Incredibly fun and intense arcade racer requiring a surprising amount of finesse and concentration.
In many courses Ridge Racer forces you to stop treating it like a racing game and thoroughly like a platformer. Boost is the only way you can win most events. To gain boost there are certain achievements you can gain once every match e.g. drifting for a certain amount of seconds, smashing an opponent into oblivion, smashing an opponent into oblivion while drifting, destroying an opponent at high speed, destroying three opponents in a single match etc. Aside from this there are shortcuts or jumps you can take which require boost, but also extend your boost if you use them. In fact all environmental destruction counts towards your boost. On some of the harder courses, you'll have to figure out the best moments to save boost for etc. But this isn't just a process of memorisation a la Super Meatboy. You have to react to events instantaneously and develop your strategy throughout the race. Your opponents provide an extra source of boost and you need to keep track of how many you've hit and how you hit them or you might just lose. Often you have to avoid an achievement. You only have one boost bar and if it's already full, the value of the achivement will be void - no extra boost.
There are 5 or 6 kinds of events. Domination (destruction/racing), Shindo (straight racing), drifting, frag (pure destruction), time trial (some straight racing, some stunt courses). The variety of cars are fantastic and well balanced. I had unknowingly purchased the DLC which in 4 or 5 instances gave me the option of using a car which is just about impossible to lose a race with. However in general, you will have to pick your car wisely, learn each car's particular nuances and often experiment with different cars in different races.
Presentation is ultra slick. Colour grading is heavy and lends to its distinct style - perhaps a little too distinct. I found myself yearning for a change of environment. However, the flashy presentation of the inner city night racing which comes much later on sufficed. It's fascinating to think that when I first started racing I was playing on 20 or 30 something polygon models, now the license plates are bump mapped and the car reflections look god-damned real.
Ridge Racer: Unbounded is a nice length (11-12 hours to dominate every single player campaign course), extremely fun and very challenging without being ultra frustrating. Generally when I lost, I felt like the mistake was mine and not the games. I never used the inbuilt map editor nor played online so I can't comment on those features. Highly recommend the game though, but use an analogue controller. Would be damn near impossible on a keyboard.