Back in the day, racing games were not about endless car customisation or realistic damage models: your sole concern was putting pedal to metal, hitting corners hard and crossing the finish line first.
In this respect, Ridge Racer 6 stays true to its roots. This is last year’s PSP classic writ large for a bigger screen, played out in a futuristic universe where the cars, tracks and handling bear no relation to earthly physics. Yet the adrenaline rush it produces is real enough. The game’s biggest problem is a lukewarm start, and the easy pace of the opening challenges does little to raise the pulse. As the speed and level of competition increases, however, Ridge Racer 6 becomes an exhilarating test of daring and dogged persistence, where rechargeable nitrous boosts are crucial as you work your way through the 13-strong pack, skid heroically around each corner and shave lap times, whisker by whisker. The graphics may not match Project Gotham Racing 3 for real-world detail, but the sensation of velocity is impressive and the imaginary tracks have their rewards in sweeping turns, majestic vistas and nerve-wracking downhill S-bends that can leave you breathless.
Best of all, as you progress, you soon discover a new wave of special stages and tense one-on-one duels where every corner and every burst of nitrous can mean victory or defeat: experience that comes in handy when the competition moves online. This demanding, stripped-back arcade affair is not for everyone — many gamers will miss the modern, super-realistic bells and whistles — but if Ridge Racer’s values are decidedly retro, the action is as slick as it gets. Four stars
Stuart Andrews
Rag Doll Kung-Fu
PC; £10 (download from www.ragdollkungfu.com or Valve’s Steam online service); unrated
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Who said creativity in games was dead? One of the darlings of the burgeoning independent games scene, Rag Doll Kung-Fu is a 2-D fighter with a different look and feel. You control your martial artist by mouse, dragging him around the screen, pulling limbs to block punches or smack your opponents, then tossing him madly from platform to platform. The game is the creation of one man, Mark Healey, and while its low-fi origins are painfully evident in the single-player story mode, amateur movie clips and crude humour, that is not the point. Rag Doll Kung-Fu contains more ideas and genuine energy than most of the commercial games released last year. The gameplay is often bewildering, but when it all comes together — its floppy combatants leaping around the screen, out-of-control weaponry bruising all and sundry — it is a gleeful chunk of chop-socky pandemonium. Though it is not a fully realised classic, the stylish cartoon graphics, ridiculous kung-fu noises and madcap sports mini-games make it a novelty well worth sampling. Three stars
Stuart Andrews
Transport Giant
Gold Edition PC; £24.99; ages 3+
The aim here is simple: take control of a nation’s transport infrastructure, then turn it into a model of efficiency by laying roads, tracks and bridges, developing new modes of transport and delivering goods across your growing empire. The game spans 200 years of technology, from horse and cart to high-speed trains, but, sadly, is only marginally more exciting than a stop-start journey on a rush-hour train. The graphics are basic, the AI lacks acumen and the poor system for road and rail construction means you end up building bizarre zigzags. Transport Giant is not a patch on Transport Tycoon. Despite its educational value for kids, you should save your pennies for a first-class ticket. Two stars
Daniel Emery