MotorStorm: Pacific Rift Review by: EX Palen - 9.5/10
Who said fear?We're always told not to do in real life what the videogames show us. In racing games, more than a warning, is almost a rule. Of course, it's a rule when applying to games like Need for Speed, but in others such as Gran Turismo is a useful warning. But those games are played, mostly, on asphalt. What happens to off-road?
It's also a rule, and a very important one, because the safety decreases a lot in these surfaces. Hopefully, the only games that are fully based in off-road racing are also based on competitions, such as the World Rally Championship. However, sooner or later, a game focused on wild off-road stuff had to be launched.
Motorstorm Pacific Rift isn't just a game where things like sanity and fear are non-existent. It also lets out the devil we all hold inside. I don't think that anybody can't resist when you're shown a game in which you'll be driving in a lava-covered area or inside a sugar factory. Well, that's considering that you resisted when having to
select the vehicle and you found a monster truck or a van-modelled mudplugger. Motorstorm Pacific Rift is, for sure, one of the most extreme racing games in existence, and it will be hard to see any other game besides the Motorstorm series to get to this level of insanity.
Graphics: The graphics are amazing. The vehicles are very well designed, and we have to add the fact that they aren't real world vehicles. The environments are also good, with the still not solidified lava around you, or pools of water here and there, or racing at a mountain's peak. Maybe the animations in which our vehicle gets destroyed are a little bit too fancy, but well, the only important thing is that your vehicle is destroyed, doesn't matter if it keeps any wheel attached or not, so I don't consider it important. In my opinion, graphics couldn't get better, so I'm giving it a 10.
Sound: Hearing the engines here isn't like doing the same in Gran Turismo or Driver, but not for that it's a bad thing. Hearing the turbo awakens my nostalgia of the good old Need for Speed tuned cars and the nitrous. Maybe isn't the same speeding through streets than in an open environment, but here we have trucks, and also monster trucks. I would give sound a 10, but the only thing that keeps me from doing so is the fact that all vehicles in the same category sound exactly the same. Two vehicles will never sound the same, maybe similar, but not exactly, and that's why sound earns a 9.
Addictiveness: Well, any game that lets you go berserk to forget the limits of the real world has an extra point of addictiveness over other games, unless you consider it too berserk. In my opinion, it has that extra point. The races have so many different paths to follow, and many can't be used by all vehicles, so learning the track isn't easy. Also, in each race, a different vehicle can go better than other, for example, monster trucks or big rigs are better to drive in pools of water where bikes or rally cars would sink. Learning the best vehicle and path for each race is a big challenge. And talking about challenges, completing the game isn't easy, even if you master the tracks with all vehicles. The Time Attack can also help you to master the vehicles and the tracks, and you can be surprised at some lap times. Nonetheless, addictiveness earns a 10.
Story: I wouldn't say there's an story behind all this craziness. All that is behind the game is the organization of the event in a deserted island, with the construction of the tracks in each game zone. You just race completing any challenges that stand in your way to unlock more challenges and vehicles. Pretty much all.
Depth: The Festival, the main mode of this game, isn't a mode which you can pass in a few hours. You'll find yourself in very complicated situations, either for the opponents you face or by the characteristics of the event. By characteristics, I mean that you can have a limited amount of respawns, or even have the rules changed into an Elimination, every X seconds the driver in last position is eliminated (destroyed, you can find some vehicles still on fire if you keep completing laps), or a Speed event, that is, a timed event, which you have to pass through checkpoints within a limited amount of time. Also, there are 8 ranks you must complete in each of the four zones, and each rank has at least three races, so... More or less, around 90 events just in Festival. I didn't do the math before the rating, but the coincidence is that I decided to rate depth with a 9.
Difficulty: As I said before, completing the game requires many tries. Normal races aren't that much trouble, but as you get a higher rank, they will become troublesome. In my head still reverberates the event in which you drive a bike and your opponents are all monster trucks or racing trucks. The Elimination events aren't easy neither, because you have to avoid last position at any costs, so be careful to not crash against anything, or anyone if driving a small vehicle. The Speed events aren't easy tasks, mainly because you'll rarely use vehicles designed for them, such as bikes or rally cars. Using a monster truck can be really annoying in here, because you must go fast to make it in time, but remember to avoid sharp corners. Also, remember that some races have a limit to the amount of respawns you can do, so don't rush recklessly towards the goal or you can regret it so bad. For all this reasons, difficulty earns a 9.
Overall: A very good game, with enough challenges to make it last long and a wide vehicle roster to
select your favourite, and also choose from the few paintings each vehicle offers. There's a very special thing in this game that I really appreciate, and is that, among the many outfits your driver can wear, there are two outfits that match those used by The Stig, from Top Gear, both the first Stig, full black racing suit and helmet, and the second, the then-currently Stig, full white racing suit and helmet. What doesn't suit The Stig are the punches you can launch while driving a bike or ATV, but well, this game unleashes the devil within everyone, and not even The Stig can be saved from that.
Graphics
10 Sound
9 Addictive
10 Depth
9 Difficulty
9
User Notice 
