100% Awesome
Pure delivers the kind of off-road racing thrills we've been hoping for since this generation started. We go hands-on.
Published: August 17, 2008
Off-road games enjoyed something of a renaissance during the PS2 days, powered almost exclusively by Rainbow Studios' spin with the ATV Offroad Fury series. Their particular brand of "rhythm racing" didn't quite hold up when it finally made the next-gen jump, though, and we've been waiting for... something in the mean time. Turns out the fix we were looking for had more in common with the SSX franchise than with a straight off-road sim, but hey, if nothing else Pure seems to be killing two birds with one stone and we couldn't be happier about it.
Developed by Disney's own Black Rock Studio, which was culled from the many talents of the Climax Group's Racing studio (responsible for the Xbox MotoGP games and the latter two ATV Offroad Fury) releases), Pure blends the simple jumps, banked turns and sense of speed found in their earlier efforts, but infuses it with a ridiculous draw distance, some absolutely insane jumps and a trick system that owes a little to those snowboarding games (or perhaps more accurately the snowmobile cousin Freekstyle).
The result is a game that's incredibly easy to pick up on and grasp the basic concepts for, but seems open enough to make for some thrilling races. The folks at Disney Interactive Studios were kind enough to kick over a demo build of the game that will likely be finding its way onto the PlayStation Store here in the next couple of weeks. Though it's a level we've seen and played already in the past, we felt it was finally time to, y'know, talk about it, since we apparently haven't kicked up a proper preview yet (shame on us).
The single-level demo we tore through takes place in Mount Garda. Italy, but before we were turned loose, we first had to go through a little training course. It saddled us with five rapid-fire objectives that quickly got us up to speed: running a lap (yes, it tests your ability to hold the R2 button and steer), preloading jumps (pull back on the left stick then push forward at the apex of the jump, same as the ATV games), pulling tricks (just hold a direction on the left stick and press X; tricks finish on their own and can't be held indefinitely or tweaked, but you can transition into another trick instantly once the last one finishes), using the juice earned during tricks to fill the Thrill Bar to get a quick boost (just hold Square) and finally a time trial lap to pull all the lessons together.
It was dead simple, as tutorials often are, and with only a short little video that explained that the trick system uses three levels of the Thrill Bar to unlock basic-, intermediate- and expert-level tricks with the X, Circle and Triangle Buttons, we were off. The final parting bits of the video explained that the bigger tricks needed more air to finish (as they were obviously more xtreem and took longer to finish), and by filling the Thrill Bar all the way and then holding a direction on the left stick and pressing L1 and R1 at the same time, a huge trick could be pulled that, if landed properly, would give a big Thrill Bar refill. Neat.
Right, so off to Mount Garda. The three lap course was actually fairly lengthy (it took us about two minutes to do one lap), and was littered with alternate paths, some good, some time-wasting that would set up for a couple of little casual jumps and then launch all the riders off of what must've been at least a hundred foot drop (or at least felt like it). It was the perfect spot to pull off a monster trick like the full Thrill Bar-powered Shaolin Funk -- a flip over the handlebars then a seat grab with a scissor kick. Though the demo is over far, far sooner than we would have liked, we still couldn't help but be pumped by it.
One of the biggest gripes we've had about Rainbow Studios' latest games is that they just don't seem to push the hardware. At all. Pure, on the other hand, seems to revel in the increases to memory and speed that the PS3 affords, and wastes no time in pumping out epic draw distances (it's hard to pause and enjoy the scenery on all but that previously mentioned mega-jump, but you can actually see what looks like fully shaded water lapping at the shore far, far below the race course).
Little touches, like bits of dust winking in and out as the riders prep for the race and even the fact that you can slip up if not completely finishing a trick but not completely bail were fantastic. In fact, it should be noted that even with all the riders on the screen, these little touches and all the draw distance, some solid textures and some nice shader work, the game runs at a rock-solid framerate. This is the part where we offer the guys at Black Rock a beer if they're ever in town.
