MotorStorm Pacific Rift Preview

When the PlayStation 3 launched, one of the signature titles was an off-road racing title named MotorStorm that not only sported entertaining fast-paced events, but combined them with a highly visceral crashing system that made wrecking as much fun as racing.

The development team at Evolution Studios is taking the franchise to a new location with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, offering 16 tracks that will include real-time track deformation. And, for the first time, the game will allow up-to-four-player offline multiplayer action.

SCEA sent along a demo of the game, which was 80% complete with the caveat that the demo may not (likely would not) reflect the polish of the final release, but in order to give a sense of what was in store for fans of the franchise when the game releases in the Fall of this year.

Pacific Rift takes racers to the MotorStorm Festival on an island where the terrain features lush jungles, mountains, glades and lagoons. Navigation, especially at the speeds needed to win a race, is vital with some of the shortcuts along the course obscured by jungle vegetation or even signs. But no obstacle is set in stone – unless it is stone or a tree trunk and is thus unyielding – when it comes to this race. The game has a couple of courses available – Wildfire (which was featured at Leipzig) and Cascade Falls (seen at E3) as well as the RainGod Spires, which was a two-person split screen race.

The action is every bit as intense as the previous MotorStorm, but with an improved AI system, expect the non-playing opposition to be a bit tougher and willing to do anything to win a race – you know, almost like a real player. Of course nothing behaves like a real player. Take, for example, the opening of a head-to-head race against a human foe when a sideswipe sent the opposing vehicle over the edge of a cliff, to much laughter.

Graphically, even though this build does not reflect the final build, MotorStorm Pacific Rift is shaping up to be a vibrant bit of eye candy. The environments are looking great and the controls play out very well. There will be a nice array of vehicles ready to drive, like ATVs, motorcycles, mudpluggers, big rigs, dune buggies, race trucks, rally cars and ATVs, as well as the new monster truck.

The soundtrack hosts much of what players would come to expect, with the roar of vehicles and a rocking soundtrack that will also allow players the option of creating a customized soundtrack of music from the PS3 hard drive.

Another new element is the photo mode, which will allow players to save an image at any point in the game to use as either a desktop background or to send to friends.

For multiplayer, in addition to the new offline elements, there will be a PlayStation Network option for matchmaking and leaderboards. SCEA also has promised there will be downloadable content, including tracks, vehicles, game modes and themes.

MotorStorm Pacific Rift is a long ways off in terms of development from the version received. There is a whole polishing phase that the dev team will go through before this is ready to release but from the brief views GZ had, Pacific Rift is shaping up to be a whole lot of fun in an off-road vehicle.