There is no denying once you see Ridge Racer 6 in all its HD wonder, you will immediately notice how beautiful of a game it is. The track designs are lush , the lighting effects for day, night, and dusk are simply gorgeous, and the same can be said for the car models as well. True to form, RR6 doesn’t have any licensed cars, but what Namco has designed either mimics some of the world’s greatest machines or just flat out blows them away. The game also always runs at a consistent and smooth 60fps framerate. Ridge Racer 6 still uses the futuristic presentation for menus, almost as if you were watching a televised event in the not to distant future. While it can be said, and hardly argued that PGR 3 is the best-looking racer on the market, it should be noted that RR comes a very close second.

The sounds in Ridge Racer 6 are very good, but very typical when it comes to this series. Vehicle sounds are very similar, but I guess with no real life engines to compare to, you have to do the best you can. You also have your Ridge Racer announcer who needs some serious Prozac, as he is just so excited all the time. While you have the option, like in every Xbox 360 title, to listen to custom soundtracks, the music is your standard J-Pop and techno music that has been with the series from the get go.

Gameplay in Ridge Racer 6 is full throttle, drift sliding, flat out fun. Controls in RR 6 are very tight, very responsive, and very easy to pick up and play. This is definitely a game that doesn’t rely on trying to “out do” Forza or Gran Turismo in terms of realistic gear shifting, weight distribution, or any of those gear-head ideas that come from simulation racing. This is arcade style racing at its best. The goal is to get your car around the track faster and better than your opponent, and cross the finish line first. No frills, no worrying about damage, gas, or wrecking, just step on the gas and fly to the finish. Sure, along with the PSP version, you do earn nitrous by driving with some style around turns, but that just ensures that you race your car even faster to the finish. The A.I. is tough, but never cheap. If you are blowing away the CPU fair and square, you won’t find any rubberband A.I. that will have them suddenly catching up. Thankfully, each vehicle in the race will match all other racers, so there should not be too many blowouts.

As a single player title, you have a new World Explorer Mode that puts you in over 230 races to become the best driver in the Ridge Racer Universe. In this mode, you unlock all kinds of goodies including cars and trophies. Any racing fan will tell you though that the longevity of a racing title depends solely on multiplayer action. Ridge Racer 6 delivers here as well, with both online and offline multiplayer racing. Thanks to Xbox Live, you can race online in Global Time Attacks, Upload Ghost Data, or most importantly race head to head against a friend or stranger. There is plenty of racing to do in Ridge Racer, with over 30 courses and over 130 cars to race them on; you won’t be bored of this game any time soon.

If there is anything really negative to say about Ridge Racer 6 it is that the formula is the same as it ever was. This really is not a bad thing, but gamers who haven’t warmed up to the series in the past probably will not dig this title either - no matter how pretty it may be. I was hoping to see a sense of R: Racing Evolution here as far as features go, but I guess Namco is going with the old cliché of… “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Ridge Racer fans will be happy to see that RR 6 definitely isn’t broken, and it is easily one of the top launch games to own for the Xbox 360.