Going down a storm: Three Speech gets some hands-on time with MotorStorm

10 Nov

Having read Steve Boxer’s review of the game we couldn’t wait to try the exotic new PS3 off-roader. Hit the jump to see what we thought; let us know what you think in the thread…

The PS3’s launch racer returns with more adrenaline-fuelled off-roading madness, this time on a Pacific island - which means beaches, mountains, forests, volcanos and lots of lovely, lovely mud.
Seven vehicle types return from the first game: ATVs, bikes, buggies, big rigs, rally cars, mud pluggers and racing trucks with the addition of monster trucks, which can have a sports look or a more Mad-Max style.

‘Festival’ is the career mode, where you win racers to unlock more courses and rise up the ranks. Courses are split into four elemental categories which reflect the environmental hazards you’ll face. Earth has lots of mud and forests, Air contains mountainous courses, Water you can guess while Fire has perhaps the most fun feature of the game. You’ll be racing across streams of molten lava which, naturally, will tend to set fire to your vehicle.

Overheating is one of your biggest problems, but there are carwash-type things to drive through to cool you down. Overusing your boost, particularly on the fire courses, will cause your car to ignite, shudder and eventually explode in a ball of flame, so you need to keep an eye on your boost bar.
‘Wreckreation’ is where you’ll find online and split-screen multiplayer modes and also a free-play mode, where you can race in any vehicle, choose your course and time of day. You can also choose the fun ‘Eliminator’ race, where the slowest vehicles are regularly knocked out. You can see which racer is next to go, and when it’s you, a short countdown commences so you need to move up the positions or it’s race over.

Controlling your vehicles requires the triggers to accelerate and brake, with X to boost, circle as handbrake and the square button to sound your horn, or if you’re on a bike or ATV, make rude gestures at your rivals. The shoulder buttons can be used to side-shunt other vehicles if you’re feeling aggressive, and this also works as a neat little drift.

There are several routes through each course, and which path to take may depend on what you’re driving. Big rigs for example are best on the low paths as they’re not so nifty at jumping, mud pluggers are going to handle rivers and mud slides much better than bikes and monster trucks will just roll right over most small hazards.

At any time you can pause the race and take a snapshot of the action, moving your camera on any axis and zooming in and out to get the best shot from any angle. These pictures can be viewed in your Garage, where you can also choose your driver and style of vehicle and view any trophies won.
It’s looking like fantastic, fast-paced racing fun in stunning environments, and it even seems like someone’s thought about the soundtrack. Queens Of The Stone Age’s ‘Sick Sick Sick’ and Ministry’s ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod’ seem particularly apt!

In: Uncategorized by: Three Speech Nov 10, 2008 @ 6:43 pm

11 Comments

Hmm, this could very easily be a review of the first game. Mond you, if it is more of the same I’ll be happy

Comment by TheShirts — Nov 10, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
MS2 is just fantastic. Colossos Canyon has got to be the best track ever, it’s just crazy good. And the lighting is superb. Buy, rent it, just make sure you play this game.

Comment by cr8ck3r5 — Nov 10, 2008 @ 7:07 pm
I played the demo and loved it! Even though I hated the demo of the first Motorstorm… Thinking about buying when its price drops. So many games to spend money on this year and I’ve only started with LBP for now.

Comment by Spedfrom — Nov 10, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
I haven’t reached Colossus Canyon, I keep hearing things about it… The Edge… enough said.

this is the game which gets my heart racing more than any other game. EVER. Forget burnout paradise, or motorstorm 1.

Motorstorm 2 is the big daddy of racing this year.

Comment by ThreeSpeechlover — Nov 10, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Motorstorm 2 is an absolute corker, if you liked the first game, you’d definitely love this even more!

The graphics are vastly superior and much more detailed. The loading times have been reduced alot, overall it’s just amazing; more tracks more terrains, more challenges AND splitscreen, what more could you ask? (replays?) :)p

As mentioned in the review it also has Photo Mode, so you can now pause the game and really go to town and scrutinise all the details to your hearts content and save them too!

Great stuff!

Comment by funkyellowmonkey(ps3 id) — Nov 10, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
Steve, I think most of us here have played the first Motorstorm game and are familiar with the controls and the basics of gameplay. After all, when it came out it was one of only 2 games on the PS3 worth getting (the other being Resistance of course). I thought you might compare this game with the first one. What’s better in Motorstorm 2? Granted there are new vehicles and 2-player split-screen. But have they sorted out the annoyingly-long load times between races? Is the rubber-band AI still there? Has the addition of the split-screen mode caused any noticeable degradation in the graphical detail of the environment (in draw distance for example). Yes, I have played the demo. I found it disappointing but apparently that was a very early build of the game and I don’t want to judge the full game on that experience. Besides, people have told me that the full game is a lot better than the demo would have us believe. Oh well I guess I’ll have to rent it and try it out for myself.

Comment by reakt — Nov 11, 2008 @ 10:00 am
And crashing in at no.29 in the Console Software charts is…..Motorstorm Pacific Rift!

Comment by katamari-ball — Nov 11, 2008 @ 11:42 am
I’m loving the tracks. The Edge is brilliant, especially the first time, my god what a sense of vertigo, it made my perineum twitch. Ha ha ha!

Comment by LordOfRuin — Nov 11, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
Reakt - Better vehicle handling (and better distinction between the vehicle classes), Nicer more varied courses, much faster loading (restarting a race is near instant should you be having a bit of a mare), External effects on boost is a fun dynamic, Better progression mechanics through the game, more varied events (liking the time timed run through the firework gates, and the eliminator events), Funny running down other racers who’ve left their wreck (you can get a trophy), the online racing is quite good, and finally, there is the split screen racing (though why a horizontal split screen should be 3:4 aspect ratio I don’t know).

Anyway, my chums and I are impressed and enjoying it lots. According to the stats, I’m about fifteen hours in, and about half way through the challenges, where it’s starting to get a bit more difficult. Nice!

Comment by LordOfRuin — Nov 11, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
@LordOfRuin - thanks for the info - sounds like a laugh - I’m sold. I’ll be picking this up just as soon as I get tired of LittleBigPlanet - which might be a little while! Heck I may as well put Motorstorm 2 on the official Christmas list 2008!

Comment by reakt — Nov 11, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
Even the wife likes this one. Allthogh she doesn’t like it when I ram her off the track. Would definately reccommend this title. Only complaint is that the horizontal split screen is in 4:3 as someone else has already pointed out

Comment by hayjay — Nov 12, 2008 @ 10:55 am

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