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The PS3 receives its next killer app. MotorStorm garnered a lot of hype when it was unveiled—mostly due to the unbelievable graphics and physics of the first trailer. Since its announcement, fans have been following MotorStorm closely to see if it would really live up to all of the hype. The demo released a few months ago showed promise, but the full game leaves no questions: MotorStorm is the PS3’s next must-have game.
Let’s get the biggest complaint out of the way: MotorStorm is light on features. The game’s singular singleplayer mode is the career mode, which is really just a collection of different types of races. There’s no quick race option or the ability to easily choose which type of race you want to play unless you go digging through the various career races. Aside from career mode, the game supports online multiplayer for up to 12 players. The host of the game can set things like race course, time of day and vehicle types. The game includes leaderboards and voice chat online. MotorStorm sports eight excellent tracks but from a purely numerical comparison, it falls short.
Thankfully, every race in MotorStorm is great fun. The courses are designed to make you take risks: do you want to shave a few seconds off your time by boosting through a corner? Do you want to make try to fit a truck in a narrow nook? And when you’re not fighting the courses you have actual opponents to consider. The other vehicles in the game behave realistically and intelligently without coming off as pre-programmed. Speaking of vehicles, MotorStorm includes a bunch including motorcycles, ATVs, trucks, big rigs, stock cars and more. The different vehicles are varying strengths and weaknesses. For example, the motorcycles are nimble and quick, but will get crushed by a truck in no time.
If you’re racing as a truck you can just drive into the competition, but you’ll also have to forego some of the crazier and riskier routes. And the game has no shortage of those. It isn’t rare to be catching big air only to notice that you’re heading right into a huge rock or heading off the side of a canyon. There are other subtleties in the game, as well, such as the fact that your boost is turned off for the first ten seconds of each race and overusing it will get your vehicle exploded. Further, racing on different surfaces will result in noticeable differences in how your vehicle responds.
MotorStorm’s graphics have been the primary cause for all of the attention the game has been getting. Although not quite as insane as the target video, MotorStorm is one of the best looking games currently available for any platform and showcases the power of the PS3. The game sports a number of different vehicles and all of which look great thanks to fantastic designs. The level design is also top-notch with plenty to look at even if most of it is in a shade of brown. The particle effects are simply amazing: you’ll notice more and more mud accumulating on the vehicles as you race and you’ll notice that tire tracks stay on the tracks for the duration of the game. The game even manages to throw in superb crashes, excellent lighting, and remain at a constant framerate.
MotorStorm’s soundtrack, while not quite as revolutionary as its visuals, is great nonetheless. The onscreen chaos is accompanied by a great list of rock bands from Nirvana to Slipknot. All of the vehicles sound fantastic, as do the explosions.
With MotorStorm, Evolution Studios has nailed the fundamental gameplay and presentation. This game screams next-generation from the way your vehicle jumps violently around sharp corners or mud fills the screen, there is no doubt that MotorStorm is right up there with the best this generation currently has to offer. We expect to see more of everything: more tracks, more vehicles, more gameplay modes for the sequel but everything else is nearly perfect. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Mar 5, 2007
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