Ridge Racer 6

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Ridge Racer 6

Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Designer(s)	Hisashi Kawamura, Kazuo Yamamoto, Kenichi Shimada
Release date(s)	^NANovember 17, 2005 ^EUFebruary 24, 2006 ^JPN)December 10, 2005
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E) CERO: All ages PEGI: 3+
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Media	DVD

Ridge Racer 6 is a racing game in the Ridge Racer series and is only available on the Xbox 360 console.

[edit] Gameplay

Like previous Ridge Racer titles, the focus of gameplay is on placing first out of 14 in numerous 3-lap races across several tracks and numerous cars. In most races, the player can earn up to three nitrous boosts by successfully drifting around corners without crashing, which can then be used to give the player a short burst of speed. Some races are labelled as "no-nitrous", which prevent the player from earning any nitrous during the race, though the player can optionally enable nitrous. If the player wins using this option, the race is considered complete, but noted for breaking the no-nitrous rule. Some races are also Duels between the player and a single computer opponent, who is usually equipped with a much better car that the player can select from.

Ridge Racer 6 introduces a career-mode "World Xplorer", a branching-tree arrangement of races in which the player can only attempt races next to a race that has already been successfully completed. The layout of the races in the Xplorer is such that the position of a race will indicate what class of car can be used (horizontal position) and the difficulty of the course (vertical position). Rewards can be obtained by completing certain races or completing all races that enclose an area on the Xplorer, and usually offers new cars but also include additional variations of the tracks (mirroring and reverse) or new branches added to the tree. A player can also engage in quick races and time challenges for any track and car that has been unlocked.

There are thirty new circuits available including few called "Surfside Resort, Harborline 765" and around 130 cars (including 10 special). Online multiplayer is possible with up to 14 players racing against each other and downloadable content is available via Microsoft's Xbox Live service. Players can download another player's "ghost" replay from Xbox Live and try to beat it.

Like other Ridge Racer games it not only features fictional cars but other unusual vehicles as well, called "special machines" in the game. These include a hovercraft (Assoluto Pronzione), tripod super car (Himmel 490B) and a fat-tyred drag racer (Age Supernova)[1]. The game, as with all games in the Ridge Racer series, contains a large amount of references to past Namco games, such as Pac-Man, Soul Calibur, and Ace Combat.

No direct-audio soundtrack was officially released for this game, but was the second game after Ridge Racer (PSP) that marked the rejoining of both old and new Namco sound teams including SamplingMasters, (Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Nobuyoshi Sano, Takayuki Aihara), who worked on the first three Ridge Racer games between 1993-1995 as well as those who worked on R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) under sound director, Hiroshi Okubo. Other soundtracks, including those from R: Racing Evolution are available for download through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

In Japan, Namco announced that it expects to sell 500,000 copies of Ridge Racer for the Xbox 360.

[edit] Reception

Ridge Racer 6, as of January 22, 2007, has an average GameRanking score of 75%^[1]. Most review praise the adherence of the core arcade-like gameplay to the Ridge Racer series, but criticize the unrealistic physics of drifting used in the game^[2],