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Bringing a home console racing franchise to a portable platform can be a difficult task to accomplish -- just take a look at our review of Gran Turismo. Ravenous race fans have a built in set of expectations, and those expectations can be ludicrously high. Developers have to somehow find a way to cram all of those expectations into a much smaller framework without losing any of what made the game great in the first place. Motorstorm Arctic Edge does this in every way possible.
Motorstorm is a big game. Big speeds. Big tracks. Big crashes. The whole series has been larger than life. Fitting all of this bigness onto such a tiny screen seems damned near impossible, but the team at Bigbig Studios have pulled it off majestically. Everything you loved about the PS3 Motorstorms is represented here. Big open courses with multiple paths, a crazy assortment of vehicles (including the new snowmobile and terrifyingly large Snowcat), and blindingly fast racing are all retained with suprisingly solid precision.
Arctic Edge doesn't just copy what's come before it though -- you'll be dealing with some winter weather nightmares on the roads in AE. Driving a heavy vehicle over a motorcycle-friendly ice bridge can make it collapse. Avalanches can wipe out sections of track. Driving in snow and ice is just as erratic and tractionless as it is in real life. Winter has come to Motorstorm, and it's a welcome addition to the family.
Not all tracks are snow-infused nightmares. Some are a mix of dirt and snow and most have sections that offer up some dry ground for you to boost on without fear of sliding into a mountain. Still -- the track designs here are somewhat more treacherous than we've seen in the past. Until you really get a handle on driving each vehicle class in the snow you can expect to be slipping off cliffs and sliding into walls after every sharp turn. Thanks to this new element there's a learning curve for even the hardest of Motorstorm veterans.
Visually, Arctic Edge holds its own with most other AAA PSP titles on the market but it can't quite live up to the high standard set by it's PS3 brethern. While this should come as no shock, we loved the outstanding visuals of the original Motorstorm so much that seeing it reduced in scope was a bit of a disappointment. It's irrational, I know, but since Motorstorm's exceptional graphics are what sold me on the PS3 a few years back, seeing it stripped down just feels kind of... dirty. Despite my personal issues it's hard to deny that for a PSP racer Arctic Edge gives a damned good visual performance.
What surprised me most in the presentation wasn't so much the traditional visuals, but some of the gentler effects that usually go unnoticed. Snow reacted exactly as it should when someone is driving, having that Millienium Falcon effect of a million stars going by at once. In a great little twist, the snow even sticks to your screen. Follow too close behind someone on a dirt track and the mud will too. Things like this really helped to shape the fast and dirty experience that is Motorstorm.
Our only real complaint would be with the less than stellar AI. The difficulty in Arctic Edge never really comes from your opponents but from the track itself. Master the track and you'll have no problem ending up in first. With no way to adjust AI difficulty, you're going to be stuck on a course with racers who just don't cut the mustard in terms of competition. It's hardly noticeable in most situations, but once you're on a smooth run with no difficulties expect to take the lead and hold it without any challenge.
There's also a feeling of sameness that was a little hard to shake. We love Motorstorm and this third iteration definitely holds up when compared to both the original and Pacific Rift, but even with the snowy road conditions this felt a little too much like ground we've tread twice before. Going portable is a definite plus for the series, but it's hard to deny that the Motorstorm franchise is getting too dependent on it's tried and true gameplay. Motorstorm is a great game, but they seem determined to keep remaking it instead of trying something new.
Even if things do feel the same, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. Rather than criticizing the sameness we should be praising the fact that everything we love has been retained. Like we said before, moving things to a portable isn't easy. Despite this, Motorstorm Arctic Edge might just be the best racing game on the PSP since Burnout Legends.
YAY! - They've managed to fit everything great about Motorstorm onto a portable device without losing a damned thing you love.
NAY! - Motorstorm formula is starting to feel a little... worn. AI isn't really up to snuff.
For those of you who really hate reading, or only learned to read numbers: - 7/10
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