MotorStorm: Massive Hands-On Preview
It's simply the best game on PlayStation 3, and we've been playing a recent build like mad to deliver you this detailed hands-on preview ahead of its offline Japan release next month and full launch next year.
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There are a few minor graphical shortcuts, though. When you're not moving the camera around during pause or a crash, it automatically pans around the car, which reveals some pretty obvious Doom-style 2D rotating sprites such as bushes and fire. These elements are displayed according to the camera's spherical vertical (or something), so they're sometimes especially blatant depending on the cam movement. Elsewhere, from bonnet view if you move the camera to look at the mirror, it only reflects small amount of the world, and not detail such as other vehicles. These things you will only notice if you study the game closely, and certainly not during gameplay, but it's always a dark pleasure to find that a game has small imperfections you can feel smug about spotting.
The art style is also vibrant, with everything from original vehicles to menu screens and logos presented beautifully. Meanwhile, licensed background music, including the likes of Nirvana, has an open-air concert feel to it, so it feels like you're in the great outdoors, not sat at home on your PS3.
"Motion sensing control is quite accurate but it's obviously a hasty afterthought."
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You can accurately control the wheel as you would in an arcade cabinet (or, erm, a real car maybe, but that would involve putting clothes on and going outside), and overall it almost works. But in tight situations or during acceleration to get back into the race after veering off, it's way too sensitive and there is no intelligent interpretation that helps you with what it thinks you might have been (read: were obviously) trying to do. Until you get the hang of things, just driving straight can be a challenge. It is better from the outside view rather than the in-car/bonnet view.
While motion control in MotorStorm does feel effective and all next-gen-like at times, it's obviously a hasty addition, but decent effort has been put into making it work. It's a relief to go back to analogue control though. And we know what we'd rather have had in MotorStorm between motion and rumble. Bring on thirdparty controllers that have both, while Sony does PS3 owners a disservice by NOT quitting the nonsense and settling a certain lawsuit.
We're still getting an idea of longevity in the game but there's no question that MotorStorm will ooze replay value based on the fun factor - and that's just singleplayer. We've not yet been able to test multiplayer. But by the time the game ships in the west next year, there'll also be online multiplayer and downloadable content, which Evolution is already working on, to look forward to as well.
"If there's one game that really shows off the POTENTIAL of the PS3 beyond 360 right NOW, this is it."
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Serious PS3 early adopters may even want to look into picking up the Japanese release of MotorStorm on December 7, even though there's no online play, and then trading it in for the full-on western release in February (US) and March/whenever (Europe).
Forget MGS or Final Fantasy. MotorStorm is the PS3's first killer app.
| Video Coverage (Latest Videos & Video FAQ) | |||
| PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO | |||
| Description | Dur. | Size | Details |
| Newly Added | |||
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MotorStorm Latest Trailer, HD Quality |
1:20 | 45MB | DF, HD, 16:9 1280x720p30 8Mbps |
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MotorStorm Latest Trailer, SD |
1:20 | 9MB | DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2Mbps |
| Previous Videos | |||
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MotorStorm GC2006 Trailer, HD Quality |
1:08 | 50MB | DF, HD, 16:9 1280x720p30 7.0Mbps |
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MotorStorm HD In-Game Engine Trailer (HD quality) |
1:08 | 57MB | DF, SD, 16:9 1280x720p30 8Mbps |
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MotorStorm E3 2005 Trailer SD |
1.31m | 34MB | DF, SD, 60 640x480 3.5Mbps |
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MotorStorm E3 2005 Trailer SD |
1.31m | 20MB | DF, SD, 30 640x480 2Mbps |
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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 |
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