Rainbow Studios does it again with MX vs. ATV Unleashed. The game is the culmination of some great racing efforts by Rainbow in the past, including Splashdown, ATV Offroad Fury and MX Unleashed. And with many different vehicles and modes to race, you can bet that fans of off-road racing are going to be eating up the dirt on this one.



With the power available to developers with the current generation of game consoles, it goes without saying that certain things must be done well to even begin to break out of the pack of losers that show up all too frequently in the driving genre. Vehicle physics must be appealing to the audience: realistic enough to make the player feel like he is really in control of his ride while at the same time not bogging them down in too much minutia to keep it from being fun. There needs to be some variety to the game: lots of modes and things to do. Finally, the game must also look and sound good – the vehicles and riders as well as the tracks they will race must immerse the player in the experience. I’m happy to report that MX vs. ATV Unleashed does break from the pack quite nicely and delivers on most of these elements well.

There are almost too many vehicles. As you’d expect from the game title, the MX bikes and ATV four-wheelers are the stars of the show. Players will find themselves on these most often – stunting and racing. Other vehicles include sand-rails, monster trucks, 4x4 golf carts and even aircraft, both rotary and fixed wing. There’s a fair array of vehicles available at the start of the game and even more to unlock as the gamer plays through. Sadly not all the vehicles are created equal. Each vehicle sports its own physics set. The MX bikes and ATVs both have excellent driving qualities and the remainder of the ground-based vehicles’ physics are all pretty solid and fairly fun to play with. The aircraft are not nearly up to par with them and can be a bit frustrating. I’m not quite sure why they needed to be in this game anyway.

The player always feels he has control of the MX bikes and ATVs. Simple acceleration and braking buttons, along with stunting buttons and a left-stick or D-pad steering system (player’s choice) that is tight and responsive, make these vehicles a snap to drive. Add in a clutch control to coax a little extra burst of speed out of your ride at opportune moments and a suspension preloading system to finesse a little extra air time out of a jump, and you have a control scheme that is quick to learn. At the same time it provides enough depth to keep the player trying new things and coming back to tracks to better his time as his mastery of the controls increases.



One of the coolest aspects of the game is the ability to mix up the vehicles during a race. Ever wonder if an MX bike can smoke a sand-rail? How about an ATV vs. a tricked-out 4x4 golf cart? This game can answer those questions. MX vs. ATV Unleashed offers almost unlimited combinations of off-road vehicles.

Modes of play in MX vs. ATV Unleashed include a nice variety of options. In the single-player mode, the player may choose to participate in any of the available competitions: supercross race, nationals race, short-track race, open-class race, supermoto race, hill-climb race or freestyle stunting events. The player may set the parameters of the event and compete, or just engage in a “free ride” to get the lay of the land. Championship mode is a little more demanding and has the player competing in a 16-week (game weeks, that is) season of competition on either ATVs or MX bikes.



There is also a multiplayer mode in MX vs. ATV Unleashed. The one-system multiplayer is limited to only two players. There is no support for system link. The good news is that there is Xbox Live support for multiplayer racing. On Live the player may test his mettle against six other human gamers. The races on Live run well and there is no significant lag.

Graphically MX vs. ATV Unleashed is unspectacular but gets the job done well enough. The accident animations are particularly well done. You’ll find yourself more than once thinking, “Ouch! That guy better give up any thoughts of having kids.”, following a particularly hard landing after a jump. The environments are also nice, especially the outdoor tracks. One area that could use a little work is the player-avatar-creation area. It is very limited as it is.



The audio of the game is very good. Sound effects are more than serviceable. The in-game music is a nice rock mix from both popular and lesser-known bands. If you just don’t like the music, custom soundtracks are supported.

There is little doubt that MX vs. ATV Unleashed was built to appeal to the more casual gamer who is playing the current generation of consoles as those systems enter the end of their life cycle. The standard difficulty is almost too easy to win. Veterans will want to ramp it up a bit. There’s nothing really wrong with that, just an observation.



In the end analysis, MX vs. ATV Unleashed is a game with some great gameplay and enough variety to make most gamers happy. The elements of the gameplay that are sub-par are not really that important to the player’s enjoyment. The whole presentation package is not equal to the best Xbox has to offer, but is a respectable effort that does not significantly hamper the player’s experience. I look forward to MX vs. ATV Unleashed returning on the next generation of consoles and showing us what a leap in technology can do for the franchise.