Reviews// MotorStorm (PAL PS3)

Computer-controlled vehicles boost out of nowhere to overtake you in impossibly narrow spots, and once they get in front of you they slow down. They are simply not trying to win the race, they are trying to prevent you doing so, as if they are one big team, and it's you versus them. So, it's not every man for himself, it's you against the world, and it really does spoil some the fun of what is otherwise an astounding game.

My only other gripe with Motor Storm is its sensitivity to you going in the wrong direction. Almost all driving games let you know if you set off the wrong way after a spin or a spill, but most let you get a few metres before they do it. Motor Storm flashes the red warning words as soon as you start going awry, even if you are merely reversing from an obstacle you have been shunted into. Of course, with the many and various routes each track has, you want to know pretty soon if you take a wrong turn but MS is marginally too sensitive in this area, and you'll see ‘Wrong Way’ signs often, and often when you have not taken a wrong turn.

On-line play is excellent - Sony hosted a game for the UK media during the review period; we took on, and owned, journos from a few other sites and magazines you may have heard of, but surely don't read. Setting up and joining an on-line game was simple to do; and good on-screen messages and a traffic light system kept us adequately informed of what was going on. Sadly, it was only adequately - when we were waiting for a race to finish, we could not see how far it had progressed. Racing real opponents who are more bothered about winning the race than they are about trashing your vehicle really brings the game to life - and we're waiting anxiously for March 23rd so we can play some of you guys!

Oh, and while I remember: that memory game. Some of the races are run at late evenings, when the desert gullies are in strong shadow. Some are even run at night, and neither you nor your competitors' cars have headlights. These lighting conditions combine with the mud thrown up at your screen to result in you sometimes driving literally blind... better memorise those tracks.

SPOnG Rating: 83%
[i]Motor Storm is not a revolutionary game - it has no real claims to fame, or certainly no claims to uniqueness. Sure, the Monument Valley landscape is 'realistically modelled' (if your definition of realistic is especially lenient, or if you only consider things at a macro level). The included fly-by footage of the area is as good an HD demo as I’ve seen, and makes me ache to go back to the place.

There are too few tracks, the lighting in the evening and night sections is JUST ANNOYING; the randomness of some of the steering - affected as it is by landscape and suspension influences beyond your control - is frustrating. The mud on the screen, especially in the shaded or night sections simply makes it like driving blind - which may be realistic for mud driving - but if realism is the issue here, what are all the 200m jumps all about? The game is frustrating, and at times annoying. It's not the killer app that the platform needs. But it is compelling, and it is addictive. And until something better comes along, if you want a go you'll have pry the Sixaxis from our cold dead hands.[/i]

Don't forget, you can read our interview with the Motor Storm developers right here.