On the Edge's AI system works basically as well as the console release of MX vs. While you're free to roam the countryside on your own and practice your lines and stunts, races wouldn't be any fun without opponents. It's just right, as it were, and coupled with the excellent track design you'll find a great racing experience to be had. All of Rainbow's titles, dating back to the original Motocross Madness, have been tuned for very tight turns, but the developer manages to pull it off in a way that doesn't feel completely fake or silly. Helping to pull this off obviously is the game's great control system.
Do you take one big jump at the start and hope to clear a section of hills, or do you take the first, somewhat easy, ride down the second for speed and hit the third to launch over the fourth? Any motocross or ATV game can throw a series of hills and such into the middle of a straightaway and require that you hit them properly, but Rainbow's track design gives you puzzles to solve, sections that actually make sense from a challenge standpoint in the world of racing, and that's really where the game shines.
It's the subtle nuances and tradeoffs between jump distance and speed that Rainbow has really figured out how to fine-tune. More strategic, however, are the sections that you can't make with a single, huge jump, which is where the rhythm racing and preloading aspects of On the Edge really come into their own. You'll find jumps that perfectly feed you over a middle triple-set and onto the welcoming downhill slope of a fifth, should you happen to nail it. Preloading your jumps, or compressing your shocks and then unloading them at the top of a jump for increased distance, is obviously a big part of the game here, and the track design plays excellently into this mechanic. This track count spans various event types, like Supercross and Nationals, but you won't find any lack of content here.Īside from the requisite excellent turn layout, part of the reason that Rainbow's track designs are so good is that they make excellent use of its "rhythm racing" engine. Most of the courses are carried over from the latest console release, but the PSP version does feature eight new custom tracks, bringing the game's total to somewhere in the 50+ range. For instance, the track design here is fantastic. Developer Rainbow Studios has been kicking out ATV and motocross games for years now, so by this point it's nailed down most every aspect of the genre. While the series' transition to PSP isn't quite as perfect as we'd have hoped, it's a damn good game that should please not only the motocross and ATV fans out there, but most any PSP owner.
ATV Unleashed release on current-gen consoles, which we scored very favorably last year. On the Edge is essentially an extension of the MX vs.
While Sony's foray into portable ATV racing was a fun, dirty romp, there's a new king of the hill tearing up the dirt: MX vs. Right from the get-go it's housed plenty of solid racers, including Sony's own ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails. If the PSP lacks anything, it's certainly not racing titles.