MotorStorm: Massive Hands-On Preview

Tickets get progressively more challenging, with 'Level 4' challenges feeling virtually impossible but the earlier Level 1 challenges relatively straightforward after some perseverance. There's an all-bike event called 'The Chase' which is an unpredictable, manic battle with aggressive bike opponents, while other locked tracks like Colossus, Rushin' Roulette, Deep in the Hole and Breakback Mountain, are as eyebrow-raising as they sound.

Level 4 difficulty is thanks not just to track design, but largely enemy AI; in tough challenges you'll even find yourself being tag-teamed and steamrollered into the dirt. Often, if you don't get a quick, aggressive lead early on you can forget about getting a leading finish position unless you really know the track; even if you hold it tight for a while it won't be long until a truck is up your ass, then the quads and bikers follow like rats and everyone messes up your plan to win, but it's amazingly well balanced and fun-spirited, despite the aggressive overtones.

In fact, AI is an area that's really taken to genuine new heights for a racing title. The hundreds of 'events' that occur during a race are called Gags, with a fairly complex AI system of context and chance determining how vehicles interact - whether it's a biker looking back at you and offering an offensive hand gesture, or taunting other drivers to make them mad and begin a determined attempt to ram you off the track. Bikers and quad-bikers can also punch each other, Road Rash style, which is only fair since the bigger cars can all fight dirty by ramming you. It's pure entertainment value and the kind of beyond-duty developer attention to detail that this generation should rightfully be about.

Each ticket is made up of between one and four tracks, such as Rain God Mesa, The Grizzly, and The Tenderizer. The track variety on offer is nice, with plenty of open space offering a better sense of speed in some, and a more pressing, claustrophobic feel to others.

The wildly entertaining, non-linear tracks are pretty much the stars of the show. There are often several heights of track along same part of course: sun-baked high ground is usually a lot dryer than the muddy low terrain, which is sometimes just a half-pipe of sludge, but it's trickier to stay up on high track without plummeting back down at some point. While the highroad doesn't always offer the best racing line, being more solid ground it's the preferred terrain for smaller vehicles, unlike the mud pluggers and big rigs which power through the sludgy low terrain with relative ease.

The different terrain heights do not always hug around each other either, but sometimes meander around cliff edge completely independent of other levels - you'll see passing competitors above overhead, crossing sideways over a bridge and jumping through the air at a distant point of the track, even though you may realistically meet them at the joining part of the track a few moments afterwards. And the undulation entry and exit points are clearly marked, but not always easy to catch in time, often requiring good timing to reach. This superb track design makes for comfortably strategic and dynamic race experience, and there are no invisible walls or cheap track elements; say there's some wooden structure, if there's enough space to drive underneath it you can, although you can smash through it in a truck if you prefer.

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Video Coverage (Latest Videos & Video FAQ)
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO
Description	Dur.	Size	Details
Newly Added
MotorStorm Latest Trailer, HD Quality	1:20	45MB	DF, HD, 16:9 1280x720p30 8Mbps
MotorStorm Latest Trailer, SD	1:20	9MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2Mbps
Previous Videos
MotorStorm GC2006 Trailer, HD Quality	1:08	50MB	DF, HD, 16:9 1280x720p30 7.0Mbps
MotorStorm HD In-Game Engine Trailer (HD quality)	1:08	57MB	DF, SD, 16:9 1280x720p30 8Mbps
MotorStorm E3 2005 Trailer SD	1.31m	34MB	DF, SD, 60 640x480 3.5Mbps
MotorStorm E3 2005 Trailer SD	1.31m	20MB	DF, SD, 30 640x480 2Mbps
MotorStorm E3 2005 Trailer ED, CAM with DFA alternative, this cam version is worth a download due to extra detail captured better than in feeds. Also doesn't have the ludicrous Vsync issue that plagued Sony's 2005 live feed. Not that it matters anymore.	1.24m	29MB	CAM, ED, 60 720x576 3Mbps