History of MotorStorm

The general consensus seems to be that Devil's Crossing was a marked improvement over Coyote Revenge, even without the sweetener of a new play mode. Certainly, while browsing through every internet thread looking for recommendations as to which track pack to choose, Devil's Weekend comes out on top most of the time. Its tough design didn't impress everyone though. "Yeah, it's a cool, twisted track", muttered DragonRacer13 on the official forums, "But I don't think I'm ever going to figure it out. It's frustrating and painful to race. I don't get one moment of enjoyment out of that track."

Sifting through the internet to gauge player responses to the world of MotorStorm DLC in general, it's clear there was increasing confusion about the different vehicle line-ups in US and UK downloadable content and, mingled with many gamers using imported games and cheeky fake overseas accounts, some got in a right old muddle as region compatibility flew to pieces all over their trousers. Many also seemed confused by the PS3's less than intuitive approach to downloaded content, as message boards lit up with bewildered children who had downloaded different packs, but had lost track of where the install button was, and which patches had to be installed first. Trying to run the new content without updating the game software resulted in black screens and the need to erase data and start over. Not the fault of Evolution Studios, who helpfully warned people of just this sort of problem before downloading but, as one of the pioneers of PS3 DLC, MotorStorm bore much of the brunt of these teething troubles.

Eleven months on from launch, and December brought us another update to make the bad voices go away. Version 3.1 finally did something about those awful loading times on the vehicle selection screen, and also gave online racers the option to race any of the existing tracks in reverse. But not offline players. Clearly, they smell.

Indeed, there's been a noticeable shift in favour of the online community with the most recent addition to the DLC menu. The dual track pack, released in January, featured two entirely new courses - Eagle's Nest and Diamondback Speedway - but, with no offline race tickets, those who like to play by themselves could only rattle around them in Time Trial mode. "are you guys serious?", cyber-screamed somebody called F4LLOU7 on the official forums. "i can't believe they wouldn't create a few new tickets in wreckreation for them like they did with devil's crossing and coyote's revenge. that's totally lame."

You tell 'em, F4LLOU7.

Instead, the two new courses were short and sweet, and designed to be used for online races, with a new endurance-testing ten-lap option made available. Diamond Back is a relentless looping track, created with flat-out velocity in mind and featuring a vicious crossover point where stragglers can be sideswiped by other racers crossing their path. Eagle's Nest, on the other hand, is a scrappy rush populated with long banked turns and fiendish jump points. As not all racers have all the downloadable tracks, though, these fine tracks are sadly underused - at least in casual online races outside of the many organised leagues. "Eagles Nest and Diamond Back are solid tracks," reckons Czar from the official forum, "But again, because they are DL content, the majority of hosts are shying away from them. I pick them, but sparingly, [as] it's tough to see a good room go from 12 to 4 when you pick one of those tracks."

And with yet another downloadable arriving this month, even if it is just a celebratory vehicle skin for Chinese New Year, it seems that MotorStorm is set to continue receiving little nips, tweaks and tucks all the way until the sequel roars into view.