One caveat of the single player is that the game features some rubber banding so that all of the racers stick together and the farthest ones back seems to always easily catch up even if you’ve been riding your boost. The same cannot be said for the multiplayer, which sees fiercely competitive racing with up to twelve players vying for first place. Since multiplayer has no assists it all boils down to skill, and occasionally the glory of sideswiping the guy next to you off of a ramp as you sail on to victory. Bikes and ATVs can throw punches at each other to separate rider from ride, while larger vehicles can use a little bit of boost to slam a few feet to either side. It may not be racing clean, but in both single player and multiplayer it can mean the difference between being in first place and the guy plummeting down into the ravine.

There is much to be said about Motorstorm: Pacific Rift’s presentation, with visuals that pop and audio that backs them up nicely. Tracks have a variety of times of day and weather layouts which look gorgeous at the times when you are racing along a beach between the ocean and a thick jungle during a sunset. From the grim smoke of a lava plain to the fog-cloaked mountaintops the visuals stay fresh track after track. The soundtrack of the game is an eclectic mix, with some Pendulum returning from the first offering as well as oddball tracks such as a techno-remix of a Nirvana song. You’ll grow accustomed to letting off boost as soon as you hear its warning beeps, and other sound effects such as the horrible sounds of a vehicle ripping itself apart after hitting a tree feature just as prominently.

It’s not that other racing games aren’t as fast or as vicious, but only a select few are as crazy as Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. The racing and control is smooth and accommodating, which lets you concentrate on either avoiding exploding into a ball of fiery parts or at least doing so in as spectacular a manner as possible. The single player experience is solid, though the multiplayer is where the most fun is to be had. Be it on bike or in a truck, on the ground or in the air, it’s a muddy skirmish to see who can be the first chassis to fly burning through the air across the finish line.

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