First Look: Motor Storm - Pacific Rift

The first Motor Storm game was a lot of fun (until the teeth gnashing frustration kicked in) but it did kind of look like a tech demo of the land deformation with a game hastily built around it. It lacked depth, looked samey and there where one or technical issues (The loading times between levels and vehicle selection where teeth grindingly slow (I'm as surprised as you that I've any teeth left with which to tackle the sequel)).

So what can we expect from the sequel? As you'd expect from a team that's cut its teeth on PS3 development on games deleveoped soley for Sony's machine it's a rather more polished affair. There's one new vehicle class to add to the classes from the first game (although there's lots of new vehicles within those classes) and there's a new tropical island. There's still plenty of mud and rock as well. Crucially there's also Fire and Water in the mix.

Fire levels effect the boost and cause it to heat up faster. Water levels give you the oppurtunity to cool the boost faster at the risk of slowing your vehicle as it travels through the stuff. It's a simple addition but allows for just enough tactics in what remains a frantic racing game.

The new levels themselves are graphically stunning. My non-360/PS3 owning mate who came round for a blast was very impressed (he's never commented on anything I've showed him before so read in to that what you will). They're more organic this time and feel like the courses have been made out of areas of land rather than just ribbons of track. There's the same mix of routes through the levels too but they're a lot more varied this time. There's also more variety with races taking place in and around abandoned factorys, sunny beaches and dark volcanic rubble.

The other new addition in the career mode is the ability to earn bonus events by meeting certain criteria during races such as crashing less than a certain amount or beating a race record time. These unlock elimination or time trials. The Elimination races are standard last man standing affairs (although they do mix up the race and the AI is possibly a touch less brutal). The time trials are more interesting and take the form of GTA style check point races with flares going off to indicate your route as your pass through the last one. These events work particulary well as they show you some of the routes through each circuit that are off the beaten track.

For your reading pleasure I also had a blast on the online racing. I have to say it's a very polished affair and easily equal to most Live affairs. Match making was quick. I didn't suffer much in the way of lag and it works very well as a live game. There doesn't seem to be any elastic banding online so it's not quite as brutal as the SP and all the better for it. If you're good enough to work up a lead you can keep it if you're skillful enough. I won one event and got several seconds and ranked up quite nicely. I was also able to accept a friends invite. The only downside being that after each event with 'randoms' your dumped back into your lobby and you have to search again. It would've been nice to have the option to carry on racing with the same people. But considering it's a free service and my first taste of PS3 online I was very happy.

So far, for me at least, it's an essential PS3 purchase. (especially now it can be picked up for £20 making GTi Club on PSN look a bit dear at £10).