Review: MotorStorm RC

Posted by Ben on March 7th, 2012 | 3 Comments | Tags: MotorStorm RC

I want to be playing Motorstorm RC right now. The very fact that I’m even saying that is a testament to just how addictive a game Evolution has made. Motorstorm RC is a great piece of gaming comfort food, and its a snack that will keep you coming back over and over again for one more taste.

MotorStorm RC is devilishly simplistic. There’s no boost, no complex track designs found in previous MotorStorm titles. Everything is played from a top down perspective, and it’s about as nostalgic as you would expect it to be. Plain and simple, this is an arcade racer in the vein of micro machines, just without the table top environments. Everything feels as if this is what the MotorStorm racers do when they’re not risking their own lives, and it certainly makes for an entertaining experience.

The game itself plays exactly like you’d expect a top down racer to play, you’re zipping around tightly designed courses, avoiding rivals and competing for the best time, position, or fastest achievement of any set goal. There are a decent number of goals available for you to speed through, and for the price, the variety is impressive. Couple that with a good selection of courses and vehicles, and you have enough content to last you quite some time. That isn’t even going in to the game’s key component, the online leaderboards. You’re going to find yourself confronted with a feedback loop that will have you constantly competing with your friends, and sending them PSN messages, challenging them to beat your score. Of course, you’re going to find yourself on the receiving end of said messages, so be prepared to have your times thoroughly decimated by people you know and respect. The PS3 version also contains 4 player split screen, so you can feel a sense of superiority over your friends in the comfort of your own home, but still have the threat of being openly mocked to your face if they beat you.

Chances are, if you and your friends do play RC, one of them will blame the controls at some point. They take some getting used to, but that’s not to say they are impossible to adjust to. The game sometimes feels like a scalectrix set, with the player having to slow down to almost a crawl in order to navigate some particularly treacherous corners, especially with some of the more drift-prone cars. Goodness me. Once you get them down, you’ll feel like a king, but until then you’re going to feel considerably less regal than that.

MotorStorm RC is an excellent bit of fun, and if you’re after something quick to play when you only have 5 minutes to relax in before having to shoot off to an important appointment, it is by far one of the best examples I’ve seen of somebody adopting the “just one more go” mentality found in oh so many iOS games on a console.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation 3 version of the game.