MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
North pole position.
I'd describe my expertise on the PS3 games as average at best, yet I was able to cruise through to Tier 4 of Arctic Edge in one unbeaten run, earning a gold medal in every event along the way. Once you're in first place, it's not hard to build up a sizeable lead and then never see another vehicle for the rest of the race. Fans of the originals will be pleased at this handheld version's fidelity to the source, but they'll probably also resent having to grind through a lot of these easy races to get to the challenging stuff.
Events are unlocked in an ascending spiral, made up of eight ranks and punctuated by invitation events. Placing in the top three in a race earns points, which unlock the next tier when the relevant total is reached. With so many races and only twelve tracks repetition can't help but sneak in as you work your way upwards, but the game mixes things up with different objective-based events. Some, such as new addition Time Ticker, are welcome changes from the norm, constantly escalating your points depending on your race position. The first to hit 999 wins the event. Others, like the blandly titled Speed events, are simply solo checkpoint dashes that fail to inspire.
When it hits that sweet spot, however, MotorStorm's unique approach to off-road racing still pays dividends. The buzz of the starting grid is inherently addictive, with vulnerable bikers zipping between enormous behemoths in a cacophony of grit and smoke, and the myriad ways to approach each course ensure that you'll always have new ways to shave a few seconds off your personal best. Sailing over a thundering truck on an ATV offers the sort of gaming joy that never grows old, and the fact that the game never misses an opportunity to let you create those moments on the fly does much to balance out its shortcomings.
Beyond the single-player career, there's the obligatory Time Trial option, as well as Free Play. A practice mode by any other name, it lets you experiment with whatever vehicle and course combination you'd like. There are also rudimentary customisation options in the Garage, and a suite of Trophy-style badges to be earned for superlative play, as well as secrets to find along the way drawn from other Sony franchises like LittleBigPlanet and Killzone. There's support for ad hoc and online multiplayer, with up to eight racers, but unfortunately the servers hadn't been switched on at the time of writing. Unless something horrible happens it seems only fair to consider this feature a tick in the "pro" column, given that a good chunk of MotorStorm's enduring appeal lies in its multiplayer.
If the aim was to recreate the PS3 MotorStorm experience for the PSP, then there's little doubt that Arctic Edge is a success. It looks more like Destruction Derby on the PSone, but always feels like a natural fit with the HD titles by sticking closely to the mantra of fast, dirty knockabout thrills.
However, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge has inherited a few too many of its predecessor's weaknesses as well: a lumpy single player campaign, some arbitrary physics made more noticeable by the less sophisticated engine, and a tendency for the less inspired tracks to merge into one grimy muddle. Along with the flimsy challenge of the AI opponents, that's sadly just enough to keep it from the joining the PSP's top tier of racers.