We’ve all heard of or even possibly played the odd ATV game, be it this generation or previous and normally they get disregarded as another one for the pile. It’s weird how this genre of quad biking racers is yet to get it’s stand out title that makes the genre. No discredit to previous renditions in the genre but none of them have far exceeded the fairly low expectations we now have. Despite all this there was a great number of people who were surprised by the quality, graphics and overall polish Pure had when the demo hit a month ago. The real question is how does it translate to a full game or more importantly is Pure the genre defining game this sub-genre has been searching for?

In basic terms Pure is basically SSX but a lot louder and with quad bikes. You race full customizable vehicles over terrain and landscapes that could only exist in a ATV enthusiasts wet dream. Blisteringly fast drops and humongous jumps are commonplace in Pure and they really help cement the fast paced experience that the game is all about. Not only does the game come with a multitude of jumps but it comes with full trick list for you to take advantage of. Pure gives you a great sense of speed but the fact that your either in the air performing a trick or racing around a bend keeps that action fast and furious.

The way this system works is also a good testament to the time spent on making the game. You have three levels of stunts ranging from basic to extreme and you only get access to the higher level tricks if you’ve got the boost. Now obviously you have to think about how you use the boost you acquire from the tricks. On one hand you need to finish first but on the other you want to perform higher level tricks to get more boost. The way you have to constantly be balancing tricks vs boost keeps the action flowing and intense.

The game comes complete with a world tour mode that acts very similar to the world tour mode in Motorstorm. You have various events or event tickets that have smaller challenges within them. Pretty basic stuff and it’s a shame they didn’t use the interesting game they’ve built and make a really interesting tour mode around it. Nevertheless the world tour mode does it’s job of giving you things to do and it’s just a shame they don’t really give you enough change from the games three modes, Race, Sprint and Freestyle. Sprint is basically just flatout racing with hardly any jumps or boost and freestyle is all about acquiring points from tricks and combining them up for the biggest score. Meanwhile race is a mix of both yet your aim is to still finish first.

Pure boasts some of the best visuals you will ever see this generation. It’s plain and simple the game looks gorgeous. Pure is one of the first games to have really nice tree and grass design and although this might seem like an odd point to make out, a lot of developers struggle on the deadly tree, yet here it only helps sell the photo-realism. Granted everything is slightly washed out and you end up with a weird colour palette but while your racing the draw distance and general sense of speed you tend not to notice it as a bad thing. It’s also great to see that they have backed this brilliant engine up with absolutely no frame rate drops at all. The truth is if your looking for a game that shows off how well your system can look, look no further than Pure.

The experience is then backed up by a hard hitting soundtrack that accompanies the action brilliantly. Ranging from drum and bass to house and from hip hop to indie, every genre is represented in a fully licensed audio soundtrack. Sure it’s got a couple songs from Motorstorm and a couple of Need For Speed but overall the music really makes the action that more intense.

No game is without it’s pitfalls and Pure isn’t an exception. When going back in classes you no longer have a choice in ATV. Sometimes hazard areas are bigger than they need to be meaning that you can make a jump fine but still get reset. Despite these little hitches they don’t really stand out against the fact that the game is really short and it doesn’t really vary action. You only have a small number of tracks with only three fairly similar modes meaning the game will get repetitive at the best of times.

Pure also comes with attitude. You have to pick between six or seven ‘bad-ass’ characters that will occasionally spout the same line over and over again about how awesome that last trick was. It’s odd because you have to pick from one of these characters but that’s the only really difference they make to the game. Then the game is backed up by a repetitive voice over and while it’s fine that he is just trying to teach you the basics he never figures out when you’ve got them. I can’t recall the number of times he told me how to perform a special trick or that up to seven events could be in a series. Luckily though you can turn the voice overs off to make the game bearable again.

At first you’ll think your playing SSX mixed with Motorstorm but you’ll eventually stumble upon something quite original and fresh. Despite it’s short length, lack of variation and other shortcomings that Pure has, it has enough of a solid game behind it to make this worth checking out. Meanwhile is this the genre defining game it aspires to be? Well, no but it comes incredibly close and with the addition of a few more modes and options this game could easily help the ATV racing genre.