| Overview Track Maps Overview: I like what Rainbow has done with terrain deformation in Reflex. It really adds a lot to the game. The tracks included in the game show it off really well and after spending a few hours with the PC version I decided that I wanted to write up a little something about each one from a Track Makers point of view. I plan to cover each National and SX track over the next several weeks. I will be doing them in the order that they show up in the career mode and finishing up with the 4 DLC tracks that are in the Arcade mode. Each track will have it's own page and each track will have the following: Riding Tips:
A detailed lap around the track with screenshots.
Features of the tracks that interest me:
Overview Track Maps Track Maps:
Overview Track Maps | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recently THQ invited me out to sit down and play the final build of MX vs.
ATV Reflex (Samit played an earlier build this year,) and while I was at it take a shot at helming both an MX bike and an ATV. I had a classmate back in high school who would do MX biking out on his farm because it was a nice, open area to build a whole course.
But then I got the location. Lot 16 of the Meadowlands Stadium.
A parking lot? Alright, I’ll bite, I suppose. When I got there, I saw the track — a ring of dirt piled up for a few hills with a couple of turns put into it. My first thought? Hamza nearly died getting that interview for Ride to Hell, while I’m actually going to die for this preview.
MX vs. ATV: Reflex (PS3, 360, PSP)
Developer: Rainbow Studios
Publisher: THQ
To be released: December 2009
Driving an ATV is not easy. You have to consider a number of things the first time you hop on — something that a city boy is not necessarily thinking about when he comes out to play a videogame. Shifting your weight, turning, acceleration and how you hit the ground are all things that I had no idea about when I first mounted the ATV.
Things weren’t like that in playing MX vs ATV Reflex. The first thing I noticed about the game was how simple controlling the vehicles were. In order to make the game more accessible to everyone, the controls are eschewed more towards the casual player so that they can hop right into the game and start having fun. It goes for the Tony Hawk angle, by pulling off tricks with a simple combination of buttons and directionals.
That doesn’t mean the game is simple. No, it falls under the old adage of “easy to learn, hard to master.” In my time with the game, I managed to progress from barely able to stay on the vehicle actually landing a trick or two a half hour later. With everything to take into consideration, the controls boil down to as such: One analog stick controls the driver, while the other one controls the vehicle. Making the rider buck and lean with the vehicle is not something that comes naturally, and so that was one of the biggest hurdles I had to face when playing this game.
Doing these jumps is certainly easier to understand once you’ve been on the machine for yourself. Instinct kicks in, especially when you nearly flip the ATV on your first turn around the track. Of course, nearly killing myself sent one of the professionals running out to explain how I was doing things wrong, and I finally understood what my instincts were telling me.
This, to me, is the core struggle within the game: how do you impart the innate knowledge of having your body flung around on the ATV with handing someone a controller and saying “go for it?” It’s really not possible. It doesn’t mean they haven’t tried. Reflex features warnings when you land on the ground as an indicator of where to lean the rider so that he doesn’t fall off the vehicle. It’s a good step towards learning how to handle the vehicles, although playing with it will require quite a bit of fooling around in order to ingrain everything like second nature.
One of the things that caught my interest, as simple as this may sound to many of you, is their terrain deformation system.
Exciting, I know. Any tracks that you or your opponents create during the course of the race stay there for the entirety of the time. So you can start using those grooves to speed along and encounter less resistance as you drive. This can be a big factor in longer races, so it’s really nothing to sneer at.
The races provide you with a variety of modes (seven total) to go head-to-head with your friends or online players, which the game can support up to 12 of. One of the nice things is the lobby for online play: there’s an open dirt track for you to play around in as the game is loading the online stage and collecting players. While you’re playing around in that, more and more people will join you in the lobby, ready to join up in your game. It’s better than the traditional loading screen.
The game very much has the look and feel of what I would call the MX and ATV culture. Most of the major players in the field and the major bike manufacturers have all been licensed for this title, and the music for it falls under that sort of “happy metal” that I can remember from playing Excite Truck when I first got my Wii.
MX vs ATV: Reflex certainly falls into a niche category within the sports genre. The game is solid and provides a fun and amusing experience, but unless you’ve got some interest or curiosity in the MX or ATV culture, I’m not sure how long the game will hold your attention. This is a title where you’ll want to play the demo, because at the very least that will entertain you the entire time you play it — the question you need to answer for yourself is whether or not it’ll give you the bug and make you want to play more.
