All Over the Edge
Blissful hands-on with Bigbig Studios' take on MotorStorm with Arctic Edge.
Published: April 29, 2009
Bigbig Studios is awesome, and if you haven't played their Pursuit Force games, make sure you give yourself a good, swift punch to the face and then run out and pick 'em up; they're probably stupid cheap right now anyway because nobody seemed to play 'em. For those that have played Bigbig's earlier efforts, you'll no doubt know what kind of ridiculously over-the-top action they're capable of delivering, but those were rather closed-off bits of quasi-racing mixed with jumping between cars and shooting guys in the face through the windshield.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge, on the other hand, is about actual, real racing, just as it is on the PS3. In fact, nearly all of the core tenets of the MotorStorm experience have been preserved here (if not the visual fidelity, but one certainly can't fault four-plus year old hardware for that): racing on multiple surfaces that offer different handling and slip characteristics; multiple pathways -- some of which can be destroyed (like a heavy big rig running over an ice bridge to ruin that path for lighter vehicles the second time around); tons of different vehicle types including the new Snow Machine (a take on the snowmobile) and Snowcat (big, heavy, van-like but with tank treads, awesome) and some variants like a Snow Plugger in addition to the ATVs, buggies, rally cars and so on from the other games. Even newer features like a Photo Mode were included this time around.
Yes, it's safe to say this is MotorStorm, and whatever qualms you may have with the series' move to "lesser" hardware will likely be negated the second you jump behind the wheel. We did just that, barreling through the snowy climes of Wolfpack Mountain and Ascension, which take place about halfway up the mountain that serves as the basis for yet another massive race/rave and Northern Face, which sits at the top. There'll be a dozen tracks in all (which reversible versions featuring slightly different routes and alternate paths), most of which are just a couple of laps to keep the races relatively short (and, as we found, intensely competitive), and with 24 vehicles open for customization of parts like wheels, fenders, paint jobs, stickers and the like, there's some decent variety to the rides too.
That variety comes in handy for when you opt to head online with the game's 8-player Infrastructure (or Ad Hoc/Hot Seat) Modes -- and when coupled with a progressive unlock system, and Badges (think Trophies, but only you get to see 'em), it starts to become apparent that Bigbig isn't letting the PSP limit them (there's a PS2 version as well, though it's only being overseen by Bigbig and Evolution, and Sony wasn't ready to show it off just yet). The festival atmosphere percolates all throughout the tracks, and thanks to the mountainous climate, we were actually surprised to see a bit more of a crowd presence this time around in addition to licensed music thumping through familiar pre-rendered videos of a laser light show under the Aurora Borealis.
Though it wasn't really present in the kind of way Bigbig is shooting for with the full game, some of the tracks will actually feature bobsled "runs" where more advanced players can spin their vehicles up the side of the course. Our time with the courses featured more than a few jumps and some splitting pathways, but with just a couple of vehicles to take around, we couldn't get a sense of how the other vehicles handled, but the buggy and snow machine were more than competent. In fact, the chillier setting may have even allowed the machines to run with boost for longer and cool down faster, though that could have been our imagination.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge looks like the real deal: a MotorStorm game on the PSP without corners cut, that continues the feeling and spirit of the first two PS3 games, and that's genuine fun -- not to mention more than a little tense thanks to some competitive AI and plenty of hazards that had us exploding left and right. Now we just need to get our hands on a few more vehicles and some of the bottom-of-the-mountain courses to see just how much variety there really is. As soon as we do, we'll make sure you hear about it.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge, on the other hand, is about actual, real racing, just as it is on the PS3. In fact, nearly all of the core tenets of the MotorStorm experience have been preserved here (if not the visual fidelity, but one certainly can't fault four-plus year old hardware for that): racing on multiple surfaces that offer different handling and slip characteristics; multiple pathways -- some of which can be destroyed (like a heavy big rig running over an ice bridge to ruin that path for lighter vehicles the second time around); tons of different vehicle types including the new Snow Machine (a take on the snowmobile) and Snowcat (big, heavy, van-like but with tank treads, awesome) and some variants like a Snow Plugger in addition to the ATVs, buggies, rally cars and so on from the other games. Even newer features like a Photo Mode were included this time around.
Yes, it's safe to say this is MotorStorm, and whatever qualms you may have with the series' move to "lesser" hardware will likely be negated the second you jump behind the wheel. We did just that, barreling through the snowy climes of Wolfpack Mountain and Ascension, which take place about halfway up the mountain that serves as the basis for yet another massive race/rave and Northern Face, which sits at the top. There'll be a dozen tracks in all (which reversible versions featuring slightly different routes and alternate paths), most of which are just a couple of laps to keep the races relatively short (and, as we found, intensely competitive), and with 24 vehicles open for customization of parts like wheels, fenders, paint jobs, stickers and the like, there's some decent variety to the rides too.
That variety comes in handy for when you opt to head online with the game's 8-player Infrastructure (or Ad Hoc/Hot Seat) Modes -- and when coupled with a progressive unlock system, and Badges (think Trophies, but only you get to see 'em), it starts to become apparent that Bigbig isn't letting the PSP limit them (there's a PS2 version as well, though it's only being overseen by Bigbig and Evolution, and Sony wasn't ready to show it off just yet). The festival atmosphere percolates all throughout the tracks, and thanks to the mountainous climate, we were actually surprised to see a bit more of a crowd presence this time around in addition to licensed music thumping through familiar pre-rendered videos of a laser light show under the Aurora Borealis.
Though it wasn't really present in the kind of way Bigbig is shooting for with the full game, some of the tracks will actually feature bobsled "runs" where more advanced players can spin their vehicles up the side of the course. Our time with the courses featured more than a few jumps and some splitting pathways, but with just a couple of vehicles to take around, we couldn't get a sense of how the other vehicles handled, but the buggy and snow machine were more than competent. In fact, the chillier setting may have even allowed the machines to run with boost for longer and cool down faster, though that could have been our imagination.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge looks like the real deal: a MotorStorm game on the PSP without corners cut, that continues the feeling and spirit of the first two PS3 games, and that's genuine fun -- not to mention more than a little tense thanks to some competitive AI and plenty of hazards that had us exploding left and right. Now we just need to get our hands on a few more vehicles and some of the bottom-of-the-mountain courses to see just how much variety there really is. As soon as we do, we'll make sure you hear about it.
