MotorStorm Pacific Rift Reader Review

Motorstorm was one of the first games to grace the Playstation 3 and was received with great reviews worldwide. With tracks that contained loose surfaces that revealed the mud beneath as you carved your way through. The game was based around a festival entitled Motorstorm, whereby riders from around the world gathered to race to the extreme.

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift continues the awesome race design of an extreme racing festival on an isolated island. Unlike the first game, Pacific Rift provides players with four zones to choose from and race through; Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Each track type has it's own set of challenges, from volcanic pits in the Fire zone to challenging duels on the edges of cliffs in the Air zone.

In my opinion, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift appears to be everything the developers wanted to get from the first had they had more time. It includes split screen racing, absent from the first and a greater depth to the tracks available. It is a huge improvement over the first as the developers took on-board what the fans had asked for and then added the extras into the game.

Each zone in Pacific Rift presents its own unique challenge, completing all the races is not a task to be taken lightly. The length of the game overall has been vastly increased due to each zone having its own set of tracks to master and selection of races to get through.

Initially only the first set of races are available to you and in order to advance you need to earn points, obtained from getting Gold, Silver or Bronze in the races. You can earn the points from any zone and once you reach the target the next rank is opened and more races become available along with a higher point target for the next rank.

The multiplayer aspect is just as strong as it was before, advance up the ranks by playing online and winning races, but now minimedals have been introduced (Following a game update) which can be displayed alongside your name. These can be unlocked by completing what is required to obtain that medal, they are in effect mini-trophies to accompany the trophies already available. A nice touch to the online part of the game, the ability to boast what you've achieved is all the more fitting when you nail 1st place in a race. There's even a medal available for the Motorstorm faithful who played the first game.

Aside from the tracks and zones there is the huge announcement of the inclusion of a monster truck in the vehicle selection. While slower than other vehicles it packs an aggressive punch and can trample all in its path.

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift is a successful sequel, by that I mean it grants vast improvements over the original. The game has been fleshed out more, the lifespan of the game has been increased and the online gameplay has been improved further with the inclusion of specific medals.

Fans of the original should play this and those looking for some alternative racing action should look into this as well.