Pure

"Exhilarating while it lasts."

Blackrock did a lot of things right with this game.

Graphics - Gorgeous, and varied. Each map is set in a different location around the world, and they are all beautiful to look at. Palm trees meandering in the wind, sunlight reflecting off mud slicks, and the intensely detailed ATVs themselves. Even the menu UI is wickedly sexy.

Sound - Nothing spectacular, but gets the job done. Decent soundtrack and pretty good SFX and voiceovers.

Gameplay - Great work here. There are 3 gameplay modes -- race (3 laps around a big track), sprint (5 laps around a tiny track), and freestyle (get the most points by doing tricks, before running out of gas).

The racing is very fast paced, very exciting, and definitely keeps you on your toes. Pulling off tricks is immensely gratifying. The game automatically resets your ATV if you crash or veer off the track, and this reset occurs very quickly, so the pace is maintained. If you crashed at high speed, you'll even get a speed boost when you reset.

The tracks themselves are extremely well designed. Each one has many many paths you can take, all intertwining toward the same goal. And none of the routes have any obvious advantages or disadvantages when you first see them. This allows for a ton of shortcuts to be discovered, and you really have to play a track many many times to get a feel for which route is the quickest.

One of the most ingenious things about this game is how it sort of you toward the tracks as it is laid out. If you're in the air, and you think you're about to miss the landing completely, think again -- the game will automatically line up your trajectory with the ground in front of you. While this is unrealistic, it is a HUGE lifesaver. It certainly saves a lot of frustration that would be incurred if I kept crashing into trees on the side of the road or some junk like that.

There are a few bugs though -- sometimes the physics are off and your ATV gets stuck in the ground, or goes through it for just a second, or fails to land a jump that it should have landed. These are minor and forgivable mistakes, especially since you get reset quickly.

The main problem overall is the monotonicity. While the different maps are set in different locations around the world, they all play in a similar manner. The terrain that you actually drive on is generally identical throughout the game - just dirt. So each track more or less feels the same. Also, the main campaign doesn't last too long. And there is very little bonus content to unlock, so once you complete the campaign, you're pretty much done.

Wrap up - Game is really fun -- GREAT level design, great auto-trajectory mechanic thingy, exhilarating racing. But it will get boring a bit quickly, as there is limited content. 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/08

Game Release: Pure (US, 09/16/08)