Motorcycle.com

One thing that I did not care for in the game was the SIXAXIS support. For those who arent familiar with it, the SIXAXIS controller, which comes standard with the PS3, has a built-in gyroscope. This allows you to tilt and twist the controller and control the game in a similar fashion as the Nintendo Wii. Soon after turning on the SIXAXIS, actually half a lap to be exact, I was quick to turn it off and left it off for good. I found it much too sensitive and hard to control and it was not something I found improved the game-play experience.

As soon as you start your first race you will be impressed with the graphical beauty that is MotorStorm. Jaw-dropping crashes, realistic mud trails, sandy paths, mud flying onto the screen as countless dirt bikes and ATVs pass you it all looks fantastic. As frustrating as it was to crash, it never got old watching the car tear apart with pieces flying everywhere or watching my body tumble and topple on the ground as I got thrown from my motorcycle. Everything from the sky, to the billboards and background scenery, all is impressive and really adds to the feeling of actually being there. The game also keeps a high frame rate, which rarely has noticeable slowdown. If all its games come with the same effort put into the graphics then the PS3 will enjoy a very long life.

Audio in the game is more than fitting, giving you a rush by involving you in the game. From the loud screams of the bikes to the roar of the semis, all the sound effects are there, even accurate crash sounds. The audio can be turned off through a welcomed play list selector. The game features plenty of audio tracks, just enough not to make them seem repetitive.

Perhaps the games only drawback is the lack of features. Even though it is one of the PS3 debut titles, its lackluster options really hurt the game. Offering no split screen support, which has become pretty much standard in racing games, is shocking. However, the game does feature an online mode which can help fill this void. Nothing says fun like trash-talking your friends while running them off the road in a semi.

The game also lacks the options to easily select a vehicle, track and customize. It is setup in such a way that the number of laps are set and the player must unlock the track for certain vehicles through an event system only then is the player able to pick from that point on.

Another drawback is the lack of tracks. Players will soon find the small selection of tracks repetitive and boring. Lastly the game suffers from long load times. Players can expect to wait up to 10 seconds for an initial vehicle to load in the vehicle select screen, and then up to 2-5 more for a variation or another vehicle load way to long and annoying, but perhaps a necessary evil for the outstanding vehicle models

Overall, MotorStorm is a great title that just needs some polishing. The game offers all the vehicle choices you could ask for, but its shortcomings in the number of tracks and lack of two-player mode hold it back from being one of the best ever.

Regardless, I expect players will keep coming back to play so they can unlock more and more events and vehicles each time they race.