In the build up to the launch of the PS3, most people remarked that Motorstorm was the most eyecatching title. The free roaming environments, amazing graphics and complete destroyabilty of much of the environment had me imagining a next-gen lovechild of Destruction Derby and Burnout.
Motorstorm is based around a desert festival which celebrates all things rock and roll and petrol-driven. All the tracks are in the desert, but they can happen during any time of the day or night, and the tracks do vary, from racing through swampy undergrowth to bouncing along jagged cliff edges. The premise is simple enough - pick a vehicle, race it, and finish in the top 3 to move onto the next race.
The first thing to notice and like is the wide range of vehicles at your disposal. There are 7 categories - bikes, ATVs, mud pluggers, buggies, rally cars, trucks and big rigs. The smaller vehicles are quick and agile, but remarkably flimsy. However, you can punch out anybody else you pass on an ATV or bike. The big rigs and mud pluggers, whilst slow, do not get bogged downin the wet mud, and can generally plough through most of the scenery, rather than going to the trouble of driving round it. Personally, I like the rally cars as they offer the best balance. The team that desiged them were also the team behind several rallying games on the PS2, so they handle brilliantly.
So, you've picked your race, and your vehicle, and you're off. This is where things get a little offputting. This is the first playstation racer I think I have ever played, where the X button is not the default
accelerator. The default control settings will set R2 as the accelerator, and L2 as the brake. I think I see why they did this - the rear shoulder buttons on the PS3 controller look almost like pedals, and my guess would be that this is just another little move made to make one of the first next-gen racers a little different. However, it feels very, very unnatural to anyone who has played racing games on playstations over the years. Thankfully, you can set the control settings to the traditional layout - X to accelerate, square to brake. Steering can be done with the D-pad, analog stick, or the new sixxaxis controller. Tilt your controller right, the car moves right, etc etc. Again, this doesn't feel entirely natural, but then again I am an old gaming fart who believes that gaming should involve as little muscular stress as possible. That leaves us with the boost button (the X button as default, but changes to R1 if you have the controls in "traditional" mode). As the name suggests, it will give you a boost of speed, and how you use your boost is often the key to winning and losing a race. The boost can only be used for a set period of time, before the temperature gauge maxes out and your vehicle, rather conveniently, blows up. So the trick is working out when you need the boost most. Do you need it in a neck and neck charge for the finish line, or do you need it to power you through a muddy bog? The boost system is also very handy for tight corners - tapping the boost whilst turning will slingshot your vehicle round the corner much quicker. This is just another example of the amount of strategy you can use in the race.
It is these aspects of the gameplay that make it so enjoyable. Yes, you can choose your vehicle carefully to suit the terrain. Yes, you can choose which route through the free roaming environment would be fastest. Yes, you can be careful to not ride your bike near the big rigs to avoid getting squashed. But you can also just charge in, crash lots and still have had just as much fun. The whole feel of the game is very organic, like you really have little or no restrictions on what you can do.
And that moves us on to the crowning achievement of this game - graphics. This was the first game I slotted into my shiny new PS3, and I was blown away. There was talk of some games looking almost real graphically. This doesn't look real, but you can't help but marvel at how well and intricately designed everything is. Zoom in for a close up on the vehicles, and you will see the treads of the tyres, flecks of dirt on the paint, and even different styles of reflection depending on the material the sun is shining off. When you are racing, the marks left in the dirt are realtime, sometimes rendering the track a bog by lap 3. You will even see the sun reflecting in the mud puddles. Your vehicle gets dirty in realtime too, leaving you to wonder why you have to bother choosing the colour of it before the race. All the scenery is dynamic - by the end of the race you will see branches and car carcasses strewn over the track. If you hit something on your bike, the rider will fall off and rebound - sickeningly realistically - off his or her surroundings. If you hit a billboard hard enough, you will go through it, but only if your vehicle is heavy enough. It all feels so very real.
But now, onto the negatives. The big complaint being made is the lack of tracks in the game. While this is noticeable, I didn't see it as a huge problem. All the tracks have infinite ways of getting from start to finish, and it will be a good few months before you know any of the courses inside out. But my biggest moan concerns the crashes. When you hit something hard, everything will go slow motion and echoey, as you watch bits of your car and driver get destroyed in real time. You will see nuts and bolts flying off, axels being ripped from the bottom of the car, all sorts. If you are a fond playstation racing fan, you will instantly recognise it as being like the crash scenes from Burnout. However, you can't exit this gorefest when you want. Sure, it's fun to watch at first, but after a while you just want to get back to the race, and all you can do is sit there screaming at the game to stop with this theatrical presentation. This is doubly infuriating when you play online. When you are playing on your own and these crash scenes happen, everything else goes slow motion too. However, when you are playing online, while you are watching your car fall to pieces in slow motion, everyone else is still in real time passing you on the last corner, meaning you finish last. That is haemmorage-causingly bad. It would have been nice if a simple tap of the X button could end the dramatics and plonk you back on the track. Whilst on the topic of the online mode, there do appear to be occasional glitches, where rival racers will somehow magically shoot up into the sky, or appear out of thin air. I am a relative newcomer to online gaming, so I don't know if this is standard practise for an online racer.
But these flies in the soup aside, I do love this game. It feels exaclty how I hoped a next-gen racer would feel and the graphics never cease to amaze, and on top of all that the music that accompanies the game is perfect, with bands such as Queens of the Stone Age playing tracks that really capture the mood of the game. It generally retails at £40, which is about par for course for a new video game.
I would definitely recommend it, but with the prior warning that the online mode can be frustrating as hell, and the loading times aren't exactly lightening quick. But nonetheless, it reminds you why you invested all that money in a PS3
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I'd love to try this online. The cars appearing magically in front of you when you play online is lag, basicly, dodgy connections. If you're interested, consolegaming.eu has a Motorstorm ladder up and running, don't know if you'd like to join that. Great review. Ten
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Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Advantages: A fun, fantastic looking game! Disadvantages: The Al is too clever!!!! They are just like real humans and will do anything to stop you winning!
kingchris 07.04.2007 (07.04.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of MotorStorm (PS3)
Advantages: Fantastically addictive, enjoyable gameplay; astounding graphics; great crashes; always fun Disadvantages: Poor soundtrack; high difficulty; no 2 player; tacked-on online; could have been even better
jonwebb5 28.01.2009 (28.01.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of MotorStorm (PS3)
Advantages: Frantic and insanely fun gameplay with extrmemely detailed textures Disadvantages: No split-screen which is a massive let down. Limited game modes and race courses
olly29018 03.09.2007 (04.09.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of MotorStorm (PS3)
Advantages: A fun, fantastic looking game! Disadvantages: The Al is too clever!!!! They are just like real humans and will do anything to stop you winning!
kingchris 07.04.2007 (07.04.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of MotorStorm (PS3)
![Motorstorm [Platinum] PS3](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/97615904.jpg "Motorstorm [Platinum] PS3")
May 12th, 2007
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