MotorStorm

[Kegs11]

First off, I need to give the Evolution Studios guys a huge overdue thanks for even making the following possible

Next, I have to say sorry to all the Stormers for not shouting about it sooner, but the evil Sony corporation made me swear I couldnt say anything

And quickly, many people have been asking for a Motorstorm world tour, which RC does, and, as Traxxas will point out, we even had discussion of RC cars in Motorstorm, which was talked about positively, so you cant say Evo havent tried.

A few months ago, I got to spend an afternoon playing the main festival mode, which as you all know will be the main lump of the game. There are 4 different zones, each one representing a previous Motorstorm game (Monument Valley, Pacific Rift, Arctic Edge and Apocalypse). Whilst no tracks are revisited from previous games, new ones are imagined with their respective games in mind. The following is a pic of one of my favourite tracks of the game, called Sun God Mesa-

Perched high atop Monument Valley, bits of metal bridging the gap, dont tell me it doesnt sceam pure Motorstorm design. Other favourites included a track set ON a frozen oil tanker in the Arctic Edge zone, and some surprises I`ll leave for Evo to reveal or yourselves to find out

Tracks are around 20 seconds per lap, although this being Motorstorm they dont all fit this trend. Some are longer, and others shorter, but all are perfect for quickfire racing.

The game plays from a set back, top down perspective. Not like the old school GTA, but more like the recent renegade ops, and I found It surprisingly quick to adjust to.

There is no boost system. I know, I thought the same. However by the end of the day, I was absolutely convinced it doesnt need a boost mechanic. The cars themselves are quick and nippy, and the straights arent long enough to see any benefit whatsoever. During my time I managed to unlock the buggy series for racing with, and that thing was like greased lightning, and was super sensitive to steer. Adding boost would have made it more frustrating than fun to play.

In the 5-6 hours of play I had, I managed to complete about 2/3s to maybe 3/4s of the festival, although not always going for gold (my thoughts were I wanted to enjoy as much of the game as possible, instead of grinding one level). Events were basic racing, time attack (it had a different name I think,  but beating a time was the aim) And Drift. Ooo-hooh-ooh, wait a second......

The races seemed easy to gold, however the time attack sections were easy to bronze, and a little harder to gold. Which I thought was just right, and left feedback to keep this difficulty, and make it harder in some places

Now drift mode. Yes every racing game seems to feature it, but this, man Ive never had so much fun in any other drift-based racing game. Period. Certain cars are designed to handle differently, and the muscle car class was made for drift mode. There is no real effort in starting a slide, just turn hard into the corner, and keep it going. Indeed a few tracks seemed to be designed for it, including Pacific Drift. Set in a small, muddy clearing of The Island, a huge long fast first turn gives way to a few technical hairpins, and then another long corner that takes you to the finish and blends seemlessly with the first corner again. Keeping rhythm is the trick, and once youve sussed it, I defy you not to grin. Indeed, of the other 9 people I shared the playtest with, everyone was hooked on the drift mode.

Oh yeah, those other people. RC has an autolog system, including people on your friends list. If someone else has set a time on your track, you can race against their ghost (at the time it was their PSN icon) including seeing their route. For me I thought it gave a real sense of someone else being there, and actually giving you something to race against, instead of just a time. This is further enhanced with real time updates at the bottom of the screen, with messages such as "BENBLOGS just creamed your best time on Grizzlys Den".

The Evo guys have given details on the car classes (yay! no bikes! ) And each of these will feature customisation options. At the time, I played an alpha build of the game I believe, and the customisation was in its early stages, so couldnt tweak with it too much. Parts at the time were unlockable via festival progression, however this was up for discussion at exactly how parts would be unlocked in the final game. I was also super happy to see my Monarch Tike return

Another feature that I was extremely impressed by, was the lack of a loading screen. From the menu to the races, transition was seemless. The game really does epitomise a real jump in and race feeling.

Music? Well being such an early build it only had some basic music tracks at the time. I am unsure as to the final direction in audio, but I did see a call from @Jiffster (Motorstorms main audio director since Monument Valley) on twitter calling out for DJs looking for freelance work, which Elite Force seemed interested once again. Whether this was for RC, I cannot confirm.

