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Retro|Spective 137: MotorStorm

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    Retro|Spective 137: MotorStorm


    History in Games:
    2006 - MotorStorm
    2008 - MotorStorm: Pacific Rim
    2009 - MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
    2011 - MotorStorm: Apocalypse
    2012 - MotorStorm RC

    Overview:
    Emerging at the dawn of the PS3's life, MotorStorm appeared as a visual showcase for the new console with a range of vehicles in competitive races with one another through muddy courses at high speed. Through careful use of the boost, hoping not to overheat your engine, you raced by leveraging the advantages of your vehicle class against your rivals. The sequel refined everything and added a tropical spin to the visuals with more routes, more effects and more variety before the third and final mainline entry hit which aimed to mix everything up by having races take place during environmental disasters as the city around you was literally torn apart mid-race. The handheld spin-off provided a remarkable close experience amidst the snowy ice regions but perhaps the critical peak of the series was the final title released, the pocket sized RC entry.







    What are your memories of MotorStorm, where did it peak and where did it go wrong?

    #2
    I recently bought ONRUSH in the Xbox sale for like a fiver. It's by the same folks.

    If anyone's played it, does it have a decent offline campaign? It seemed OK when I played it for like three minutes but watched a YouTube review that seemed to suggest it was more geared to online...which I'm not after.

    Anyone played it and know?

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      #3
      I bought Motorstorm with my PS3 at launch. It was a proper technical showcase with the procedurally generated environments but not a very good game.

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        #4
        MotorStorm, for me, was one of last gens biggest 'almost but not quite' franchises. Every installment looked to be an absolute winner, nailing what previously wasn't right and finally delivering a top tier arcadey experience for the system and yet each and every time the game arrived it proved itself to be a middling disappointment instead. Evolution kept fixing the wrong things.

        After the original they went into the sequel and mixed it all up with more variety, next was to up the scale but at no point did they fix the clumsy collision detection, rough feeling framerate, cheap rubber banding etc which meant each game ultimately became a chore.

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          #5
          The only one of these I've played is Apocalypse, and that was crap to be honest. What a brown game.

          I loved Pure though, the ATV game. That was awesome. Much more fun and felt like it had some SSX Tricky DNA.
          [MENTION=6476]JazzFunk[/MENTION] Yeah, I've played OnRush. It's been on PS+ and I think it's on GamePass now. It's pretty much just an online game I'm afraid. I can't recall much of a single player component.

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            #6
            I don't mind the series, played a couple of them, but it always seemed very 'average'. I remember Phil Harrison hyping the original up around the PS3 launch, but it never grabbed me as being that amazing. Then again, I remember PS4 launch titles such as Knack and Resogun being hyped up also...

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              #7
              Perhaps the biggest shame of the series was Rushy leaving the forum, we seem to have lost a few when reactions to the project they were working on wasn't great

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                #8
                Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post
                I recently bought ONRUSH in the Xbox sale for like a fiver. It's by the same folks.

                If anyone's played it, does it have a decent offline campaign? It seemed OK when I played it for like three minutes but watched a YouTube review that seemed to suggest it was more geared to online...which I'm not after.

                Anyone played it and know?
                Online only - When I say online you are pretty much just playing against bots now or the occasional super expert who is rank 1 million. The lack of ‘Motorstorm’ single player and proper circuit racing options, rang the death kneel for it, I strongly believe putting that in DLC as an option, could have made a big difference. People really wanted another motorstorm game. Aw well.

                £5? that’s almost full price for you Jazz, after your 83p and £1.24 purchases ;-)

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                  #9
                  I loved the originals - the first game was the bees knees at launch and that mud looked so real! Pacific Rift was nice, but didn’t dig the 3rd too much. I remember I couldn’t buy it at launch due to the earthquake in Japan, despite it in being stock. . The guy in GameStop ran it through the till, but the manager came out screaming, ‘you can’t sell that!’ Onrush really should have been a new motorstorm; would have been awesome.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by dvdx2 View Post
                    Online only - When I say online you are pretty much just playing against bots now or the occasional super expert who is rank 1 million. The lack of ‘Motorstorm’ single player and proper circuit racing options, rang the death kneel for it, I strongly believe putting that in DLC as an option, could have made a big difference. People really wanted another motorstorm game. Aw well.

