Motorstorm Pacific Rift Impressions
Visibly Breathtaking

We recently got a chance to test out the demo of Motorstorm: Pacific Rift a month before it’s release. Although the demo only features one track and 3 diversely different vehicles to race with, we’ve still got a some early impressions the game made. Not only does Motorstorm improve the on the original’s gameplay but some how it looks better than the already stunning visuals that Motorstorm served up.

Raingod Spires was the destination and although this includes none of the real important terrain additions like lava or water, it does have enough excitement in itself. The multiple routes are even more explorable and visible and this already does wonders for the game. The original had enough of an interesting premise with great graphics to keep people coming back but the courses lacked exploration. Sure some had multiple routes but there was never any reason to explore. Now it might just be the sharper visuals or simply better track design but it won’t be too long and you’ll be surveying the whole environment for jumps and shortcuts to take.

Talking of visuals they have some how improved the graphics. The whole environment looks clearer and sharper. It will be interesting to see, with the slightly whimsical element of lava, how well the graphics will hold up and probably more importantly how more realistic and believable they look. There is this one jump you make out of a cavern and when it opens up, a massive chunk of terrain is shown on screen at once and this is visibly breathtaking the first few times.

It appears that they have simplified the vehicle selection by only having one vehicle for each category. The selection in the demo was between a bike, a monster truck and a racing truck. The bike controls just as would expect. Their turning circle isn’t the greatest but the speed and acceleration they generate help counter this. The racing truck is considerably weighty and is hard in the corners and feels very similar to controls in the predecessor. Finally the monster truck is surprisingly nimble and shockingly fast down the hills. This is a great combination when you consider you can just crush other racers with ease.

It’s those weighty controls that have made an unwelcome return to the franchise and that put a downer on it. Personally the original was great but the car never reacted to your movements quick enough and although this was a great way of creating chaos it did put a damper on an otherwise great experience. A few other noticeable shortcomings would be when ever you flip on your back your car seems to give up and start losing wheels and other vital parts. It seems weird that in game where chaos is key that the second anything happens your to your vehicle, your car’s screws disappear.

Despite these elements the game is shaping up to be a worthy predecessor to the original. Chaos provoking controls aside the only other problem with Motorstorm was the lack of different environments and Motorstorm Pacific Rift seems to be doing a great job at answering that problem. It will be exciting to see how this improvement can help the game’s long term appeal.

For more information on Motorstorm Pacific Rift check out our original preview.