MotorStorm

"Motorstorm is one hell of a ride."

Motorstorm is a off road racing game devoloped by Evolution and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Made exclusivley for the Playstation 3, Motorstorm is a satisfying off road racer with mile a minute thrills, sharp graphics, and tight gameplay.

Motorstorm's gameplay is comprised of a single player campaign that has you race through events called "tickets". There are 21 tickets in the entire game, and up to four races are in each ticket. You'll start off at level 1, and as you beat tickets you'll move up all the way up to level 4, the races getting tougher as you progress. So the game does have a good pick and play nature about it, but is also difficult to master if you continue playing. The controls are just like any other racing game, but the addition of boost helps seperate this game apart from others. You have a boost meter, and in the beginning of the race for the first ten seconds you can't use boost. When you do the meter grows, and if it fills up all the way your vehicle will explode. So you'll have to be careful how much boost you use, and when to. This helps add a little strategy to the game, as each car handles boost differentley, with some vehicles the boost fills up quickly, with others slowly.

You'll be able to select from a selection of vehicles, motorcycles, atv's, big rigs, trucks, buggies, rally cars, and mudpluggers. Each vehicle handles differentley, allowing each race to be diffferent than the one before it. Most tickets will have to pick a certain vehicle type, but every now and again you'll have the choice to use whatever type you want. Since most tickets do pick the vehicle for you, you'll have to eventually learn how to master each vehicle to beat the game. So that way you can't just use your favorite vehicle all the time, and miss out on the other types, cause the different vehicle types is what makes this game.

Motorstorm does use some excellent graphical work, from the detailed vehicles, to the amazing looking enviroments and effects. The graphics really help bring the game together. The vehicles all have their distinct look, the bike looks slick, while the big rigs look menacing. Whats great is all the attention to detail in the vehicles. When you crash, you'll see tires flying up in the air, springs detaching themselves, and car doors flying off. As the race progresses mud and dirt will collect onto your vehicle, all in real time. Your vehicles body as well will form to whatever hits it, you'll see cracked winshields and dents all over the body. Now imagine that for one vehicle, but add up to 15 more cars on the track along with you. As races progress, each car will show exactly what they've been through. The best graphical effect has to be the real time mud. Any vehicle that touches it leaves its mark, as the mud forms to whatever touches it in real time. It looks great, and helps the vehicles and enviroments come together.

The lighting effects are awesome as well, and help create the mood of monument valley. The rocks will glow red during sunsent, and the mud will glisten as the sun shines on it. There are real time shadows everywhere, and looks great. You'll race at night, where the only light will be the moon and the stars. When you put together all the graphics, the game is definitley easy on the eyes, and helps show the power of the PS3.

The game also has online multiplayer, where you can test your skill against real opponents from all around the world. You can play with up to twelve people, and everyone has a rank, so the more you play, the higher your rank goes, and your bragging rights. The multiplayer isn't perfect, the online interface such as the lobbies, or finding a game isn't designed very well but the multiplayer will keep you coming back after you've beaten the game.

The only real problem with Motorstorm is the lack of gametypes. In single player all you can do is race, and once you get through all the tickets single player is done. Now granted, it will take you a while to get through, cause the game does get very tough about halfway through the tickets. But a crash mode, or stage builer function would've been nice to see, and could've helped keep the game from growing a little repetive. Now there is a Time Attack game mode that you can download off the Playstation Network, and helps a little with mixing up the game. More downloadable game modes are also planned for the future.

Motorstorm is one of the best Playstation 3 games available right now. It combines excellent graphics with fun, easy to play mechanics. The single player is also lengthy and should keep you busy for months. Its just to bad that the devolopers couldn't add more gametypes or maybe more courses to help mix things up a bit. But Motorstorm does have a lot of good things going for it, and hopefully a sequel is made to improve upon it, and also fix some of the minor flaws. Motorstorm is one hell of a ride.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/07