8BitBrian
| MX vs. ATV: Reflex | |
| Developer | Rainbow Studios |
| Publisher | THQ |
| Official site | www.mxvsatv.com |
| Release date | November 2010 |
| Genre | Arcade Racing |
Rainbow Studios, which breathed life into virtual motorcycle racing with the release of the Motocross Madness dilogy, continues to delight players with new projects.
Unfortunately, not all of them reach personal computers or appear with a significant delay. So, MX vs. ATV: Reflex arrived on consoles a year ago and has only just made it to PC players, just in time for the release of the new Alive this spring. nine0045
As the name of the game suggests, we will be offered to ride not only two-wheeled horses, but also four-wheeled ATVs. In fact, the fleet of vehicles here is even larger and we will eventually have UTVs, sport buggies and small pickup trucks at our disposal.
However, acquaintance with the game will begin with motocross. And further, as we progress through various championships, we will have access to new vehicles, and the tournaments themselves, where they are allowed. Staying true to its roots, the game offers us cross-country racing or supercross on difficult artificial tracks in the lights of large stadiums to the sound of a roaring crowd. nine0045
Among the banal races of several laps on the same track, there are knockout races, passing checkpoints and a free ride mode.
Checkpoints are not very out of the general range, because there is always a rolled road, and the difficult terrain does not make it possible to cut off the path much. Free ride includes several locations where we look for secret flags and go through several competitions - drive up a steep mountain in the allotted time without falling down, or fly through all the markers in the air, jumping on jump hills. nine0045
There are some tricks, but they play a secondary role, not a key one, as in Pure. Separate competitive stages just offer us to do somersaults on stadium tracks with springboards.
The main interest is mixed competitions. The game only at first limits us in transport, and then nothing prevents cars, ATVs and two-wheeled bikes from clashing in one race at the same time. Moreover, it turns out to be quite interesting and exciting, because the tracks are built in such a way that certain sections create problems for different vehicles.
The motorcycle easily overcomes the steepest sections, but gets stuck in the water, and on a sharp turn, some pickup truck will simply crush it into a cake, throwing it back a few positions. nine0045
Sport Truck sometimes resembles a tank, scattering everyone on the way. From the start, you can simply crush all the nimble enemies, go half a circle perfectly, jumping on potholes, and then roll over in a ditch with logs or on a very sharp turn. Yes, and among the thicket you can’t maneuver much. But a light motorcycle can sometimes cut where it is difficult to fit into a larger opponent.
The only trouble is that in fact the whole choice is limited between nimble motorcycles and powerful cars. Quads are maneuverable, but too sensitive. This is not a perky cheerful Pure. Here the drive on both pairs of wheels is perfectly felt and you can easily fall down on a sharp rise, not keeping your balance and lifting the front end.
Lightweight buggies and UTVs can't match the speed of cars, but jump on the track much easier, making it much more difficult to control. As a result, all this is fun and great at first, then you just choose a motorcycle or car and calmly go through the track. nine0045
Some incentive for the player to use intermediate class vehicles more often would be welcome. But there are catastrophically few competitions in the game that specifically limit us in choosing among them.
Riding motorcycles requires constant control of the balance and the need to compensate for the imbalance in the balance of the motorcycle by tilting the rider's body. But the most difficult thing is to control a light ATV, which is too responsive, light, jumpy and unstable on inclined surfaces. Here everything depends on fast and, most importantly, precise movements of the body, because if you overdo it with the driver's inclination, you can easily fall on your side or land on your neck.
By the way, if after landing you did not keep your balance, you will still have the opportunity to normalize the position of the bike by pressing one of the illuminated body tilt keys in time. Such a quick-time event. nine0045
In competitions where there are no restrictions on vehicles, the developers successfully combine different terrain elements and different types of dirt to make the races more unpredictable. From snow to mud, from mud to hard to bumpy and wavy surfaces, and a few sharp turns in a grove of trees - somewhere forward riders break out on motorcycles, and somewhere on buggies and pickups. It is these races that give maximum adrenaline and pleasure.
