Ridge Racer 6

Ridge Racer 6
North American box art
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Designer(s)	Hisashi Kawamura, Kazuo Yamamoto, Kenichi Shimada
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA November 17, 2005 JP December 10, 2005 EU January 20, 2006
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
Distribution	Optical disc

Ridge Racer 6 is the sixth installment in the Ridge Racer series of racing games. It was released on Xbox 360 on November 18, 2005 in Japan, December 10, 2005 in North America, and January 20, 2006 in Europe.

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 boss opponent, who is usually equipped with a much better car than 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 "Surfside Resort" and "Harborline 765". Also, there are 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 an over-sized SUV that can be very loud.(Danver Bass Cruiser). 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, Soulcalibur, and Ace Combat.

The game also features a Full Motion Video opening, that shows series mascot Reiko Nagase.

In Japan, Namco announced that it expected to sell 500,000 copies of Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360, although far fewer copies were actually sold. Ridge Racer 7 for the PlayStation 3 is something of a "director's cut"/"final version" of Ridge Racer 6, but with major differences such as new vehicles that were not seen in Ridge Racer 6 such as Sinseong, a Korean brand company, for the first time.

Manufacturers

There are many different makers in this game that are fictional, but some rare machines that make it into the light of the real world. These makers surrounded by different attributes. They are Kamata, Age, Danver, Soldat, Himmel, Terrazi, Assoluto, Namco, which only made one machine, and a machine without a maker but supposedly is funded by Kamata. Unlike previous titles, such as Ridge Racer Type 4, these cars are not upgradeable but at a certain point paintable. Every maker is different in style and finesse. Like, Terrazi is most known for its two siblings, The Starnose (which spawns a wooden chassis and a modern commuter Formula One style) and The Wild Gang(which looks like the New Beetle Concept or a Nissan Micra on steroids) are very fun and funky while Soldat is more know for its perfectionist style and nit-pick sensitivity on everything (such as the Soldat Raggio).

Tracks available

There are 15 circuits available for players, each of which can also be raced in reverse, making a total of 30 circuits. The circuits are split into 5 groups of 3, where the 3 tracks in the same group will overlap.

Ridge Racer 6 Direct Audio

Ridge Racer 6 was the second game after Ridge Racer (PSP) that marked the rejoining of both old and new Namco sound teams [including SamplingMasters MEGA (Shinji Hosoe), SamplingMasters AYA (Ayako Saso), sanodg (Nobuyoshi Sano), and J99 (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.

Due to high demand from fans, Ridge Racer 6 Direct Audio was released under SuperSweep Records on January 14, 2009. It contains the 16 songs listed above, as well as the ending song "Chasing All My Dreams" by Hiroshi Okubo and other tunes from the game.

Other soundtracks, including those from Ridge Racer (PSP) and R: Racing Evolution, are available for download through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Reception

Ridge Racer 6 has received generally positive reviews. Pro-G gave the game 8/10, calling it "the closest I've seen to an arcade racer on a home console, in both looks and playability."^[1] Gamespy awarded Ridge Racer 6 4.5/5 praising its "killer graphics" and "great presentation", but criticising its "stuttering framerate in split-screen multiplayer".^[2] 8.1/10 is given by GameSpot, calling it "a slick, fast-moving racing game with interesting handling characteristics."^[3] However, Jolt Online Gaming gave it an average 6.9/10, saying the game "offers neither the palm-moistening, heart-racing action of a really great arcade racer, nor the challenge and satisfying controls of a decent simulation."^[4] X-Play gave it a 3/5.

References