Hands on Motorstorm with online

[UrgeLoL]

First up, it’s fast now. Like, really, really fast. The framerate is very smooth and only in a few places, like in turns with all the cars ramming each other and debris flying, there’s a bit of framedrop, but it’s very slight and rare.

Overall, the sense of speed and the overall smoothness of the experience is superb. The final game is a good indication how much optimizing can do to a game in the last few months, even weeks.

 

The five month old demo available on the PlayStation Network does a disservice to the game. Kinda like Jak 2: Renegade’s E3-demo which really did a disservice to the final game. Then again, the demo was really, really tough…hmm.

 

In the final version of MotorStorm for example the Coyote Rage track, which was one of the tracks playable at TGS if my memory serves correct, has much more details, like trees, plants and rocks. Rain God Mesa definitely is improved in this version over the one’s I’ve played over the past few months.

 

At first eight tracks does not feel like it’s enough, but each track is excellent. It’s more about quality than quantity and it pays off. Each track has memorable parts from Rockhoppers long narrow bridge like rock structures to Mudpools tight oval-like structure where the big-rigs keep taking charge. Raingod Mesa’s long sandy bank where you can just floor it feels awesome too.

 

The night and dusk version of the tracks look realistic for a lack of a better description. It’s difficult to explain just how different the time time of day makes the tracks feel. I haven’t seen rain or something like that though, which would have been sweet.

 

The game looks great on a regular 4:3 television, you lose plenty of details, but the visuals still pack a punch. Something like Resistance loses a lot of it’s visual appeal on a regular tv, but not MotorStorm. Still, on a good HDTV running at 720p, MotorStorm does look awesome and like a racing game you haven’t quite seen before.

 

 

 

Online

 

The interface is nice and sparse as in the offline game. Actually this is a very “pure” racing game…its all about racing. There’s no bonuses for ramming people or for performing fancy jumps or anything like that.

 

You can select, the track, what vehicle classes can take part, whether to have catch up (which seems to just give far more boost to the losing players than anything else) and “ambience” which means the time of day you race.

 

There’s no online leaderboard, it’s all kept really simple and clean with no over-complex clans or leagues or anything like that, its all about racing. There are stats you can check out like how many races you have won, which vehicle type you’ve used the most and least, times lost and so on. You do also gain fame by racing online, not quite sure how you build this since a a few wins online still had mine at zero.

 

I’m pretty sure there’s going to be more online “stuff” down the pipeline like maybe leagues and cup’s and such. Still, would have been nice to have friends lists and the possibility of sending invites to friends, but this is something that the new firmware update at the PAL PS3 launch might bring to the XMB, which you could in turn, use while playing.

 

It all works really great on the test servers, no lag, no problems but there’s no thousands of players either. You can voice chat from the lobby through the loading screens and during the gameplay. This is really a great experience to take online, it’s that kinda racing. Still, it’s very sparse, the interface is also a bit more about style than functionality.

 

When you play in first person and jostle for position with half a dozen other vehicles, it feels amazing. The size of the cars, the feel of the racing and the great sound effects just make it feel like a real rush. When you drive a buggy and you hear the low boom of a big-rig right behind you, you really get a bit nervous and when it bumps you, it’s a fight to keep your vehicle under control.

 

The sense of scale is great. The tracks really have three different routes and it really gives them an expansive feel, it definitely doesn’t feel like racing in a tunnel. This was something I though the demo level’s I’ve played didnt show at all.

 

The AI is great, that’s perhaps the game’s best aspect. The AI drivers are all over the place, they ram each other besides you, they make mistakes, spin, fall of the road, make wrong choices and all that…the races feel alive and the best compliment I can give is that it feels like racing against human opponents, but without the annoying chatter.

 

It aint Evolution’s fault, but you really, really miss the rumble function. It sucks not having it.

 

Evolution never managed to create a WRC game with this sort of great balance and handling.

 

Kilde

[patham]

Bra de fiksa på det da Var vel noen som var redde for at de ikke skulle fikse på det bare implementere online delen