MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

Beyond the roaring of untamed engines and heaps of scattered debris fallen off battered rides, MotorStorm offered a racing experience that was both chaotic and downright intense. It wasn't without flaws though – the most egregious of which was the incredibly long load times that plagued even the vehicle selection screen. Then there was the limited track selection that got old all too soon, and the fact the scenery never really changed from the tiresome wastelands of Monument Valley didn't help either. The series is now back with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and with its second iteration of off-racing goodness, it fixes most of what went wrong the first time.

Pacific Rift takes you on vacation to a gorgeous, lush, secluded island in the Pacific Ocean, that morphs into a rip-roaring hub of some of the most intense racing action I've ever come across. This change of setting brings with it an array of additions to the franchise, the most noticeable of which is a wider selection of tracks, ranging from narrow paths meandering through pools of steaming lava, to vast mountainous off-roads that make their way under gushing waterfalls. The resulting concoction is much better, both aesthetically and gameplay-wise, than its predecessor.

Speaking of gameplay, there's a lot more going on in Pacific Rift. For starters, the events are split into four – Earth, Air, Fire and Water – and each offers different types of tracks. Earth offers tracks with a variety of terrains, Air offers some high-flying action for light vehicles, Fire offers treacherous tracks lined with rivers of molten lava, and Water offers tracks with well, water.

The new mechanics of the boosting system allow for a varied approach to most of these tracks – riding through water cools your ride, allowing you to boost for longer, while riding around lava has the opposite effect. This adds a new strategic layer to the boosting system, making you keep track of the water bodies and lava pools in every track so that you can plan your boost accordingly.

Each race you enter awards you with 100, 75 or 50 points for coming first, second or third. To unlock more events, you need to earn enough points to progress up the ranks. This approach is a lot better than the last game, since it allows you to skip most of the races/tracks you dislike; and in Pacific Rift, you're bound to have at least a few of those!

I hated most of the tracks that came under the 'Fire' banner, since they were unrealistically tough. Dodging a few pools of lava isn't too hard, but the game tests your patience by placing molten rivers right after jumps or around blind spots, making it incredibly frustrating to play them. Also, the ends of the road weren't marked too well at places, making it very easy to lose your way and go head-first down a cliff. Thanks to the improved race selection system, I gave most of the 'Fire' tracks a miss and continued to enjoy the others.

A major gripe many arcade racing fans had with the original was that the game was too unforgiving. These people will be glad to know that the challenge level has been toned down a bit, and the AI has become less aggressive. In fact, the AI is a complete pushover in the first half of the game, unlike the original where they'd keep ramming your ride, making life miserable for all you dirt bikers.