Fury 4 Freed
Time to go off-roading one last time on the PS2.
Published: October 31, 2006
We mentioned it a while back, but the ATV Offroad Fury series is something of a curse for Sony Computer Entertainment America; the games sell well, sure, but for whatever reason, both of the independent developers that worked on the project -- first Rainbow Studios (who worked on the first couple games, then were bought by THQ) and then Climax Racing (who finished out the series and were recently bought by Buena Vista Games) -- have been scooped up, thus ending their runs on the project.
Neither buyout, of course, has any bearing on ATV Offroad Fury 4, as the game is finished and, as of today, headed for stores. Hooray!
"ATV Offroad Fury 4 reaffirms our commitment to the PlayStation 2 by providing gamers with innovative features that strengthen our best-selling franchises," coolly explained Susan Nourai, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of online and product marketing. "This game marks a major advancement for the franchise with the addition of new vehicle types, a captivating Story Mode experience, and the evolutionary compatibility between PSP and PlayStation 2."
That compatibility, for those not following the game, is a link-up with ATV Offroad Fury Pro, which already shipped at the end of last month, and allows content in both versions to be unlocked in the respective cousins. It's one of the best cases yet of Sony's disparate systems playing nice and sharing both content and opening the door to more of it -- if you've got both versions. The whole mess was outlined in [ps2preview=129]our pre-E3 preview[/game] a while back.
Still, if that whole "reading" thing isn't really your bag, you can always just head out now and pick up a copy -- pick up the PSP version while you're at it and have a grand ol' time unlocking stuff in both versions! We'll have a full review shortly.
Neither buyout, of course, has any bearing on ATV Offroad Fury 4, as the game is finished and, as of today, headed for stores. Hooray!
"ATV Offroad Fury 4 reaffirms our commitment to the PlayStation 2 by providing gamers with innovative features that strengthen our best-selling franchises," coolly explained Susan Nourai, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of online and product marketing. "This game marks a major advancement for the franchise with the addition of new vehicle types, a captivating Story Mode experience, and the evolutionary compatibility between PSP and PlayStation 2."
That compatibility, for those not following the game, is a link-up with ATV Offroad Fury Pro, which already shipped at the end of last month, and allows content in both versions to be unlocked in the respective cousins. It's one of the best cases yet of Sony's disparate systems playing nice and sharing both content and opening the door to more of it -- if you've got both versions. The whole mess was outlined in [ps2preview=129]our pre-E3 preview[/game] a while back.
Still, if that whole "reading" thing isn't really your bag, you can always just head out now and pick up a copy -- pick up the PSP version while you're at it and have a grand ol' time unlocking stuff in both versions! We'll have a full review shortly.