If you're looking for an adrenaline-filled arcade racer, you certainly won't go wrong with Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. This is pick-up-and-play racing at its finest -- perfect for parties or with friends. The extremely low learning curve and luscious Hawaii-inspired courses make a great first impression.
The game offers a simple single-player "career" mode -- in the loosest definition of the word. You can play your way through eight ranks, unlocking new tracks, race modes, vehicles, skins and driver models as you level your way up, earning points for a first-, second- or third-place finish. Progress goes quickly. You shouldn't have to play longer than three or four hours before you've unlocked all the intial tracks and vehicle types. At this point, the carrots are not quite as compelling to motivate you to keep playing. There are no upgrades or tweaks to vehicles, so Motorstorm doesn't have that "RPG" mechanic of sims like Gran Turismo or Forza that help motivate you to expand your car collection or build the ultimate tweak of your favorite vehicle. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- if you're just looking for simple, casual racing, then that level of depth isn't needed or wanted.
Pacific Rift packs 16 courses out of the box, with an additional six tracks available as DLC. These are organized into four elemental themes -- earth, fire, water, air -- and each track integrates that theme in clever ways. The fire tracks are particularly tough, as your vehicle will frequently be covered in flames from jumping over lava pits or flows. It's a tough balance between using your boost, which heats up your car even more, and cooling yourself off without compromising your position. The air tracks were my favorite, showcasing some of the best jumps (and series of jumps) in the game, as well as cliff-edge adrenaline rushes as you veer on the crumbling edges of mountainsides.
Motorstorm definitely scratches a particular itch -- adrenaline -- but the game never quite reaches any higher than that. Once you've invested some time in the game, it quickly becomes clear the racing model will not push you any harder or demand any deep strategic thought about how you approach a course or how you set up your vehicle. Which, of course, isn't the point of Motorstorm ... but if you're mainly playing the game in single-player mode, the reality is this isn't a game you'll likely be playing for months and months. Pacific Rift really shines as a party game more than anything, so you'll more than get your money's worth if you go into it with the right expectations.
