MX vs. ATV, the latest addition in the MX racer series, is a hard-riding, fast paced racer that covers pretty much all the off-road terrain, both literally and as a game that totes a lot of modes and vehicles. However, after a little time with the game, you might just find the game to be rough and bumpy like the terrain you cover in-game.

Single Player/Campaign Mode –

I was fairly excited about the opportunity to pop in this game I’d heard good things about and test it for myself; the excitement wore off as I started playing through the game’s multiple race modes. The game is very easy to pick up, even for me as someone who isn’t a addict of the off-road racer games. The arcade style is very easy to adapt to; that being said, I tired of the simplicity very quickly.

There are a bunch of different race modes, including new modes Endurocross and Opencross. A whole fleet of vehicles are at your disposal; though, none of them after a few hours are particularly exhilarating enough to keep playing the game for long.

The jumps and bumps that are fun to handle for a short while quickly seem monotonous; one surprise I found quite enjoyable in the game is the loading screen. While game modes load, you can explore an indoor course on whatever vehicle you will be utilizing in the loading event until the game is ready. I’m a big advocate of anything to do while you wait for screens to load, and this one is quite enjoyable.

You can earn money towards purchasing upgrades in each event; upgrades can increase both the performance and looks of your machines. There isn’t much satisfaction in earning the upgrades, though, as money flows in like honey in the promised land; before long, you’ll have all the upgrades and no satisfaction of a job well done.

All things considered, the single player mode is enjoyable for a while, but ultimately bland and disappointing. However, I would imagine that a die-hard fan of the series would enjoy the added game modes and intricacies of this newest edition; I’m just not that fan.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer, much like the single player, offers quick pick up and play fun, but loses the luster after a while. I played for a bit on Xbox LIVE; it was enjoyable, though perhaps not enough people have adopted this game, because much time was wasted sitting in a lobby waiting for people to join. I also spent some time with a friend playing split screen; the largest issue with split screen is that, when the music changed, a status box would pop up on the left side of the screen, obstructing my friend’s view of his split of the game. Not good at all.

Replay Value

This is a fun game to play with friends for something mildly entertaining to do; again, I really feel like fans of the series would appreciate the multiplayer more than someone who casually rented the game for a quick off-road fix. I personally am not going to be spending much time (or any) playing the game again, so I can’t rate it particularly high in this regard, as I represent the casual gamer, not the die-hard MX fan.

Visual Quality

The visuals, to one unaccustomed to the series, of course, were disappointing. There is a lot of visual clipping, and the loading distance of textures is very close to your rider, making for more of an annoying distraction from the actual racing than anything. The vehicles are well-rendered; however, if you get flung from your vehicle (which you will, I assure you), you will be forced to reckon with poor quality rag-doll effects. The rag-doll effects are very outdated; it isn’t hard to see when your body starts flopping in the most unnatural ways down the sides of jumps you couldn’t quite hit. I was quite disappointed that a game touted as one of the best in the off-road competitors would be so outdated visually.

Sound Quality

Sound quality was, if anything, the redeeming factor of the game for me. That isn’t to say that I found the audio components of the vehicles interacting with the terrain to be too impressive; actually, the sound track for the game is excellent. The creators chose fantastic artists, and created a system in which music runs continuously, without interruption, between menus, loading screens, games, and more. My only gripe was that, in split screen, the status updates of the songs obstructed gameplay. Other than that, if you’re looking for an off-road racer with a great sound track and in-game music set up, this is the one.

Final Verdict: This game is a great mix of every aspect of off-road racing, but it shoots for something the design team didn’t quite accomplish; perhaps not enough time was spent in development, but it seems this game is too little butter spread over too big a slice of bread. For the hardcore fans of the series, there are some good elements they can enjoy; for the casual gamer, I would say find something better to do with your time. At least rent, don’t buy.

Score:

3/5

The Blorge game rating system is evaluated on an average of 5 factors, including Single Player, Multiplayer, Replay Value, Visual Quality, and Sound Quality; those 5 factors are averaged into a ranking system from 1-5, five being the best score, 1 being the lowest. Each number correlates to a ranking as follows:

5 – Excellent
4 – Good
3 – Average
2 – Fair
1 – Bad

Each game is reviewed, in entirety, without bias. If you have any questions about the game or how it was evaluated, contact triston@blorge.com.

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