There is something deeply satisfying about a vehicle designed and built to be driven off-road. Call me weird, but forget Ferraris, Porsches and such – give me an old Land Rover (not your modern shiny SUV, I mean your old series 3 boneshakers with leaf springs and bench seats, preferably covered in dirt, and a healthy dose of rust) then you’ve got me all tingly. Space frames, roll cages, fat tires, the fuel economy of a battleship and not a curve in sight are where it’s at, and hopefully you’ll see my peculiar brand of automotive perversion throughout MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.
You probably think I’m weird, and you’re probably right.
But it’s great to create a game where the brutal beauty of off-road racing machines is shown in all its diversity. A game where is not just all about how fast your motor is, or how much bling you can stick on it, it’s about driver skill, it’s about ruggedness of the vehicles and it’s about the variety of situations these machines have to deal with.
And it’s also about pitting a variety of these machines against each other. From the very start of the first MotorStorm game we knew we wanted to build something where a bike can share a race track with trucks, ATVs and big rigs. MotorStorm is like some latter day automotive cola advert, we’re a model of diversity and harmony, with all shapes, sizes, colour, ability and looks (scratch that analogy, you never see ugly folk in a cola advert). Pacific Rift has all kinds of vehicles, which ultimately boils down to eight distinct vehicle classes.
Cue obligatory shopping list –
The Bike – It’s my personal favorite. Yes you die a lot, it comes with the territory because you’re the most fragile thing on the track. But its maneuverable, hair-raising and loads of fun to drive.
The ATV – Sure footed and sturdier than the bike, the ATV is one of those marmite (A British, yeast based spread, either the food of the gods, or Satan’s toe jam, depending upon your point of view. Common British parlance for something you will either love or hate. IMHO the pinnacle of 10,000 years of human civilization) vehicles, you’ll either love it, or think it’s like a bike, but not as much fun ;)
The Buggy – I like the buggy in Pacific Rift. The handling model for the one in the first game just wasn’t quite right, but we’ve gone back to the drawing board and completely re-worked it. Agile, and rear-wheel driver, means there’s lots of oversteer to be had. Its also really stable in the air; when describing how it should behave to the designers I wanted it to be cat-like in its in air stability, and I think they’ve done a real good job.
The Racing Truck – This is the vehicle class you want to start with. Its fast enough, its tough enough and its sure footed enough. Steady and reliable, and slap -in-the-middle across all the traits.
The Rally Car – Acceleration akin to a fighter jet makes it awesome off the line, but it’s a thoroughbred and as such you’ve got to nurse the Rally Car through the technical and rough bits, as it’s basically a road car with better suspension. If you try and do anything too rugged with it, you’re going to get screwed. Always look for the flattest, smoothest line. However, if you’re a MotorStorm: Monument Valley connoisseur then don’t expect the rally car to be the all-conquering online car of choice this time around – the tracks are much more cunningly balanced this time around.
The Mudplugger – the forgotten son of MotorStorm: Monument Valley, the Mudplugger has had something of a facelift and a handling makeover ensures it not just a slower racing truck this time around. This is especially true as its major trait, the ability to cross any kind of terrain without blinking an eye, is more relevant this time around with our increased track diversity.
The Big Rig – The immovable object of MotorStorm. The Big Rig is great for bullying, and has a really good top sped, just try not to slow down as its acceleration is more supertanker than supercar.
Monster Truck – We’ve shouted a lot about the Monster Truck in the early press, and we think it’s a fantastic addition to the lineup. We wanted something to sit at the top of the MotorStorm food chain, something that the other vehicles (with the exception of the Big Rig) are afraid of. I’m pretty sure that not many of you have driven a real monster truck, so we’ve taken a few liberties with the handling model, creating something that feels like a monster truck ought to be, rather what they actually are. You see in real life these are fragile machines.
Yes, they can crush cars, prance around arenas and get rednecks all exited, but they’re not exactly robust, or maneuverable or particularly good at keeping up with the likes of a rally car. The Monster Trucks in MotorStorm are fast, angry, practically indestructible, and above all, loads of fun.