Motocross and Supercross are not as dynamic. In stadium races, difficult tracks force you to be attentive and correctly control your balance. Here the key to success is not in speed, but in the correct passage of all tricky turns and maintaining balance after all the jumps.
However, it is still interesting and exciting, but racing on sports trucks alone is really boring and boring. The tracks in such competitions are unpretentious and, thanks to obedient control, are passed very easily. nine0045
Fixed low camera that limits the view a little on steep slopes.
The money earned for prize-winning places, together with the bonus for tricks, is spent only on buying new things for your garage. The necessary amounts are accumulating quite quickly and there is still nothing to spend until new classes are opened as the championships progress.
The surface of the track has a direct and immediate effect on any vehicle. Dirt roads are combined with gravel and sand embankments, sometimes even covered with snow. Each vehicle behaves differently on different surfaces. Having easily overcome some section on a motorcycle, you can lose ground a little, getting bogged down in a stream or on a snow-covered turn. And there is a lot of dirt in the game, and it has a direct impact on the physics of vehicles.
Only in MX vs. ATV: Reflex wheels leave real ruts in viscous soil, which also create certain difficulties. The most difficult thing is to overcome the road eroded by ditches on a quad bike, it is difficult for a motorcycle to taxi out of such a place, unless it is a downhill. For cars, this is not a problem at all. nine0045
All the technological delights of the game end in mud and changing road surfaces. The same dirt does not stain vehicles at all and does not splash fountains from under the wheels, as in other games. The environment looks simple, the textures are rather weak, the stubby trees look very poor, the water is also not so hot. There are no advanced lighting effects, the blinding sun will not interfere with the player. And there is no widespread blurring of the image at high speeds either. nine0045
MX vs. ATV: Reflex is a unique game. Here in one bottle and motorcycle racing, and mixed competitions.
Only here motorcycles, sports buggies and cars can come together. Off-road, dirt and collisions with motorcycles flying to the sides and cars overturning on sharp turns are provided. The traditional motocross and the players' favorite tricks on the jumps are not forgotten. Quite spectacular and varied, but sometimes boring. Often dynamic races are replaced by mournful trips along familiar tracks. The most difficult races with intricate tracks, constantly changing landscape and soil provide maximum pleasure. Car racing is not exciting, and supercross in stadiums also becomes boring in the end. More than once mentioned Pure is more dynamic and brighter. But Reflex is more serious, it has more realism (there are even licensed championships). And most importantly, the game has no competitors. No MotorStorm on PC is expected, and the next part of MX vs. ATV is unknown when it will appear in our area. So the game is recommended for mandatory familiarization to all fans of virtual racing and motorsport.
nine0045
Few of us follow what's going on in the world of motocross, or even know the names of key racing stars. However the sight of motorcycles wallowing in the mud invariably produces on men aged from 12 to 32 years old hypnotic impression - there is something in this sport something that distinguishes it from civilized and skimmed asphalt races. Not high speeds - they just don't exist here. And not even the number of broken bones riders, which is much higher than in other disciplines. A business, most likely in a different way: to be a motocross star, you need to do more than just ride faster than anyone - you need to do it spectacularly, to be a real actor in the saddle. nine0045
Perhaps this is why motocross (compared to other types of racing competitions) has so many girls. Prancing on a two-wheeled horse is not for you to sit inside a cramped car where no one can see you anyway. The main thing here is the show. When riders in bright overalls overcome a climb so steep that the stairs in your entrance, in comparison with it, it will seem like a smooth avenue, to them involuntarily get respect. Therefore, the demand (albeit very limited) for simulators motocross always exists, and sometimes among them there are really good games. Now, with the advent of MX vs ATV Reflex , there was one more.
