Storm in the Pacific

The closest I’ve ever got to driving into a volcano was when Mt Ruapehu erupted and drivers on the Desert Road were advised to wash their car so the volcanic ash didn’t melt your paintwork.

That in no way prepared me for MotorStorm Pacific Rift, where my racing truck turned a bad corner and landed, to quote Dr Evil in Austin Powers, in liquid hot magma. My bonnet was a big fireball, a sort of four wheeled lava lamp.

So, what kind of game has people driving by erupting volcanoes? Pacific Rift, in the PS3 MotorStorm racing series takes you to a beautiful Pacific paradise, unspoiled by burning rubber and CO2, until now. Your carbon footprint is about to go through the roof.

At the starting sequence, it begins like a Hollywood blockbuster, panning over the oceans as a suitably deep voice with tribal beats of Leftfield – as featured in the Guiness adverts- brings the testosterone levels up and get x chromosomes a-flyin’.

The soundtrack has a number of tunes from which to choose the aural background to your Sunday drive. They’re appropriately dirty and smelly, as befitting Day Four of a music festival, with metal and grunge remixes ranging from Megadeath and Machinehead right through to the big clubbing beats of Fat Boy Slim. No-one wants to outrun quad bikes listening to Dido.

On to the game. You have the options of The Festival, Wreckreation, or The Garage.

Wreakreation allows players to play online against other players around the world, Head to Head in a two-player game, or Freeplay to try out the different vehicles on the variety of courses.

In The Garage, you can choose your driver - male or female- and you can choose your car, paint it and rev the engine with the camera circling it. Just like at home. If you’re Paul Henry. When you win something, it unlocks an Extra, which can be a video to watch. I really enjoyed the video showing the making of the game with the sketches and concept art in pre-production, which brings a whole new appreciation to playing the game.

Below: My favourite Stego-truck-us

You can ride anything from a dirt bike to a monster truck. I love the term “monster truck.” It must be the most exciting combination of words to a 10 year old boy, ever. Apart from “dinosaur.” In fact if they invent a game with Monster Dino Trucks then I’m sure it will blow Christmas sales records out of the swamp water.

The Festival is a Mad Maxesque riot of dirt track stadium badness. This is the Career Mode of the game containing four zones: Earth, Air, Fire and Water around the self-explanatory areas of the landscape. Titles of tracks include Badlands, Caldera Ridge, and Cascade Falls and Driftwood and you can unlock different zones as you progress through the game.

The Boost function allows you to get up more speed in a short time. It’s good to use it if you’re coming up to a jump. Others try to knock you off the track and you can do the same to other cars. Do unto others.

Below: a romantic drive at sunset in MotorStorm

Graphics are famously stunning in this game; water droplets appear on your visor, sun glare affects your visibility and mud and impact damage occur to your car. It’s the best depiction of CGI water I’ve seen, there’s a good heat haze effect when you go over magma, and the artwork is incredible in the scenery paintings. In fact, the makers took a reference trip to Hawaii in developing the realistic landscapes.

 Below: concept art of landscape for track race

I particularly liked the camera angles, with shots panning from above and even from behind palm fronds like an action movie starring You, and the Grim Reaper.

What’s it not? It’s not a driving simulator; there’s not a lot of subtlety. It’s a high-adrenalin, dodge ‘em and smash ‘em up racer.

Keep your finger on the throttle. 

Megan Robinson 22 November 2008