My time was spent on a PS3, and although I didnt see any vitas, there were some hints dropped that Evo wanted it playable on vita too. I did see a few articles which would suggest this, and since announcement this is confirmed it will be playable on PS3 and your progress can be continued on the vita, which is an awesome feature IMO.

Trophies are available, at the time there was only 12 I think, although these hadnt been set in stone, so there could be more. They followed the standard "unlock x amount of events, unlock x amount of golds"

Thats about everything I can remember, without spoiling too much of the game. Also, I played an early build, so a few minor details may change before release.

I really did enjoy my time with the game though, and I know Im something of a Motorstorm hype-r, but I really cannot wait to get my hands back on this. I was expecting it to be around a Summer release, so to learn that it will be a launch title for the vita on the 22nd February, is sweet music to my ears!

Once again, thanks to the guys at Evo who made it possible, and thanks to everyone I met. It was an honour to be there!

Everyone else, I`ll see you on the Island, in the Valley, in the City, or on the Edge!

[hafa_dude]

Hey Kegs I have to ask, is this an add on to the apocalypse?  It sounds like a totally different game.  It sounds like there are no more perks? I'm confused..  Will this be some type of different mode?

[Kegs11]

RC is its own game, it doesnt have anything to do with apocalypse.

All the major details are here on the blog -

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/11/22/introducing-motorstorm-rc-for-psn-and-psvita/

[hafa_dude]

So, this is an entirely different game.  Was there any information on new tracks for MSA?  Did you have any conversations on why there are so many server issues?  Also, will this be released in the U.S.?

[hafa_dude]

So this is an entirely new game all together? 

[TRAXXAS58]

How many times do you have to be told YES it is its own game, completely seperate from any other game but it uses the same areas (not tracks) as the previous 4 games, being desert, jungle, snow/ice and urban. All the details are in either the post that Pacman made or on PS Blog.

[tinribbs]

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TRAXXAS58 wrote:
How many times do you have to be told YES it is its own game, completely seperate from any other game but it uses the same areas (not tracks) as the previous 4 games, being desert, jungle, snow/ice and urban. All the details are in either the post that Pacman made or on PS Blog.

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Tell me Traxx, why is it every time I see you post you have a real attitude about the way you address people on the forums and your fellow racers?

I think it's time you learned some general manners, and how to treat people generally, as you really don't come across well.  Couldn't you have just got excited about this post, and understand that people are shocked that this is a possibility or might happen? Hence why they question it. Rather than just respond with what is essentially an attack to try and elevate yourself above people, when you are so far away from the true giants of this game, the ones who show humility (look it up), and try and help people rather than treat them like they scraped them off their shoe.  I don't care if you don't like my post - I don't care if it singles you out, but I'm  just trying to do you a favour as I suspect you are maybe still young enough to realise your attitude stinks, and you still have time to do something about it.

If you don't, well good luck getting on in this world.

Tin

[TRAXXAS58]

I liked hafa, then he decided to be a ***** to me so I'm gunna do the same back to him.
I give as good as I get just you don't always see what they do so you don't comment on it.
People that I like, I am nice to and am completely different from what you pick out as being my personality, but when people are ***** towards me I have no reason not to give them ***** back. ***** get treated like *****, I get treated like a ***** so I give it back
There are people out there that are nice to me, so I am nice to them and they think I'm a great person and we mess around and have a laugh and have a great time but as you can probably tell I am a very opinionated person and when opinions differ I am not going to give in to something I believe is wrong so I stand up for myself which is apparently a terrible thing to do.

Nice to know I make such an impression on you that you come out of a 3 1/2 year comment drought just to talk to me

[godtracks]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YES!!! NO NOOB BIKE!!!!

BUT THE RC CAR STILL CAN WRECK!?

[hafa_dude]

No one told you traxx to reply.  I did not need your comment.  I wasn't asking you..  I can understand your still p i s s ed at me for what I said, you commented on it and I left it there, and that was the end of it...  You can either let it go or continue to be a jack ass.  Up to you.