                    £5? that’s almost full price for you Jazz, after your 83p and £1.24 purchases ;-)
                    I had a fiver left in my credit and urges to blow it ASAP! Practically full price there, what was I thinking?! I could've bought five 89p games for that and I bet they'd all have 1P campaigns!!!

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                      #11


                      As soon as I saw MotorStorm in action I decided to buy a PS3. I thought the graphics were absolutely incredible for the time. The environments looked convincing, the vehicles were big, chunky and well animated, and the overall design had an attractive arcade-esque flair that really appealed to me.

                      The gameplay matched the visual thrills, with the vehicles feeling weighty and interacting well with the environment. It felt like a huge step up from similar games found in previous generations. I also appreciated how the gameplay leaned towards arcade style action, so the races were full of over-the-top thrills.

                      I'll never forget how much I loved MotorStorm back in the day -- and it's still one of my go-to games from that era. I really wish Sony had got Evolution Studios to make a 60fps HD remaster, because it was a popular game that sold well.

                      I also really liked the sequel Pacifc Rift. It brought some brighter locations to the table, which felt really fresh after what you got in the first game. The developer did a great job of adding more visual variety so the action never felt stale. The overall package delivered more top quality MotorStorm thrills for fans to enjoy.

                      The third game, Apocalypse, is a strange one. As much as I think it's quite impressive and reasonably fun to play, it clearly pushes the PS3 hardware too much, which results in quite a clunky experience. It's a crazy game though and enoyable once you get into it.

                      It's very sad that Evolution managed to spectacularly drop the ball with Onrush, which should have been a modern spiritual successor to the MotorStorm series. It's like an alpha concept sort of experience that should have been so much more. Not having a regular race mode was a ridiculous desicion that sealed the game's fate as a huge flop. The Onrush concept should have been simply a 'mode' amongst others. It's not a terrible game, but I'm glad I only paid £5 for it.
                      Last edited by Leon Retro; 05-06-2020, 21:14.

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                        #12
                        Motormstorm is for my money one of the best launch games ever made and it also showed off the system power (something I love to see in any launch game) It also had something missing in so many modern racers and that it is simple to pick up and play and is so much fun.

                        So wish SONY would do a remake

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                          and it also showed off the system power (something I love to see in any launch game)
                          Yeah, it felt next generation in every department. Such an impressive showcase title. The only bad point was long loading times.

                          Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                          It also had something missing in so many modern racers and that it is simple to pick up and play and is so much fun.
                          As soon as I saw it in action, I could see it was very much an arcade style racing experience, so that made it even more appealing to me. I love it when old school arcade thrills are combined with modern tech.

                          Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                          So wish SONY would do a remake
                          Codemasters should have made sure Onrush was the modern version of MotorStorm that lots of people would be interested in. As much as MotorStorm still looks quite nice and plays well, I would have loved a modern version running at 60fps in 1080P/4K. I've seen so many comments from people who wanted Onrush to be a proper racing game like MotorStorm.

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                            #14
                            A modern MotorStorm style title would suit Codemasters line up quite well and I imagine the tech developed for the trackl deformation etc on modern consoles would be really useful for them to carry over to their other racers like Dirt too

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
                              Yeah, it felt next generation in every department. Such an impressive showcase title. The only bad point was long loading times.
                              It was a showcase game

                              I love it when old school arcade thrills are combined with modern tech.
                              It felt like old school Arcade racer, that what was so great about it. So much fun to play.

                              As much as MotorStorm still looks quite nice and plays well, I would have loved a modern version running at 60fps in 1080P/4K.
                              Its a game that really needs a remake . Better AI and 60 fps would be ace

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