And ultimately that’s what it’s all about: fun. It’s a game. If you stop and think ‘That’s stupid, no one would ever do that on a bike/truck/etc.’ Then you’re missing the point, loosen up a little.
Not sure if im getting this yet, maybe
not getting it either. there are way too many AAA games coming out these upcoming months, and a car game isn’t really thing.
For me, vehicle selection is the one thing that kept me away from PURE and kept Motorstorm on my radar…
But if vehicle load times haven’t been SIGNIFICANTLY addressed, then I’ll be keeping away from Pacific Rift as well.
I want this game so bad. I’m gonna miss the desert though. Started to get a little attached.
@3
The devs said the load times have improved a lot.
Rental!
looking for to ripping up the tracks in Pacific Rift. I was about to get the original Motorstorm and then you guys announced this one, so imma hold off till you release the 2nd. thanks for the enlightenment on the vehicle classes Nigel! Oh and are you in any way related to Nik? LOl
peace,
Lh
Looking forward to the game, thanks for posting Nigel :)
The Motorstorm series is the best arcade racer on the market. I had lots of fun with first and can’t wait for this one. Though to note, I would like to see is a deeper online.
I’m definitely getting this game, mainly for the splitscreen.
11th
Any comments od the devs about the poor visual effects of Motorstorm 2 Qore demo?
Im waiting for some answer yet.
I forgot, I know there is 4 player offline, but is there an online mode (with more people) with the current 4 player offline in it? Sorry if that is phrased badly…
I must say that the $X$ is kinda tough to drive in the demo. It sorta ‘floats’ over the terrain.
It’s still a fun game though.
Well the last game was not very polished, not graphiclly speaking but loading and gameplay wise, I played the demo and the graphics are better, and the loading is better, but the gameplay feels much worse then the older game, it’s preatty hard and you find yourself falling/exploding/crashing way more often, I don’t know yet but I can tell its going to be an average racer just like it’s predecesor, it’s the online that will make or brake the game.
#12 JBruno: The Qore demo was a PR demo meaning it was an early build and as being a demo it is not a representative of the final game.
Good job on the game! It looks awesome! cant wait to get my hands on this
Many games coming in the coming weeks, its gonna be great!
Oh and one more thing, THANK YOU SO MUCH for fixing the loading after you crash so that you don’t have to sit there 5 min waiting for your car to respawn.
pre ordered already, cant wait to play the world’s most brutal off road racing game once again
buying it for sure
Want it, screens look waaaayyy better than Qore demo. Great job on a great series.
Looking Great!
How many online modes M:PR will have and can you name them? Thanx!
Will this be on teh Xbox 360?
(j/k) :P
Will this game include the patriot 85 delorean rally car? Uk and ASiA got this car as DLC but the US never got it. And speaking about DLC vehicles, I remember interview way back that if you bought vehicles from the first one you will unlock them or have them in the pacific rift. Is this still true? I’m sure you will post on this in the coming mondays.
Please get a demo up of the current build as I would love to see those BLISTERING graphics! It would definitely make me want to buy the game all the more!
how can i get the motorstorm t-shirt? i know if you pre order the game from http://www.play.com in the UK you’d get it but i dont live in the UK , what about US fans evolution? i want that t-shirt so bad and another thing do you guys think is possible to have motorstorm stickers in little big planet? i would love to have a monster truck in my pod lol, game is looking great , you have my money already
day one purchase baby!
Hah, I’m glad you’re going more for fun than realism, especially with crashes!
Without splitscreen i wouldn’t buy this and that’s also why I didn’t buy the first one.
I will love Pacific Rift. Since it’s going to be on tropical islands (I love to play games that look tropical).
Mr. Kershaw…
How many trophies will this game bring?
Another question..
Is it coming with In-game XMB soundtracks?
Hi,
There are 50 trophies to win in in MotorStorm Pacific Rift, and yes, you can play your own music via the XMB.
Cheers.