It wasn't just that the designs themselves were different; nearly every track that we played through felt like a similar but removed part of Monument Valley; there were still buttes, yes, but some tracks were sun-bleached and bone dry, while others rested in basins that seemed designed to gather as much mud into one spot as possible. The much-vaunted deformation system was best shown off here, where deep sluices of mud had the independent suspension of the four-wheeled vehicles jitter and pop all over the place. We never did notice (though it may have been there) the talked-about instances of one lap carving out muddy tracks and then having that dry into something that would affect handling, but the deformation was definitely there.

As one of those enthusiasts entered into the race, your goal is simple: participate in as many races in a particular category as possible to capture a ticket. Get the ticket and you move onto the next set of races for your next ticket. It's an effective way to get you to slowly learn how to deal with a handful of races, from free-for-alls where any vehicle will do to ones were you're the sole vehicle up against a pack of others (bike vs. semis, for instance) to single-vehicle-type races. It not only adds variety to the races, but shows you how some routes in tracks are better suited for certain types of vehicles.

Much has been made of MotorStorm's visuals, and with good reason: it was one of the most impressive of the now-infamous CG tech demo "concept renders" that was shown off at Sony's E3 2005 press conference. The sheer amount of deformation on vehicles, the ruts created in the mud and the variety in vehicle types (not to mention a bike rider about to have a really bad day) made it one of the most talked-about bits of the presentation. The real-time version of the game is not that concept render, but it is damned pretty, and continues to get moreso every time we see it.

The game is now locked at 30fps with a few minor hitches, but the sense of speed is definitely there, ample motion blur and the absolutely kick-ass hood cam mode make for a game that really does look fast and feels absolutely brutal. Of course, if you play it via nose cam, you're going to miss all the sweet, sweet deformation that goes into the vehicles. While it's not quite on the level of something like Burnout, the detail in the vehicles (which you can check out at your leisure by pausing the game and using the right analog stick to rotate around your ride) is absolutely stunning, frames, reinforcements, suspension, spare wheels, paneling and even the undercarriage is all modeled painstakingly.

The audio was a little tougher to hear. As anyone who's played the demo will attest, the game is certainly... well, um, loud, but even with the cranked-up volume, both the soundtrack (which still included the Nirvana and Pendulum songs) and the engine noises were a little downed out. Still, we liked the peppy burp of the bikes and the whistled wind-up of vehicles launching into their turbo (if you haven't heard by now, all vehicles have unlimited nitrous, but must use it strategically since it can cause vehicles to overheat and then, um, explode).

MotorStorm is for many the killer app of early 07, and the more we play it, the more we're inclined to jump into that pool. Playing through more tracks while downing beers and cringing along with friends at some of the gut-wrenching crashes (particularly the ragdoll-fueled ones for bike and ATV riders) is about as good as off-road racing gets. The focus on combat as much as racing (and apparently we haven't even seen a hint of the tougher AI -- be afraid) offers something that no other racer can and, appropriately, it's birthed from the minds at Sony's new Worldwide Studios.

Ignore the multi-platform stuff all you want, but there's no denying it: the PS3 is going to have some absolutely killer first-party games, and MotorStorm is leading the 2007 charge.