Other racing games tout some degree of insanity, but few ask you to ramp over an active lava flow riding what is essentially a dirt bike with a rocket boost. The original Motorstorm was an all-out racing game that regularly featured similar stunts, but was handicapped in that all of the tracks took place in the same overall setting of high mesas and perilous cliffs. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift addresses that complaint and takes to the track on an idyllic Pacific island packed with a large variety of tracks and even more ways to display a stunning lack of common sense.

The premise of the game is based around the Festival, which equates to a bunch of gearheads and racers descending upon this island to race each other in as many ridiculous ways as possible. The island is split up into four distinct zones, and while the Water zone lets you race along beaches and scenic waterfalls the Earth zone plunges you into the muddy depths of the jungle. The Air zone is comparable to the original game in that it is made up mostly of crazy jumps over sheer drop-offs, but the most dangerous of them all is the Fire zone which has you duking it out while dodging pools of lava and jagged rocks.

There are a larger variety of vehicles this time around, with additions such as the ATV and monster truck almost bookending the assortment of bikes, buggies, and trucks that you can select. Most events have a restriction on which vehicle you can select, which does ultimately make you get a good feel for most of the vehicles early on. The reasons for this seem to be twofold in that certain track layouts can be geared towards more nimble racers like the bike or buggy, and also that you really don’t want to be the guy on the ATV that serves as the speed bump for a monster truck. As you progress through the game new vehicles are unlocked for each type, though the change is purely cosmetic and all vehicles of a type have the exact same stats and handling.

Proper boosting makes or breaks your chances for a win, which can be performed at any time after ten seconds have passed in a race. As you boost your heat gauge slowly builds up, flashing and beeping when full at which point your vehicle explodes and flies end over end if you don’t lay off the juice. Over time as your engine cools down and your boost meter reduces as well, though the addition of fire and water plays an interesting role. While driving through water it cools your engine faster and allows for prolonged boosting, while driving through areas of intense heat not only catches your vehicle on fire but also slowly raises your temperature. Avoiding or passing through these areas or simply bypassing them for a better route can be just as important as when you choose to boost.

It wouldn’t be a racing game without a strong emphasis on choosing a good racing line, but the lines available are not for the timid. Most tracks have a verity of concurrent paths that weave under and over each other, sometimes across bridges and other times with little more than a ramp and a prayer. Some routes are filled with mud and deeper water that some of the larger vehicles are at home in, while you’ll only laugh when you see a monster truck lining itself up for a jump meant for a buggy to leap. There is no map on screen and no indicators as to where paths are other than physical signs propped up in the game world, so while the main paths are usually easy to navigate the best ones are the hardest to find at a glance.