Review: MotorStorm: Pacific Rift - Unsafe driving

Mike Bantick
Friday, 07 November 2008 08:19

Opinion and Analysis

Here’s mud in yar eye as the fearless fans of MotorStorm take over a tropical island to get their unrestrained racing thrills.  Forget sex and violence in video gaming, here is a game that should be banned due to other influences on the susceptible mind.

I don’t really think this game should be banned, but think about it for a moment.  We spend hours of effort debating the effects of prolonged video game violence on children , or the relative merits of censorship over the introduction of a R18+ rating for adult orientated games.

MotorStorm
	Developer	Evolution Software
	Publisher	Sony
	Rating	PG
PS3

Yet, we let games like MotorStorm onto the shelves with nary a blink of concern.

But, gather round children and listen to the horrors of the latest MotorStorm game - Pacific Rift – and the effects it could have on your young impressionable minds, as it did on my not-so-young impressionable soul.

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift – like its PS3 launch title predecessor is a balls-and-all cross country Mad Max’esque racing game involving getting to the finish line any way you can.  This may involve the occasional crash, bump, dirty trick or short-cut.

Pacific Rift takes the action out of the desert locations of the original and onto a tropical island with a great deal more variety in both terrain, associated strategy and visuals.

And enjoyably, the other noticeable change from the original game is the disc load times.  Though this game does not need to be installed onto the PS3 hard drive, it is great to see that work has gone into improved transfer speeds.  Replacing the loading of full 3D models with static images during the vehicle selection stage is a god-send in frustration lessening.

This is extra special when you find out that your choice in ram-shackle vehicles has expanded.  Not only do you get to choose between the twitchy and vulnerable, but manoeuvrable dirt-bikes, but your four wheel options now include ATV’s, rally cars, buggies, race trucks, mudpluggers, Big Rigs and now car crushing Monster Trucks.

CONTINUED PAGE 2