ATV Offroad Fury

"Rainbow Studios is golden."

ATV Offroad Fury was released for the Playstation 2 in 2001 by Rainbow Studios. I had never played a Rainbow Studios game before this, and now that I have played ATV Offroad Fury, I have a lot of respect for them. They are an amazing developer and I will keep my eye out for them in the future. ATV Offoad Fury is one of the greatest racing games I have ever played. There are things you can do on an all terrain vehicle that are much more fun then what you can do in an automobile and so if you can part with Gran Turismo 3 for a few seconds, I'm sure you will like this game (I like ATV Offroad Fury better then Gran Turismo 3, but I know Gran Turismo 3 is extremely popular game, so I'll simply say you'll like it almost as much).

Graphics 8/10
ATV Offroad Fury was one of the first games to make people take notice of how good the graphics can get on the PS2. The graphics is ATV Offroad Fury are very nice and there is nothing ugly about them. The game has many different environments, and almost all of them are very nice. The ATVs and riders look nice too. The graphics aren't mind blowing, but do one hell of a job in bringing you into the game.

Sound 10/10
The sound effects are adequate, and the screams when your rider takes a mad spill are humorous. What drove this categories score way up is the soundtrack. The tracks chosen are really cool and are very appropriate to the extreme nature of the game. I guess if bands like Soundgarden, Godsmack and Alice In Chains don't impress you, you can knock a few points off my score for this.

Control 10/10
The game has an edit selection, so you can choose the grip of the tires and whether the bike is good at reaching high speeds or good at going where you want it to go. After about twenty minutes, you'll begin to notice how intuitive the control is. Of course the tracks do get harder, but you'll be getting better as that happens, so it is not a problem.

A.I. 6/10
The first week you have this, the computer controlled bikes will put up a decent enough challenge, but by the time you've mastered the controls and know how most of the tracks operate, you'll be leaving them in the dust. You could choose one of the weaker ATVs to race them with, but I'm not one for handicapping myself. There is a code for more competitive AI, and they do put up a much better challenge when this code is activated.

Gameplay 9/10
I love this game. There are two types of tracks in ATV and each type calls for it's own set of strategy. The first type is a controlled environment on a somewhat small scale. The competitive factor is the many hills and valleys that take some time to get used to. Rolling your ATVs through these types of tracks is extremely fun and it's hard for me to imagine someone not enjoying themselves doing this. The second type of track is kind of a rally mode. The tracks for this type of racing are much longer and the challenges less greater, it's mainly you building a lead against your competition and keeping it by not screwing up. I don't like these types of tracks as much as the first kind, but they are still very fun. Some of the jumps you can do in this game are insane. Pulling off a 300 or 400 foot jump for the first time is thrilling.
My favorite part of ATV is the excellently designed tracks. It's obvious the guys at Rainbow Studios are very experienced when it comes to making racing games, as the tracks are very fun to ride around until you've mastered them completely. Beating all the track records is a great challenge.

I didn't like the trick section of the game, I never got good enough to make it very far. The trick section is really more of an add on, then an important part of the game. It's there for people who want it. Since it's not a big part of the game, I didn't deduct points for it.

Overall 9/10
ATV Offroad Fury is an excellent game and deserves to be in your PS2 collection. Now that some of the big name games have began to arrive on the PS2, it's pretty likely ATV Offroad Fury will get lost in the shuffle, I've used this review to try and get the word out on this great game. I give it my highest recommendation.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/01, Updated 12/18/01