Pure [360/PS3]

[ezee ryder]

Got this today and had a good hour or so with it just now, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you liked the demo or if you even remotely enjoyed the games in the SSX or Amped series then you will love PURE, simple as that really.

I just had a go at the world tour mode so far so can't really comment on anything else. The events I got to participate in during the first stage were race and sprint. The only other event type I know of is freestyle, I'm not sure if more are unlocked as you progress.

Before you get into the tour mode properly you have the chance to create/customise your own ATV. You can choose to create the vehicle from scratch or have one built for you, the former nets you an achievement so I think pretty much everyone will be doing that. The creation/customisation is not as deep as something like Forza but each part has different stats so you can tailor the vehicle as you see fit. After most events you unlock new parts and have the option to add them to you already created vehicle. You also unlock new slots in your garage so you can create and add more ATV's to your collection.

Gameplay is a simple yet effective mix of racing and tricking. The key to winning an event is to manage when to trick and when to race (boost). As I said if you have played any of the SSX games before you will be right back on familiar ground with PURE. The trick system is not just press a direction on the analong stick plus a face button, it goes a little further than that. You can also tweak tricks while you are in the air (using the LB or RB on the 360) and you can do forward/backward rolls using the analog stick. Pulling these tweaks off give you more heat but the risk you are taking while trying to pull them off is also higher. There is always that sense of risk vs reward while you are playing, really adds to the gameplay.

Graphically it pretty much looks like the demo that was release a few weeks ago. Nothing totally mind blowing but there is nothing there that looks hideous either. Everything looks nice and sharp with a teeny bit of motion blur thrown into the mix. It is quite a sight when you take a huge jump to look over and see the lovely environment in the background.

[joe90]

The game is really good, but i does get challenging quickly, which is quite refreshing.

[MonkeyWrench]

Received my copy today. Only played through the first stage of races of the World Tour, but so far I'm loving it. The whole product is superbly polished, these guys have really put some love into this. Surprise hit of the year for me so far.

[peeveen]

Yup, loving this. My only tiny complaint is that the other CPU-controlled racers don't really spread out much, so if you crash, it's not uncommon to be lose 7 or 8 places.

[merf]

got home twatted and had this waiting for me so fired up for some legal DUI.

really enjoyed it, just feels like a well executed arcade racer, not sure yet how much depth the create mode for your ATVs adds but its a nice touch.

i like my racers and in a crowded market place its hard to stand out, this may well nip in at a good release slot with not many others around on new release and deserves to hoover up some sales.

[Spatial]

I'm really enjoying this after a short go last night.

When it makes that ridiculously long U-turn up the side of that hill on the second stage I was like "this is stupidly cool!" with a big grin on my face. That sand dune stage is kicking my arse though - right now I can't finish any better than 7th

The only downside so far is how annoyingly Americanised it all is. It really didn't need in your face Brad Storch and hip chick Bettie Simington (or whatever the hell the forgettable characters names are). It just needed a faceless rider (i.e. you) and would have worked just as well, if not better (the demo proved that).

You have to expect that I suppose given the Disney linkage (down with the kids and all that) but announcer bloke and rider comments gets old really quick. I have to look and see if there's an option to turn them off (although I'm doubting it).

[bwi]

Anybody elses crash when looking at the leaderboards?

bri

[superstarbeejay]

Anybody elses crash when looking at the leaderboards?

bri

Yep, it's a known bug and they are fixing it alledgedly.

[spagmasterswift]

I've got a bit of love here for this, not played online yet but pulling the super trick and watching my girl chillin out on the SPAGMACHINE is strangly addictive. Handling is a joy too. So far so awesome.

[merf]

it is the handling that makes this so sublime, some other off road titles (I'm looking at you Sega Rally and Motorstorm 2) don' feel so free to me, they feel a little on rails, on this I feel so in control of the ATV, even whilst its hopping around, when I go off its my fault never the handling.

i share your love for this.

for those of you who speak a bit of german I'm currently driving the fotze force special.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Is it just me or am i the only one that has noticed that the female character portraits have no boobs?

[MonkeyWrench]

It's a Disney published game, no boobs allowed.

God I'm absolutely loving this, so much so it's getting more play time than Wipeout at the moment. The track design is brilliant, the views you get on some of those large jumps are absolutely gorgeous.

[ezee ryder]

It gets quite challenging very quicky, some really tough courses on the 2nd stage. It is a good challenging though

[dc-arena]

[Xbox 360]
Onto the 5th Tour now and it is getting challenging, although to be fair I thought that about the 2nd Tour when I first unlocked it. It does seem that there is one fast route around a track and that's it, if you take the wrong route you're screwed, and if you crash you may as well restart because the amount of positions you lose is huge in these events.

I think it's a nice game that has some good ideas but its let down by the difficulty curve, glitches on the track which flip the bike, and I think it relies too much on getting a perfect jump to create a perfect trick to fill the bar to get the boost.. It should have been more about the racing in my opinion, and not so reliant on getting a sometimes very hard perfect trick.

1st place positions get very tough very early in the game which is the total opposite of the scene the game set with the demo; a fun, casual even, racing game with a simple but neat trick mechanic.

I'll probably finish it as there isn't much going on until November, although the rest of the weekend is for WipEout HD so we'll see.

[spagmasterswift]

This is shaping up to be my GOTY, the lack of shells is holding it back a little tho So what track is everybodies fav, I'm really enjoying the Airplane Graveyard, the jumps are so well placed and you can really get some amazing speed up in places. I need to master the wild west type one with the wooden buildings, I get too distracted by all those jumps when I should be constrating on the best racing line (obviously during a race). I like that if you want to have a straight racing experience you can do a Sprint event and if you want to just showboat with your tricks you can enter a Freestyle event. The variety will hopefully keep me playing once all sections have been cleared and all achievements collected - though the one for coming from last to first in the final lap is gonna take some serious skill >_<

The only problem I have with this game is the music, it doesn't really work for me like the music in Burnout Paradise City did. There is an option to turn off certain tracks, which is nice if you have heard that WOMAN track to death elsewhere, and of course you can play your own music - however this get interupted by the 'view the track' screen. Minor tings tho...