Video Game Vintage Title: MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is a racing video game by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to MotorStorm and is followed by MotorStorm: Arctic Edge for the PS2/PSP, and MotorStorm: Apocalypse. It was announced by Sony after their acquisition of Evolution Studios and it was released on 28 October 2008 in North America. The game has sold over one million copies as of 9 December 2008. As of 1 October 2012, the online servers for this game have been permanently shut down.

MotorStorm: 3D Rift is a 3D mini re-release of Pacific Rift, containing 10 tracks as well as a selection of off-road vehicles from Pacific Rift. It is only single-player and has no trophies. The game was released on the PlayStation Network on 24 August 2010.

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift Gameplay

The game moves away from the desert environments of the original title and relocates itself in "a lush island environment, full of interactive vegetation"; and also includes monster trucks and four-player split-screen capability. Monster trucks are able to ride over cars (except big rigs), break most vegetation, and destroy structures. Bikes also have new capabilities so they can bunny hop and the driver can duck. Custom music tracks using a player's own music stored on their PS3 hard drive are available as are trophies (to unlock more Drivers and Vehicles) and camera angles are improved for crashes; vehicle damage is also improved. Users can now select drivers from the Garage menu, thus not having to rely on picking the vehicles, depending on the Driver's gender. "Speed" events are firstly introduced in the game, which consists numerous checkpoints in each tracks that users must pass through to achieve extra times before the timer runs out. Any class that isn't the ATV or Bikes can ram their vehicles left or right. The ATV and Bike ram by their driver throwing punches at the other drivers.

Reception
The game has been generally well received by critics, with an average review score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic and 82.49% on GameRankings. IGN gave the game 8.9, praising strong graphical component, and calling the game "a worthy follow-up to one of the PS3's early must-have titles."

GameSpot praised the number of well designed tracks in the game as well as its multiplayer element both online and offline though it criticized the inconsistent handling of the vehicles. 1UP.com praised the level of improvement the game achieved in comparison to the original game, notably the game's new "awe-inspiring" landscape as well as the improved aggressive A.I. competitors, it also praised the game's seamless transitions through various in-game environments such as jungles and beaches rather than just the monotonous desert of the first game.