Now from the outset I need to point out that as with most early adopters of the Playstation 3 console, MotorStorm was my first PS3 format game and so it became a game that got quite a bit of playtime in our house. The graphics and crashes were legendary, in fact so legendary that for the most part we were more interested in seeing what sort of crashes we could do rather than winning actual races.
Of course as always with me, the races ended up getting harder to win and I got to a stalemate where I was not good enough to keep opening new courses and the game went back in its case. Then after a lot of practice on Grand Turismo Prologue, Playstation released the new MotorStorm Pacific Rift. Perhaps the practice on race tracks had honed my skills as a game racer, but it did seem that I began to actually win races and the world of crazy island off-road racing opened up to me.
MotorStorm Pacific Rift is a welcome new racing game that not only continues the great features of the original but as usual improves on its playability in order to create a fun packed enjoyable racing experience. The graphics and scenery is awesomely detailed and the variety of tracks and vehicles gives many opportunities to tailor-make a race to fit your own personal likes. With the addition of several new vehicle types including Monster Truck, there is a whole new style of driving. For example if you’re driving in one of the smaller vehicles you now have to avoid getting too close to the monster trucks due their innate ability to squash you completely. However if you happen to be driving a monster truck, then your options for beating the opposition have become quite a lot more, if you know what I mean.
When you go into the Wreckreation Mode (Ie Chose your own settings) you can even choose what time of the day the race will be in order to either maximise your light and driving conditions or create awesome views backed by outstanding sunsets. Now I will point out that “Pacific Rif” is set on an island that not only has waterfalls, stunning beaches, awesome jungle foliage but also has volcanic activity. ON some courses you will need to avoid getting your vehicle swallowed up by flowing molten lava. Then again this makes the game even more exciting. As progress past the first few levels greater challenges begin to unfold, such as needing to complete the race in the top three and under a time limit or with a maximum wreck limit of three. (Ie… you can only wipeout a maximum of three times during the race) and once you see tracks and competition you will understand that this is by no means an easy feat. Of course due to the somewhat graphic nature of the crashes (No Blood but plenty of shaken bodies) this game really isn’t for the under 10’s. Especially if you’re riding a motorcross bike or ATV. A solidly good racing game without the heavy violence and pillaging that seems to accompany a lot of the other racing games these days.
Reviewed by: Jon E Clist
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