If Pure can actually hold up to the demo (and we've little reason to believe it won't), it could finally deliver on a next-gen off-road racing game -- and one that's over-the-top in subtle ways to boot. Noope, September 16th can't get here soon enough.
Developed by Disney's own Black Rock Studio, which was culled from the many talents of the Climax Group's Racing studio (responsible for the Xbox MotoGP games and the latter two ATV Offroad Fury) releases), Pure blends the simple jumps, banked turns and sense of speed found in their earlier efforts, but infuses it with a ridiculous draw distance, some absolutely insane jumps and a trick system that owes a little to those snowboarding games (or perhaps more accurately the snowmobile cousin Freekstyle).
The result is a game that's incredibly easy to pick up on and grasp the basic concepts for, but seems open enough to make for some thrilling races. The folks at Disney Interactive Studios were kind enough to kick over a demo build of the game that will likely be finding its way onto the PlayStation Store here in the next couple of weeks. Though it's a level we've seen and played already in the past, we felt it was finally time to, y'know, talk about it, since we apparently haven't kicked up a proper preview yet (shame on us).
The single-level demo we tore through takes place in Mount Garda. Italy, but before we were turned loose, we first had to go through a little training course. It saddled us with five rapid-fire objectives that quickly got us up to speed: running a lap (yes, it tests your ability to hold the R2 button and steer), preloading jumps (pull back on the left stick then push forward at the apex of the jump, same as the ATV games), pulling tricks (just hold a direction on the left stick and press X; tricks finish on their own and can't be held indefinitely or tweaked, but you can transition into another trick instantly once the last one finishes), using the juice earned during tricks to fill the Thrill Bar to get a quick boost (just hold Square) and finally a time trial lap to pull all the lessons together.
It was dead simple, as tutorials often are, and with only a short little video that explained that the trick system uses three levels of the Thrill Bar to unlock basic-, intermediate- and expert-level tricks with the X, Circle and Triangle Buttons, we were off. The final parting bits of the video explained that the bigger tricks needed more air to finish (as they were obviously more xtreem and took longer to finish), and by filling the Thrill Bar all the way and then holding a direction on the left stick and pressing L1 and R1 at the same time, a huge trick could be pulled that, if landed properly, would give a big Thrill Bar refill. Neat.
Right, so off to Mount Garda. The three lap course was actually fairly lengthy (it took us about two minutes to do one lap), and was littered with alternate paths, some good, some time-wasting that would set up for a couple of little casual jumps and then launch all the riders off of what must've been at least a hundred foot drop (or at least felt like it). It was the perfect spot to pull off a monster trick like the full Thrill Bar-powered Shaolin Funk -- a flip over the handlebars then a seat grab with a scissor kick. Though the demo is over far, far sooner than we would have liked, we still couldn't help but be pumped by it.
One of the biggest gripes we've had about Rainbow Studios' latest games is that they just don't seem to push the hardware. At all. Pure, on the other hand, seems to revel in the increases to memory and speed that the PS3 affords, and wastes no time in pumping out epic draw distances (it's hard to pause and enjoy the scenery on all but that previously mentioned mega-jump, but you can actually see what looks like fully shaded water lapping at the shore far, far below the race course).
Little touches, like bits of dust winking in and out as the riders prep for the race and even the fact that you can slip up if not completely finishing a trick but not completely bail were fantastic. In fact, it should be noted that even with all the riders on the screen, these little touches and all the draw distance, some solid textures and some nice shader work, the game runs at a rock-solid framerate. This is the part where we offer the guys at Black Rock a beer if they're ever in town.
If Pure can actually hold up to the demo (and we've little reason to believe it won't), it could finally deliver on a next-gen off-road racing game -- and one that's over-the-top in subtle ways to boot. Noope, September 16th can't get here soon enough.
