PSP World

Motorstorm: Arctic Edge Review

There is a crowded field of racing games competing for attention this holiday, and the first to the starting Grid is Sony's Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, developed by BigBig Studios. Their successful Pursuit Force games demonstrate that the company knows how to make a fun product for the PSP, and overall they do not disappoint here. While Motorstorm does many things right, it is not as deep or complex as some of the other racers on offer this year, and in some ways we wish it had been released a year ago when there was less competition. Still, fans will get a kick out of this snow-bound automotive smash-em-up, particularly if they prefer their racers to be loud, action packed, and full of destruction.

Motorstorm: Arctic Edge takes players on a trip to a fictional extreme racing festival in which vehicles of all shapes and sizes are allowed to race against each other on the same track. As far as we know, there is no equivalent in real life, and it's easy to see why: crashes are plentiful and painful. The large vehicle selection is a great feature of this game, and it includes bikes, buggies, ATVs, Rally cars, big rigs, snow cats and snowmobiles. There are 12 distinct tracks in the campaign mode, which unlocks new content as the player slowly progresses through a spiral of events organized into 8 ranks of increasing skill. All told there are at least 100 separate events, and around 20 hours of gameplay in the campaign Festival mode. Sometimes these tracks are reversed, and there are a number of different competition types to keep players on their toes, but the game does suffer from repetitiveness sooner than we would have liked.
Still, 12 courses is a pretty decent number considering this is a handheld game, and there are some pretty cool track designs to race on. Many feature multiple levels of height that favor specific vehicles, as well as insane jumps and destructible bridges to add to the mayhem.

In the first Motorstorm game, the desert was a central feature of gameplay, with its bumpy, mud-cracked terrain and sloshing mud puddles. The same goes for the tropical setting of Motorstorm 2. In keeping with the franchise, the arctic environment was put to good use in this title. Avalanches can be triggered by using your horn, and can provide a much-needed advantage in certain circumstances. Snowdrifts can also increase the speed of your turbo recharge, thanks to their cooling effect. Certain tracks feature snowbound conditions, which adds to the ambiance but tends to make driving a bit more difficult.

Handling in Motorstorm is not as physics intensive as its console predecessors, but it strikes a good balance between arcade simplicity and realism. The hulking Snow Plough doesn't handle as well as its smaller two-wheeled companions, but that is kind of the point. Mostly the controls are on target, and the icy surfaces don't feel so slippery that they are frustrating. Crashes are pretty convincing, although they are nowhere near as satisfying as they are on the cell-equipped PS3. When vehicles trade paint, they don't feel like they have the same 'weight' that they did in the console versions.

Graphically, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge performs about as well as we could have hoped. Textures are not as detailed as they are on the HD console, but they still look great. The game runs at 30 fps for the most part, with some chugging when things get tight with other cars. It's not the best-looking racer on the PSP, but it's no dog, either. The sense of speed is decent, but never blew us away like say, Burnout Revenge did. Music is a really strong point of the game, and in fact everything about the title screams polish, from the opening cinematic, to the menu navigation, to the credits. Big Big Studios were clearly aware that they were dealing with an important franchise property, and they did not let Sony down in this respect.

Something should be said about the game's excellent multiplayer options, which allow up to 8 players to race together online or ad-hoc.

If you are a fan of arcade racing, then Motorstorm should definitely catch your attention this fall. Even curious gamers who haven't played the PS3 titles should give this one a look. On the other hand if you like your racing a little bit more realistic, this probably isn't the place for you.