The display information is another high point, with a slew of useful and easy-to-read items. In all, it's not quite the immersive experience that Fury 2 was, but it has its own strengths on which to build. Hopefully, the next version will be another significant step forward.
Street date: November 10, 2004 (which was after we completed this issue). Contact: www.us.playstation.com.
MX vs. ATV UnleashedAs MX Unleashed was sort of the spiritual offspring of Fury 2, it continued the same development pattern but adapted the engine for motorcycles and added backflips to the trick repertoire and a clutch to enhance realism. As Unleashed features bonus vehicles such as monster trucks, airplanes, helicopters and dune buggies, it's almost a no-brainer to drop quads into the mix and create a total off-road experience in MX vs. ATV Unleashed. Especially a given as the executive producer of the game, Rob Baumsteiger, is a B-class ATV MX racer himself.
If you're familiar with Unleashed and Fury 2, the new game (sampled in an even more-incomplete version) is an interesting fusion of the best of both worlds. There are large, explorable worlds through which you can ride either two- or four-wheeled and pick up various tests and contests to advance your quest for more and more tracks and machines for your disposal. Unlike Unleashed, there are the way-point cross-country races from the Fury series, more games and online play.
Expanding on some of the more-unique racing in Fury 2, MXvsATV has more short tracks as well as new challenges in hillclimb and supermoto events.
Game play? Basically classic Fury 2 but with the addition of a clutch, which, as with the slide button in Fury 3, allows for more-realistic cornering in ATV mode. The tricks are mostly the same or variations on the previous games' but include the now-common (at least on motorcycles) 360-degree flips.
Unlike Fury 3, there will actually be real manufacturers' models in MXvsATV; the makers are hoping for inclusion of all of them, but there are a couple of sticky points Rainbow and THQ are still working out. We're not sure about the aftermarket participation as of yet, but we do know that Rainbow based all of the gear on actual '05 clothing and had several of the top riders in both MX and ATV MX play the part of "super-computer players."
In all, this looks to be the more promising of the two new games, yet Fury 3 is no slouch with some killer graphics. MX vs. ATV Unleashed is also more universal, with versions coming out for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube; while the Sony-published Fury 3 is solely for PlayStation 2. Only one thing concerns us with MXvsATV: Producer Rob told us the difficulty would be ratcheted up quite a bit as Unleashed was too easy to beat. Well, as someone who has had some difficulty with the challenges of Unleashed, I hope it doesn't get too tough. But, hey, that's what cheat codes are for!
Street date: February 2005. Contact: www.thq.com.
More New Games!
Check out our web site at www.atvrideronline.com for more previews of upcoming games. We also review some of the hottest new games available now. Gran Turismo 4 may not have any ATVs, but it does have four-wheelers you can slide around and jump. Jak and Daxter 3 has what the makers refer to as ATVs but you and I know as Sand Rails. But who cares-they have guns on them!