Review – Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift is a breakneck racing tournament, set against a festival of heavy metal globetrotters on a tropical island. The game’s core dynamic, barely changed from its launch-title predecessor, focuses on the hierarchical, king-of-the-jungle tussle between gigantic Monster Trucks and nimble Motocross bikes.

Every track branches off into a number of winding routes, each playing to the strengths of, or presenting a danger to the game’s seven vehicle classes; pits of mud that will devastate a car’s tiny tyres, or miniscule shortcuts that will foil the more hefty rigs.

The basic nature of the game’s racing system regularly topples from excitement and captivation to damn-near controller-tossing frustrating. Motorstorm 2 is a white knuckle videogame, constantly racing on the razors edge that makes every corner a gut-wrenching struggle to keep your acceleration high, economically dole out your boost and not obliterate your truck on an errant rock.

The vehicles’ complete unpredictability and the uneven nature of the tracks makes the game’s off-road nature come alive, but is also the most common source of frustration; stopping your mud plugger from careering off a lap-end cliff starts to lose its charm when medals are at stake. The track design has also evolved from the original’s slightly barren and open design to more messy and convoluted tracks; Sugar Rush, for example, is a claustrophobic race through an abandoned refinery, exasperated by the spaghetti-like formation of ramps, lanes and shortcuts.

The developers at Evolution Studios have, however, listened to feedback from the Playstation 3 launch title and offered solutions for most criticisms. Motorstorm’s solitary desert-styled motif is replaced with a number of environments and settings. Split into four zones, the stomach churning verticality of the air tracks, brutal hazards of fire and ocean slick banks of water make the earth tracks rather pedestrian.

Also encouraged by Motorstorm’s criticisms is the inclusion of new modes; time-trial esque “speed mode” and racing standard “elimination mode” flesh out the campaign successfully. Still, the ludicrous stunt displays that decorate the menus would better reinforce the festival theme if they were actual gameplay modes, and the impressive vehicle wrecking physics could certainly inspire a demolition derby event. The two new modes are nice additions, but far from a spectacular line-up.

Pacific Rift’s multiplayer offering remains solid, now including split-screen racing and opening the servers to a single worldwide audience. Graphically, the game also makes substantial improvements with lighting and environmental effects; the water can look particularly impressive. Some low-res textures will pop-up that will annoy fastidious graphic snobs, especially in the new photo mode, but in motion this game looks incredible.

Still, Motorstorm deservedly takes a top spot amongst racers with its frenetic, visceral racing approach. Plenty have tried the off-road racing genre, but where many use it as a spray-on graphic style, Evolution makes it the heart of their game. Between moments of frustration, careening down a sun drenched valley, narrowly avoiding downed trees and overspilling lava pits, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift provides a stunning racing experience.