridge Racer at heart.

The new courses, the chance to race online and the new cars make this one a must for any fan of the old Ridge Racing series.

The drift-crazy driving action is intact, as fast as ever, and comes along with a robust online ranking and racing system that breathes new life into the long-running franchise.

Despite its unreserved nature, and being about as tightly tethered to reality as the Burnout series, Ridge Racer 6 hasn’t floated away from its roots. It’s content to sink into its well-established furrow of soaring slides and skids, and it still feels crisply satisfying with it. [Jan 2005, p.82]

There's more excellent-game here than there is tedious-game, but even when you get past the opening stages it still takes a little while to settle down.

If you were to rent RR6 then you would barely have enough time to scratch the surface of what the game has to offer so I would recommend a purchase if you are a racing fan looking for new horizons and new challenges.

Ridge Racer 6's major irritant is the world's most annoying DJ. He'll make you want to smash the game to bits within a few minutes with his insane banter while you're racing.

Quite possibly the most pure arcade racer I've ever played - nothing hearkens back to the simplistic racing fun of arcade machines like this does.

One thing about that online mode: it features a nasty bug that can completely ruin the experience, but is incredibly easy to fix.

A very solid racing game for the Xbox 360 launch. However, long load times and visuals that could have been better (although not too bad) do detract a bit from the title.

Its visuals aren’t even as breathtaking as those found in "Project Gotham Racing 3" but if it’s wild racing action you seek then this one won’t let you down.

While not as significant as many of the other games in the series, Ridge Racer 6 does a supreme job of being the arcade racer many have known and loved for years.

Graphically impressive and a lot of fun to play, but has stiff competition from the system’s more glorified racers like "Project Gotham Racing 3" and "Need for Speed: Most Wanted." Basically, Ridge Racer 6 comes in third place.

We expected more from Ridge's first super-powered 360 outing. Disappointing. [GamesMaster]

It's got functional online play and an interesting way to go about delivering a career's worth of single player races, but when it comes down to it, the racing gets old fast.

It's mostly as an online game, which I have been enjoying quite a bit. Unfortunately, in order to unlock cars and tracks, I have to run through a somewhat boring single player game. I say boring because it's too easy.

Although times have changed and the series isn’t the high profile name it used to be, if you want an old school, arcade style sliding, high speed racing game you need not look any further.

It just doesn’t feel like the huge leap it could have been, but it is still a pretty good experience while it last.

My guess is that the graphical tweaks and subtle AI improvements are going to be enough for the series' mjaor fans to be happy with their purchase. [Jan 2006, p.148]

There’s a ridiculous amount of replayability and for those looking for a good deal in the length department you won’t be disappointed. Honestly it does grow on you and can turn out to be a great purchase or rental if look past all its many shortcomings.

It’s honestly quite hard to recommend the game over the likes of PGR3 or NFS: MW, but RR6 still does some things right and provides a reasonably good online experience for a good amount of racers at once.

A solid arcade racer; perhaps the best that has been released on a console. But only you will know for sure if $60 is a worthy asking price for such a simple game.

Ridge Racer 6 is recommended for nuance-loving race fans. With the amount of fore-thought and planning required to win, casual fans are likely to frustrated.

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.

Anyone buying a Ridge Racer game knows exactly what they’re getting and won’t be disappointed with this shiny and seemingly unending racing bonanza. [Christmas 2005, p.129]

Namco debuts their flagship racer on the 360, wowing everyone with the fast arcade style racing it is famous for, except for a lag-plagued online play.

Like every Ridge Racer title, RR6 oozes that instant fun playability that attracts gamers of every skill to play a quick race or a marathon session.

RR6 is perhaps best thought of as a succulent appetiser, foretelling of the potential of what a full blown next-gen Ridge Racer game could be like if Namco truly set their minds to it. And for now, this is enough. Just.

While serious gear heads will hate the lack of customization and the sim freaks will scoff at the outrageous handling there is a certain charm that comes packed with RR6.

If you find that PGR3 is a little too rich in depth for you, or that you are more of a casual gamer or even just a fan of the series, then this game is for you and will serve you well. If you are more into realistic racers that replicate the excitement of the race, then my advice would be to steer well clear.

A fine, glossy racing game. [Issue #3]

Definitely worth a purchase for arcade racing devotees and Ridge Racer fanatics.

For what RR6 is trying to do, it succeeds -- it's just not trying to do too much.

Ridge Racer 6's graphics may be pure 360 shininess, but the gameplay is from a generation ago... hell, two generations ago and that's generous.

If you take the game on it's own merits - as a fun arcade racer - you'll have a ball.

If you enjoy arcade-like vehicle response, solid background music, and simplistic racing controls with heavy emphasis on air and abusive nitrous, then this title will meet all of your needs and more. If you're looking for something to replace "Forza" or "Gran Turismo," please look elsewhere.

Offers neither the palm-moistening, heart-racing action of a really great arcade racer, nor the challenge and satisfying controls of a decent simulation. It seems that Namco has seriously misjudged the level of challenge in the game.

Fans of simulation racers are going to crap a brick when they see this game: the physics are incredibly implausible. Arcade-racing fans will be more forgiving.

Even faulted, the gameplay grows on you, but you probably won’t have the patience or desire to let it get to that point.

The engine noises all sound way too similar from car to car. The race announcer is extremely annoying and way too hyper – your first order of business will likely be turning this voice off. The backing music is your standard techno fare.

Ridge Racer is just too basic when compared to the competition. Its fun for the first while, but it grows old quick.

It does feel more than a little cheesy when you're probably expecting it to be one of the early stars on Microsoft's wunderkind console. [Jan 2006, p.74]

RR6 lazily limps into the 360 debut party wearing last year's fashions. Seriously, this doesn't look any better than "Forza" (Xbox) or "Gran Turismo 4" (PS2).

Mediocre at best. If you’re trying to find a simple racer to appease someone who is confused with such daunting tasks as, say, reciting the alphabet, then Ridge Racer 6 might be what you’re looking for.

This is a sterile affair which, although adequate in every department, excels in none.

The jalopy of the group. Gamers who go gaga for drifting will still show up in droves, but the majority of you will be much better off with "Project Gotham 3's" melding of replay and realism or "Need For Speed: Most Wanted's" frantic cop chases and customization.

It has moments where it's genuinely fun, but these are too soon replaced by a sense of tedium as the "been there, done that" element comes to color later races.

Couple the ropey gameplay to the lousy load times, endless splash screens, mediocre graphics, repetitive nature of the sometimes awful levels (parts of the Vegas-esque one look like you’re driving through a giant lower intestine) and game mechanics straight out of 1996, and I’m afraid we have a real turkey here.

Building textures look noticeably low-res even at blurringly fast speeds, and the cars themselves fall short of models seen in "Forza." Borrowing levels from previous games, the game's stages fail to excite you.

The lack of car customisation options, the constrained three-lap race limit, the irritation of having to win each race in World Explorer to progress to the next, and the overly predictable format - even right down to the stereotypical announcer who hollers banalities at you while you race - smacks of by-numbers development. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

In the end, Ridge Racer 6 isn’t a broken game in any sense, it’s just boring and I don’t care to play it.

I'm indeed a fan of Ridge Racer, which is precisely why I'd like to see it do better than this cookie-cutter offering. It's well past time for Namco to start tinkering under the hood of this old jalopy, especially considering the impressive new engines powering games these days.