| The start of motocross is a special ritual that is reminiscent of racetrack racing. Until the iron barrier comes down, everyone gets nervous and keeps their hand on the clutch lever. |
Despite the fact that Rainbow Studios was a bit whether not single-handedly brought to the people three-dimensional motorcycle racing (ancient Motocross Madness - just their work), the first game to notice the show appeal of this discipline was last year's Pure . Aerial acrobatics at a height of 50 meters above the ground had little to do with real motorcycle racing, but it was largely thanks to her that the Black Rock Studio broke the bank. MX vs ATV Reflex, which still adheres to the laws of the real world (included licensed racers and championships), against this background it looks real anachronism. Motorcycles (as well as quads, buggies and pickup trucks) go around and bounce around on artificial springboards - well, where have we not seen anything like this? nine0045
Meanwhile, right now the series is experiencing the second revolution in its long history (the first happened with the advent of quads and the abbreviation ATV in the name), only this time - technological. physically correct the dirt that is now in every first off-road race is now available and real motocross riders. Another thing is that in some Colin McRae DiRT 2 this same dirt is first of all decor element. Rally cars pulled out clods of earth with their wheels and left behind a barely visible track, but this had practically no effect on the behavior of cars.
Motocross is another matter. While racing down the compact and bulldozed track, two-wheeled motorcycles manage to gouge a real gutter in the mud meter depth, which is especially difficult to ignore when cornering (steering pulls out of the hands with terrible force). And if the race takes place on wet ground (track they are specially poured with water before the start so that spectators and riders do not suffocate in clouds of dust), then the track also manages to fill with water - also physically correct. H 2 O ripples, dislodges sunken wheels from the bottom and severely disappoints everyone who likes to overcome the fords without slowing down the gas.
| All eyes on the ruts: a couple of laps ago they were not here, but now you can get bogged down. | The quads aren't as fast and bouncy as the Pure, but that just makes riding harder. |
The model of vehicle behavior has also become more reliable - now, when you see a fallen tree on the road, the trunk of which is thicker than the wheel of your ATV, you involuntarily retract your neck and brake almost to zero, because if this is not done, the rider will have to dampen the speed with his own body.
On in a heavy pickup truck, the same obstacle is perceived much more calmly, but on motorcycle ... In general, if you have ever tried to overcome on a bicycle wet tram tracks or curbs, then there is nothing to explain, and if not - just never try to do it at a sharp angle. nine0045
| Colin McRae DiRT 2 racing pickups as guest stars. |
In general, you have to fall all the time in the game. First of all, because of the aggressive but stupid opponents who often go "on contact". And in the second - when trying to perform some famously twisted trick. The tricks themselves are an integral part of motocross, and in the past parts series for their performance awarded separate points. But since Pure closed this topic for good, the developers of MX vs ATV Reflex seem to have quieted down and pushed the tricks into the background. Now, during a regular race, no one makes us look for the jump button - just sit firmly in the saddle and slightly tilt the body when cornering.
nine0045
Here, too, one small innovation is hidden - if you landed badly or somehow lost control, the game always gives a couple of seconds to correct the situation. You just need pull the right stick in the indicated direction, and the rider who previously held the steering wheel with one hand, will return to the saddle again. Not the worst way to use quick-time events in racing - anyway much more honest than the ubiquitous time rewind.
When it comes to content and variety, Rainbow Studio has reached some cosmic heights over the years of working with the genre. We have already said that in addition to motorcycles, there are quads and other four-wheeled units in the game, that you need to discover in the course of a career. And which (most chic!) can also race against each other. It turns out almost MotorStorm in miniature - light motorcycles at a glance rush forward, but on the first straight they are caught up and rolled into the mud heavy pickups.
And the main guarantee of survival in such races is usually the ability do not climb on the rampage and stay away from local battles.
Other than regular circuit racing, checkpoint orienteering, freestyle, supercross (where it takes place in a closed arena and tracks are especially slow and insidious), the developers for some reason added to the game freeplay. In this mode, we simply explore a deserted piece of territory in search of new flags and tasks, while trying to understand if we have already passed by this pine or not. Fortunately, unlike the boring Fuel is not the main mode here, but just a way to unwind.
| Tracks are a real gem of the game. There are a lot of them, and they are all dirty. | But why a completely dirty motorcycle has a perfectly clean tread (at least in the Xbox 360 version) is a separate question for the developers. |
Despite the best dirt in video games, which finally not only loads the processor, but also has reliable physical properties, MX vs ATV Reflex is quite highly specialized race.
Quality texturing accomplishes that. The greatest stuff is that this is just the starting point and that in many areas the track actually ruts in real time.
I really tried to use it Valley Ride and the transitions from one level to the other were too extreme. It is much more subtle in Reflex and combined with the terrain deformation adds a lot to the fun factor.
