MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is what happens when you dump a plethora of off-road vehicles, from buggy’s to rally cars, on a vast tropical island laden with hazards. With heavy exposure to all the different elements; volcanic mountain tops with spitting lava, thick, lush jungles, white beaches, and dramatic cliff edges, a perfect setting has been created for MotorStorm’s sequel, and it’s frantic adrenaline-fuelled racing style.

For anyone with real life friends or a broadband connection, easily the most notable change in the sequel to MotorStorm is the addition of multiplayer, including up to 4-player split-screen and 12-player online races, which, like a blessing, are quick and easy to join, and to suit all players, the online play has been divided into ‘casual’ and ‘ranked’, with the ability for players to veto a track they don’t like when it crops up.

As ever, you’ll be pitted against a roster of vehicles that range from quick, delicate motorbikes and ATV’s to monster trucks and big rigs, and as before, each vehicle has its own strengths and weaknesses, while vehicle choice may also force you to pick different routes, say to avoid deep water, or the ability to smash through a weakened wall. The variation in course routes is one of the games’ greatest assets, no race ever plays out the same way, and finishes are almost always an exciting battle right up to the finish line. Although it would be nice to see more courses, the 16 that are present are full of surprises and abundant in alternative routes, and will keep you coming back for more.

Despite broadening the capacity for other human players, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift still looks absolutely lush, the environments are packed, the vehicles are highly detailed, and there isn’t a spec of slowdown no matter how many cars are getting smashed to pieces. Courses are divided into four different categories; fire, earth, water and air, purely relating to the look of the environment, and the kind of hazards you’ll face there.

MotorStorm’s boost bar also makes a return, and same as before, you can hold ‘X’ for a significant speed boost, but if you over use it the vehicle will overheat and explode. This time however, you can drive through a stream to rapidly cool down the boost bar, while similarly if you’re driving alongside a pool of lava, the boost bar will be engulfed in flames and should be sparingly used.

Improvements to the original are evident – but not abundant. There are still some disappointing shortcomings, as the main single player mode ‘Festival’ feels somewhat unimaginative and repetitive, it’s merely races of increasing difficulty, either winning after a set number of laps, or with players in last place getting eliminated one by one. There’s also a rather frustrating ‘speed’ event, where the aim is to drive between flares within the given time, except it’s incredibly annoying as the next set of flares only appear after you’ve passed through the previous set, so there’s no way to anticipate which way to go, it takes the fun (and arguably the point) out of racing on such a broad circuit with so many different routes to choose from.

A big strength here for anyone of an addictive deposition is that each time you move up a rank you’ll unlock a new set of vehicles, along with a new selection of male and female riders. There’s also a collection of PSN trophies on offer, and plenty of other unlockable content. Staying true to the original, the game still provides a fantastic display on crashing, vehicles fall apart piece by piece, and you can photograph those epic crashes where a poor biker spins through the air followed by his bike engine and a wheel – and treasure it forever.