Gamescom 2011: Ridge Racer Unbounded Gallery/Gameplay Footage (Bugbear Redeemed, Part Deux)

Bugbear's take on Namco's seminal racing series definitely has a Burnout thing going for it visually, but given that Criterion has changed their popular crash-fest into a top-down retro-looking family-friendly download only arcade affair (say that three times fast!) with Kinect support over XBLA (it's actually a lot of fun), it looks like gamers who want polygons pushed around into assorted scrap metal might be looking at a new contender for the crown. As a HUGE FlatOut fan, I like what I see quite a lot and can't wait to take this one for a spin. Screens below the jump.

Ridge Racer Unbounded Gamescom Trailer: Bugbear Redeemed!

Hmmmm. Now that the game has a neat track editor, a lot of the misplaced heat has dissipated from the haters. Excellent. Bugbear certainly knows how to make a solid racer, so it'll be interesting to see how well their City Creator works in terms of ease of use and what sort of online/offline functionality it has. Color me even more thrilled - way to go, BBE! Now find someone to fund a Glimmerati update for consoles and handhelds and I'll be even happier!

Ridge Racer Unbounded Trailer: Let Bugbear Be!

And here we go again. Last year, when EA unveiled SSX: Deadly Descents, the Internet descended on them in a rather deadly decent into all sorts of nasty name-calling and threats based on the trailer that showed the new installment was headed in a more action flick direction, something many die-hard SSX fans didn't want at all. Now, Namco Bandai is facing the same sort of crankiness based on a trailer that also doesn't even show any gameplay at all. Worse, some of the comments directed toward the game's dev team are at best, ignorant and at worst, more than a tiny bit racist.