The game's single player component is set within one city – Shatter Bay, so the environments are resolutely urban throughout. Bugbear has taken all its greatest strengths and honed them, creating its best racer yet. The handling is similarly weighty, the courses littered with destructible elements, the racing combative and the challenge just about pitch perfect. Unsurprisingly, Ridge Racer Unbounded shares a great deal of DNA with Bugbear's well-respected racing series FlatOut. No matter, judged on its own merits this is a great racing game.

It is interesting, however, that Namco Bandai appears to have given Finnish developer Bugbear carte blanche to disregard pretty much everything that made Ridge Racer Ridge Racer. As much as I love Ridge Racer, the series has been steadily losing its relevance and vitality, so a kick in the pants was definitely in order. None of this is necessarily a bad thing, however. About the only thing you can depend on is a suitably ravey soundtrack, with a number of old Ridge Racer tracks, as well as the now obligatory dubstep. You can also forget about gleaming cities, winding mountain paths and beachside runs under an azure sky. As such, you can forget about ludicrously over-the-top powerslide mechanics.

This game has about as much in common with Ridge Racer as Forza 4, or Hot Pursuit, or any other racer you'd care to name. Ridge Racer Unbounded is Ridge Racer in name only. Let's get it out of the way at the top of the show.

Ridge racer unbounded district points?