Motorstorm Pacific Rift

By Liam O'Connor

I always found that the first Motorstorm was like a wine that needed time to breathe before consumption. At first, I thought it was a slow, bumbling racer with all the subtlety, tact, and finesse of a pro-wrestler at a poetry recital. Its presentation seemed like some weird cross of Burning Man with a monster truck demolition derby that was ecliptic in its appeal. Pendulum and Slipknot in the same game?

However, the more I played the more I discovered an intelligent racer underneath the brutish exterior – the Dolph Lundgren of video games, if you will. It required sophistication and patience, demanding far more input from a player than peeling round corners at speed with a single button being held down. (Ridge Racer, as much as I love you, I’m looking at you.) Coming first required skill, and it was genuinely rewarding. Admittedly, I never finished it – although this was not because I was bored but because it was bloody hard.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got to sit down with a 40% complete build of Motorstorm Pacific Rift at the recent PlayStation event in Auckland. I was keen to see what improvements had been made to the formula, and how the jungle setting would change the way the game plays.

It turns out that it’s quite a bit. There were two levels on offer – one for single player and one for multiplayer – and being sober and a bit nervous, I decided to try the single player level. Of the vehicles on offer in the build, I went with the monster truck. Not because I like raw steak and Budweiser, but because it was new and I figured I probably should check it out for evaluation purposes – honest!

The first thing that hit me about Pacific Rift was how beautiful it was looking in these early stages. Sure, track deformation had yet to be implemented, but the lush environment was accented nicely by some impressive rim lighting that gave everything a bit of a hazy, tropical glow. Admittedly, the framerate was a little unsteady, but these things always get tidied up later in development.

The next thing that struck me about Pacific Rift was that I was once again hearing Aussie drum ‘n’ bass act Pendulum. Now, I like Pendulum – a lot – but I’m often a bit thrown by the switch between such contrasting musical genres in the Motorstorm series. Hopefully the final game allows the same playlist options found in the original.

But I digress, the countdown started and I sped from the starting line... okay, I lie. I was in a monster truck; I watched everyone else speed away as I slowly began reaching my optimum speed. Now, anyone who knows anything about Motorstorm will tell you that it’s all about taking the right path for the right vehicle. Making the right choices will save seconds off your lap times and assure you glorious victory for great justice.

The thing about Motorstom Pacific Rift is that the jungle setting makes it extremely hard to know where the hell anything is. Unlike the barren wastelands of the original, there are trees everywhere that obscure everything. So what looked like a nice shortcut to get me in front of the pack was in fact a shortcut to death – my monster truck hurtled off a cliff edge and exploded spectacularly at the bottom. It was impressive, yet slightly disappointing.

Still, I now knew that I would take the path of less resistance, and I did have that handy boost button to help me get a respectable placing of third. I decided to have a second attempt, and having been round the track once, I faired a bit better as I knew the best path to take. Pacific Rift will obviously place more emphasis on knowing the tracks and their various pitfalls, but the planning for perfection has always been part of the series’ charm.

Obviously, at 40% complete there wasn’t too much too see. Much of the game is very similar to the original Motorstorm, with the setting and new vehicles being the most lucid alterations to the experience. Fans of the original will definitely get a kick out of Pacific Rift, although I can imagine that if, like me, you never finished the original, you probably won’t finish this one either.

No date was given for Motorstorm Pacific Rift – not even a ballpark figure – but it’s definitely shaping up nicely and should hopefully provide an intelligent but frantic arcade racer. Keep it locked to NZGamer for a full review in the future.

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ReplyPosted by BlackRetina on 11 August 2008, 01:01AM

Anyone know if Pacific Rift will have offline multiplayer?