Ridge Racer Unbounded release date and gameplay trailer
The release date for Ridge Racer Unbounded, the aggressive new entry into the long-running Ridge Racer series, was today announced by Namco Bandai. It will crash into stores in EMEA and Australasia regions on 2 March 2012 before reaching North America four days later, on 6 March 2012.
That’s not all, Namco Bandai has also released a new Create and Destroy trailer, which you can view from the top of the page. The name says it all.
Unbounded is being developed by Helsinki-based studio Bugbear Entertainment, known for the decent Flatout games on PS2 and PSP, and, as you can see from the trailer, Bugbear is bringing its trademark carnage to Ridge Racer. High-octane racing and takedowns are the order of the day.
The big focus though is massive vehicular and environmental damage – we’ve all heard of cutting corners, but Unbounded is taking that concept to a new level. The new destruction element will combine with the series’ traditional arcade style and drifting handling to make this a unique, but not entirely unfamiliar, Ridge Racer experience.
It looks promising at this early stage, but we are still unsure as to what this is adding to the genre. We’ve been well supplied with arcade-action titles so far this generation, and Criterion Games set the bar especially high last year with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Can Bugbear reach that level, or maybe even surpass it? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place below.
