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- From sophisticated F1 cars to exotic Japanese imports, American muscle to off road 4x4’s, the world of video driving games has never been better.
Ask 100 people which games console is king of the road when it comes to the best for driving based games and the split will be pretty close between the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
We take a look at what these colossus giants have to offer when it comes to 4 wheels and although not as sophisticated as the big two we also take a look at what the Nintendo Wii has to throw into the ring.
Pit Stops
Looking for some thrilling dirt-track action? MX vs. ATV Reflex is the latest and greatest. In an attempt to combine elements from both arcade racing and the more realistic racing sims the developers have met with mixed success in a game that can sometimes be both frustrating and fantastic.
First, the good: This game has a ton of content. The title is misleading because you’re not limited to motorcross bikes and all terrain vehicles. There are also buggies, UTV’s and even offroading trucks to try your hand racing with. Each type of vehicle drives very differently, as you might expect, making each track feel different even if you’ve raced it many times in other vehicles. That’s not to say you have to replay the same tracks over and over, MX vs. ATV Reflex has a ton of courses and most of them hit all the marks when it comes to both visuals and how the tracks handle.
You’ll also notice new environmental challenges. Vehicles now leave ruts in the mud and while these aren’t too worrisome while driving a truck, smaller vehicles and especially motorcross bikes can get jarred around by them and occasionally lose control. Speaking of control, there is now a dual-stick control scheme that ties your left control stick to the vehicle and your right control stick to the driver. The purpose of controlling the driver is primarily for balance. You can lean into turns, lean forward to keep balance while climbing a hill, lean back just before a jump, etc. You can even lean in mid-air to adjust your vehicle’s orientation, and on landing to prevent wiping out.
It’s not all mud and rainbows though. The controls can sometimes be finicky and the physics of the game can occasionally just seem to go haywire. These things happen more often than they probably should and can cause some real frustration. Also, some of the tracks can be overly challenging in and of themselves. More experienced players will no doubt be used to racing a track multiple times trying for a perfect run but there are no real options to make things easier for less hardcore players who just want to finish one race and advance to the next level.
The single player career mode is excellent. Not only is there variety in tracks and locations but also different types of events to compete in. One of the more interesting, although occasionally frustrating, are the freestyle events. In these events you are judged basically for doing jumps and tricks, but it’s not clear exactly what the judges want to see and therefore difficult to plan a run you know will score big if done flawlessly. Overall though, the single player game will keep you occupied for a while and is a boatload of fun.
Multiplayer was not forgotten either, and the game allows online play for up to 12 players, or a 4 player split-screen mode. There are also a couple of game modes which are only available in the multiplayer game. MX vs. ATV Reflex is a good looking game, but lacks the high-end graphics and sound some other recent titles sport. Don’t let that stop you from checking it out though. This title may appeal to hardcore racers more than casual gamers but it’s really a game anyone can enjoy playing.
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