Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Once there was a little game that came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System that let gamers experience the world of motocross.  While it was a bit primitive, Excitebike was the first foray for many gamers into motocross racing.  Knowing the angle in which to land on the hills was crucial to keep your speed up and not crashing.  Since then consoles have gotten more advanced, but motorized racing has continued to be a staple on the consoles.  While some racers have tried to differentiate themselves through street racing or vehicle options, others use vehicle selection to stand out of the pack.  This is definitely the case with MX vs. ATV Untamed.

As you might guess with MX vs. ATV Untamed, it features MX motocross dirt bikes and ATVs, but monster trucks and ORV Sport vehicles are brought into the mix.  These new vehicles add more variety to the mix, but is that enough to make Untamed stand out?

The presentation of Untamed is top notch.  The transitions between the menu and the game is very slick looking, with bars slowly covering up the action before transitioning to the next menu.  It almost reminds you of something you might see in a sports broadcast.

Playing on dirt tracks means that your vehicles start clean but get dirty quickly.  Untamed does a good job in showing how much dirt and dust gets blown around throughout the race.  You’ll see the tracks and dust behind you as you race around.  Gradually you and your bike get coated with a coat of brown.  When you are finished you know that you and your bike really need a bath.

The tricks you can do on your vehicle require some movement by the rider.  These movements see your biker ride on the handlebars or move their legs and feet around.  These look fine, but the movement feels a bit stiff at times.

There is one thing that all of the vehicles have in common with each other, they are all loud.  You can definitely hear the engines of the vehicles, and the closer you are to other vehicles the louder it gets.  The vehicle types have their own unique sound.  Dirt bikes have a bit higher pitched sound than ATVs.  ORV Sport Vehicles sound different from the low-pitched monster trucks.  You can also hear how different each vehicle is when it revs up.

The soundtrack is a good mix of current modern rock.  The music feels appropriate for the racing but it doesn’t get in the way of the action.  You can still hear the vehicle engines next to you without any problem.

Controlling your racer in Untamed isn’t all that different from other racers.  You steer either using the D-pad, analog stick or using the controller’s tilt sensing.  R2 activates the throttle, L2 activates the brake, and both make you go in reverse.  Using X will whip around curves, while Triangle and Circle perform tricks.  Hitting either or both of these along with a direction affects which trick you’ll perform.  The R1 key can be used as well to perform an alternate trick.

The SIXAXIS triggers have been a bane to me for racing games.  When I first started playing, I would sometimes go in reverse for what I thought was no apparent reason.  I eventually figured out that my finger was touching the L2 button ever so slightly.  I had to force myself to put my finger in a different position to make sure I wouldn’t accidentally hit it.  It’s also too easy to slip off the R2 button while pushing it down.  While the developer could have made some tweaks to the sensitivity of these, these are known issues with the controller.

Several single-player modes are available when you fire up Untamed.  The quick event lets the computer set up an event type, vehicle class, vehicle type, and duration randomly.  Custom events allow you to set up these features, but they include more than just races.  Free Ride has you hunt down sprockets in hidden areas at your leisure.  National has you riding across great vistas while trying to get the biggest jump at the highest speeds.  Supercross races are set in big stadiums with technical tracks.  Freestyle is more about pulling off tricks and not speed.  Opencross races are set in outdoor environments that will challenge your driving skill.  Supermoto are dirt and paved courses with lots of twists and turns.  Endurocross are like an obstacle course set up in arenas specifically for MX bikes.  Waypoint races allow you to get from checkpoint to checkpoint whatever way you want to.  Finally, Minimoto lets you ride on MX Mini bikes in an indoor arena.

The X-cross Tournament takes all of the custom events and puts them into a single tournament format.  As you successfully complete a race, more events will open up for you to race against.  Here is the area where you’ll unlock most of the items in the game.  The Event series is similar, but you have more controls over the options in the event.

Untamed features a wide variety of vehicles.  The mix includes ATVs, dirt bikes, monster trucks, and ORV sport vehicles.  The variety in the vehicles makes each track handle a bit differently.  Before you go in a race the vehicle you are driving is loaded into a practice track.  This helps you get used to the vehicle before jumping into the action and is a nice way to pass the time while the track is loading.  Some of the load times can be relatively long, but you won’t notice it as much if you take a few practice rounds on the practice track.

The trick system is all about timing, which is something you know if you’ve played any of the Tony Hawk or SSX games.  Unfortunately, it seems to be difficult to get a good number of tricks in.  Also, trying to do an alternate trick while hitting the R1 button isn’t as easy as it sounds since you naturally want to hold down the R2 button constantly for the throttle.  The trick system also feels limited because there are only so many things you can do with an ATV or dirt bike without crashing it.  Performing a trick in Untamed isn’t as adrenaline pumping as actually seeing it in real life.

A large number of tracks are included in Untamed.  Some are held in the stadiums while others are outside.  Some have more twists and turns, while others are more focused on jumps.  The subtle differences between the vehicles do make the courses feel different, as dirt bikes can turn tighter than ATVs, but ATVs are more stable.

The dreaded rubber-band logic that plagues other racing and sports titles doesn’t seem to be included in Untamed, which is a blessing for racing fans.  If you get ahead really far, it isn’t likely that the computer will catch up unless you royally screw up.  However, once you get into some of the higher difficulty levels, you have to race almost perfectly to get into the top three, and the computer will do whatever it can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

While the tracks and vehicles add to the variety, there really isn’t much to do other than racing.  The Waypoint, Endurocross, and Freestyle events are different from just plain racing, but there aren’t any time trials, cone running, or specific course challenges.  Events like these would help to round out the package included in Untamed.

The single-player career mode is long.  It takes a while to go through all of the courses in the career.  You can easily go for a month to try to get everything completed during the career.

Untamed does have a few multiplayer options.  In a time when most of the multiplayer is moving over to an online only approach, Untamed includes two-player splitscreen play.  While it would have been nice for a four-player splitscreen, something is better than nothing in this case.  There is also the ability to play eight-player multiplayer through the PSN.

While the race options are available in the multiplayer, there are five mini-games included.  Section races have the player with the fastest time in each section “capture” that section, with the player capturing the most sections winning.  Graffiti is similar, but you capture jumps by scoring the highest trick on that jump.  Snake is similar to the Light Cycle game from Tron, where a barrier follows behind you and you try to run others into it while avoiding everyone else’s barrier.  Tag has you try to hold onto a ball for a minute, but if someone gets too close you are tagged and the ball goes to that driver.  Hockey is only available in splitscreen mode, and it plays similar to hockey, except you are using vehicles instead of ice skates.

The MX vs. ATV series has gone through several iterations, so it definitely has a loyal base.  Still, it’s hard to recommend MX vs. ATV Untamed to those who have a previous version of the game unless they are just itching to play it on their next generation console.  If you are waiting for some innovation, then you are probably better off in waiting a year.

Gaming Trend Score

62

1. Graphics: 70
2. Audio: 76
3. Controls: 68
4. Gameplay: 50
5. Value/Replay: 60
6. OVERALL:62