Reviews// MotorStorm Pacific Rift

I've commented before here on SPOnG about how there's an unpleasant tendency among publishers to stuff features into already excellent games, just to give them something to put on the press release. And there's an inadmirable tendency among the game-buying public to demand new features.

What's wrong with saying "MotorStorm was great, so for the new version, we're just going to give you some new tracks, and some new cars. That'll be £39.99 please."? But any publishers who did this would be decried as lazy and complacent.

So, instead, after a developer has worked its balls off to make a game as perfect as it can, it's then required to meddle with it to meet the unrealistic expectations of the buying public and the unreasonable demands of their publisher. And they are required to do so in time for the "Holiday Season".^*

This is where I'd like, if I may, to refer to the traditionally troublesome 'sophomore' ^*|* album as I stated earlier that I would. The thing about a group's first album is that they have probably been writing it since they were 13 years old. It contains the heartache of first love, the forging of what will be life-long friendships, the pains of growth. It is honed through seven line-up changes, innumerable drummers and hundreds of rehearsals. It hits the streets and if it's a hit, the record company wants a follow up by Christmas.

Problem is, since the first album went platinum, the band have been falling out of West End clubs with Peaches Geldof, screwing supermodels and snorting more cocaine than you could shake a stick at, even if it was a hand-carved Bolivian cocaine shaking-at stick, made from finest Brosimum Paraense. Albums written about pampered excess and the snivelling sycophancy of those who surround you are famously unappealing. So you end up with the traditionally arc shaped arc of a pop group's career. Ask Ben Volpierre Pierrot if you doubt what I say.

No one, and especially not me, is suggesting that the sophomore slump is anything like as painful in the video games world. I am especially not suggesting that since MotorStorm was released, Martin Kenwright has been inseparable from Lilly Allen, and groups of similar bubblehead cokehead vapparazzi. But there are parallels.

Before MotorStorm was released, Evolution Studios was under no pressure to perform. As the PS3 launch repeatedly slipped, it was not even under that much pressure to deliver. But ever since MotorStorm became one of the only launch titles worth playing, Evolution's been under the microscope, expectation has been mounting! It has been required to deliver a follow up that is better in every way than the first game.

Yet it didn't have any new better ideas, because it used them all in the first game... at least it better have, because the only alternative is that it cynically held some ideas back and purposefully gave us a sub-standard product so that it had something to follow up. And no one wants to think (or admit) that's how things work!

So, after scraping the bottom of the new ideas barrel, Evolution managed to dredge up unlocking content. Not exactly the most original idea, but as you progress through the game, more drivers/riders, more vehicles and more events become available. Let me be frank about this, different vehicles in MotorStorm are purely cosmetic. All buggies have the same handling characteristics, as do all bikes, big rigs etc. So, being able to drive new ones as the game progresses is largely irrelevant.

What's more, when we were playing two-player (on the SPOnG debug PS3), Tim had this totally cool yellow beach buggy that reminded me of my first car (Yes, my first car was a bright yellow GP SWB beach buggy with a type four engine), but I couldn't select it from my garage! It's annoying that in multi-player you can be randomly handed a car that hasn't been unlocked yet for single-player use.