Well bravo for providing a believable
yet fun rather than overly punishing
physics engine. Seriously, if you like your
muddy bikes and all terrain vehicles to feel
like they should without handling like utter
sludgy bastards then Untamed will have you
well and comfortably fondled. And so it should.
Rainbow Studios has been making physicsbased
racing games for so long that their
name is synonymous with believably bumpy
rides complete with weight-shifting riders.
This is what they do, and there lies the rub. If
you’ve ever been interested in racing MX Vs
ATVs before then they’ve already given you
the opportunity with MX vs ATV Unleashed.
Untamed is far from a massive leap forward.
Untamed gets no points for beauty and while
it’s slick enough it certainly doesn’t look like it
has been crafted for a 2008 Xbox 360 audience.
The machines look well enough and move with
authenticity, but as for the backgrounds, track
details and most importantly – the mud? Colin
McRae has been dirtier, and he’s dead. No,
Dirt doesn’t feature bikes but it does feature
everything else and it’s far prettier with it. But
this is MX vs ATV. The point is that it features
bikes blustering up against ATVs and this time
you can do it in Opencross and Endurocross
or over massive tracks that stretch out into
the wild as well as standard courses that have
been littered with obstacles. The problem is
that it really doesn’t get more fun the more bits
of detritus you chuck under a bike’s wheels.
Indeed, Endurocross is plainly just annoying
while Opencross’s main issue is that it’s just not
that pretty. It’s a good job the racing is actually
a bit of all right – in small doses.
Unfortunately when playing a
Tournament these doses only
come in one setting: laborious.
Churning up the same track
again and again just to prove
your worthy enough to move
onto the next isn’t a new idea,
but when you’re faced with
brown hue after brown hue,
corner after corner it certainly is
an unwelcome one. Competitor
AI is sound, however, and
your mixed vehicle opposition perform within the realms of what’s humanly
doable. That means that on easier settings
they will crash and bang into each other, and
you, in a pack. On higher settings they’ll be far
smarter, but no less encouraged to smack you
off your seat.
With a stunt system that rewards the danger
of riding without using your hands with minor
motor upgrades that barely kiss performance
on the cheek, it’s easy to avoid stunting
completely. It’s far safer to do so, but then
you’re still left with a racer that’s often exciting
as the colour brown. Does brown excite you?
Then come and get dirty.
