MotorStorm: Pacific Rift for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

I did enjoy the first Motorstorm, for the record, but Motorstorm: Pacific Rift left me completely cold. M:PR feels kind of like playing Wipeout after you haven't played it in a long time. You feel like you're hurtling at the speed of light somewhere, and wherever it is, it's vaguely forward. Now imagine if Wipeout's tracks were half a mile wide, and with completely random brick walls scattered throughout. Throw in opponents who would rather kill you than win a race, and that's this game in a nutshell. The graphics are pretty during the intro cinema and pre-race flyovers, but look fairly cluttered during the race. The first game's tracks were a pretty steady shade of brown, which helped you actually tell where they were. Here, you have no idea at any moment whether you're on the track or not, mostly because you're more concerned with a barrier appearing in front of you with a split second notice, or a big rig slamming into you at a 90 degree angle and trashing you instantly. Speaking of the tracks, these levels are really well crafted, and would be perfect if you were playing an adventure game where you explored, and looked for jungle treasures. Unfortunately, this is a racing game, and it would be really nice to know where the heck you're supposed to be going. The camera would also periodically lodge itself INSIDE a vehicle that's behind me, making me invisible. The boost mechanics are really interesting (being near water cools your boost meter, while being near fire makes it cool more slowly), so it's a shame the game as a whole is so irritating. I completely lost interest within an hour.