MotorStorm
It's the flagship European launch title and fortunately, it's every bit as lovely as your shiny new console.
 | Version PlayStation 3 | Developer Evolution | Publisher SCE | Genre Racing |
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Enemy AI is something of a showcase; in tough challenges you'll even find yourself being tag-team bullied 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've learnt the track. The hundreds of 'events' that occur during a race are called gags, with a fairly complex 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 too by ramming you - it's a nice touch.
"The immersive, tangible world you race in is down to the physical laws of the track, and the outstanding visual quality."
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The high/low entry and exit points are easy to see but not always easy to catch in time, often requiring good timing to reach. This superb track design makes for a comfortably strategic and dynamic race experience, but once you've learnt the best way to tackle each track with your preferred vehicle and mastered it, there's no need to alter your strategy much, and really, that's that as far as learning curve goes.
The boost feature, as in many racers, is an invaluable tool in MotorStorm; it fills up automatically at about half the rate it depletes during use, and if you use the boost for too long in one go, your engine overheats and your vehicle explodes. While don't need to 'earn' the gas with powerslides as you do in Ridge Racer, in the tough levels it must be used wisely - correct execution at the right parts of the track will mean you have a better chance of staying ahead.
A big part of the enjoyment is the immersive, tangible world you race in, and that's thanks not just to the physical laws of the track, but the outstanding technical quality too. Framerate is a decent and solid thirty, although it dips a little during super-busy moments, but the motion blur is flawless in its execution - much, much better than seen in PGR3 for example, where the shaky blur filter felt like compensation for the framerate/detail trade-off. The effect just looks lovely here in MotorStorm.
| Video Coverage (Latest Videos & Video FAQ) | |||
| PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO | |||
| Description | Dur. | Size | Details |
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MotorStorm Trailer, HD Quality |
1:20 | 45MB | DF, HD, 16:9 1280x720p30 8Mbps |
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MotorStorm Trailer, SD |
1:20 | 9MB | DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2Mbps |
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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 ED, CAM with DFA alt |
1.24m | 29MB | CAM, ED, 60 720x576 3Mbps |
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