I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for driving games. Not just any driving games, though. I like the ones where you’re pretty much riding the throttle the whole way thru! Insanely fast (virtual) speeds, pretty visuals, crashes, and stunts, where applicable. You know: totally unrealistic driving at its best! That’s what I like. 🙂
A new game coming onto the scene is right up my alley. “PURE“, from Disney Interactive Studios, is an ATV-based/quadrunner racing game that is all about speed, tricks, and having fun! It really is. If you remember games like Motocross Madness or the Rallisport Challenge series, then you’ll probably enjoy PURE. It’s easy to learn, fun to look at, and very entertaining to perform the various stunts.
The Xbox 360 demo of PURE is about 1.1gigs, so a fairly meaty download. Once downloaded, though, the fun begins. The demo starts with a quick, throw-you-into-the-action tutorial where you learn basic driving — though they don’t tell you how to accelerate (use the right-trigger), which is strange — pre-loading before jumps, basic A-button stunts, boosting, and finally putting them all together. The tutorial ends when you’re able to complete a lap of the tutorial track in 27 seconds or less, which will require atleast one stunt and the corresponding “boost”. A lot of games use similar tutorials where you are learning the game by playing the game. I like that method.
Once you’ve completed the tutorial, you have access to a full level that is set in Italy somewhere, and the visuals a bee-ooo-ti-full. Let me re-emphasize how great they look. They really do! And what does one do with a nice looking Italian countryside? Beat the heck out of it with 16 ATVs + riders, naturally. What’s nice about this track, however, is that it provides plenty of opportunities for driving fast, lots of jumps, multiple paths to accomplish the same result, and, of course, a few insanely ridiculous jumps! As you successfully perfrom stunts (and land them), you start building “boost”. You can either use the boost to go faster — which may be necessary if you’re far behind — or you can allow the boost to accumulate, which grants you access to better, more complicated stunts. Initially you use the A button for stunts, but with enough boost accumulate, you have access to the B button range of stunts, then the Y button, and finally the ‘super’ stunts — using the bumper buttons — and those are hilarious. Honestly. I found myself laughing out loud at how silly they were, but they’re also a lot of fun. Is it absolutely critical to perform stunts to win the race? No, actually, as my son was able to come in 1st without any stunts at all, but it’s not as much fun. I’m also guessing that the full game will feature levels requiring “boost” to complete it, and also a scoring system that places a premium on pulling off increasingly more difficult stunts. It’s all in good fun.
My verdict? This game is a winner if the genre appeals to you at all. It most definitely accomplishes what it sets out to do, and I’m guessing that the full version — complete with 48 tracks, online multi-player, and 80 different stunts — is even more fun.
Enjoy!
Y.I.P.C.A.N.J.O 