Alex Knight 0 Comments # of Players: 8, Developer: Rainbow Studios, Price: $39.99, Publisher: THQ Nordic, Racing Series, Rated E10 for Ages 10+, Release Date: September 1 2020, Switch-MX-ATV-All-Out
Dirt Bike racing games have been in existence ever since Excitebike for as long as I can remember. During the late ‘90s, early 2000s, along came Motocross Madness, which brought dirt bike racing to a whole new level, and would later evolve into MX Unleashed. ATV Offroad Fury was launched around the same time that had players zipping around on quads instead. It didn’t take long for the games to merge into a singular game, that would become the franchise
MX vs ATV. The legacy of these games would continue on for decades. Now landing on the Nintendo Switch is Rainbow Studio’s latest iteration, entitled MX vs ATV All Out. How has the game evolved over 20 years and does it continue to lead the off-road racing genre?
MX vs ATV All Out is a semi-arcade off-road racing that has players racing, jumping, and performing stunts on dirt bikes, ATVs and tooling around in newer UTVs (Utility Terrain Vehicles). I used to spend countless hours when I was in my teens playing MX Unleashed and ATV Offroad Fury. I loved being able to catch huge air, perform aerial acrobatics and hope to stick my landings. They were games that just fit in well with the extreme sports category of titles that was sweeping the industry during that time. I will admit that it’s been a long time since I’ve picked up one of the newer ones, and so when All Out was announced, I decided it was a great time to see how the franchise has advanced after all of these years. Diving into the game I was immediately met with nostalgia, but unfortunately not in the warm fuzzy good feeling sort of way.
Starting up the game, you’ll enter a tutorial period on a free roam property called The Ranch. This acts as a hub for event entrances along with other fun and random things to do. I was immediately hit by abysmal framerate in handheld mode; I’m talking like single digits making the game borderline unplayable. Still, I hobbled my way around the area and completed the tutorials on how to steer, jump, do tricks, etc. Afterwards I found myself a bit confused as to how to actually access gameplay from The Ranch, and instead utilized the Pause Menu to navigate into Championships. Thankfully the framerate is improved during a race by a fair bit, but still not locked at 30fps by any means.
I ran through a couple of championship events with both my MX bike and my default ATV that were available to me. To my surprise, All Out just doesn’t look or really play like a multi-decade evolved product. The rider animations are as stiff as I always remembered them, and the physics are quite floaty too, which one could argue may be a positive to allow for more arcade-like gameplay.
The rider’s clothes waved with speed, which is a nice touch, but I personally had expectations of a more polished riding experience overall.
The environments, both with The Ranch and trackside, are devoid of life and as empty as I recall the first game being too. Textures are mid-resolution at best, but worse is that many of the cliffs have severely warped and stretched textures that are seen often times when a procedural terrain has been created poorly. Furthermore, the lighting feels very flat, and there’s a distinct lack of appropriate shadows, which I found left the vehicle feeling as though it was floating a bit above the ground. Much of this I’m willing to forgive just a bit given the platform specs, but after watching a few videos on other consoles, they don’t seem to fair much better. Visually this game just looks like it’s been stuck 15 years in the past.
Other than training, The Ranch is rather useless and a squandered opportunity to do something cool. Scattered about the region are 25 cogs that if you make the right jumps you can collect, but there’s no indication of why you are attempting to collect these or what they may unlock.
Past that, there’s just nothing all that interesting here to do. It would have been a perfect opportunity to create some over the top landmarks to fool around in, but instead it’s a generic terrain with some nice hills and jumps, and a built in MX park, but it just doesn’t warrant spending a lot of time here in the end.
New to All Out is also the inclusion of UTV’s, like a Polaris RZR. These side-by-side utility vehicles sport high suspension and are a great fun to ride in real life. In the game though, you’ll find yourself with understeer problems and some super clunky physics should your UTV topple over in any way. Also, long gone are the days of monster trucks, buggies, and sand rails that used to be in these games that offered something out of the box to drive and play with.
This leads me to the next absolutely most egregious thing that I found in MX vs ATV All Out. You’ll be given two MX bikes, two ATVs, and two UTVs at the start of your game that are fictionally branded as either Rainbow or THQ.
Here’s the massive kicker though…Every single real-world branded vehicle in the game is tied to a DLC transaction. Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris, Yamaha, you name it, every big-name manufacturer that makes off-road vehicles in these classes are all locked away with a $3 price tag per vehicle. A quick total of only the vehicle purchases would require players to shell out over $92. That’s not all, you’ll also find that several championships are tied to DLC transactions as well totaling another $17. While I would expect some premium content to be tied to in-game-purchases, having the entire inventory of branded vehicles, which is typically the driving factor of enthusiasts playing these games, be tied to DLC after a base game price of $40 feels like a smack across the head. It feels like a bit of a bait and switch and isn’t customer friendly in the least.
Nevertheless, for the vehicles you do plan to acquire, you’ll be able to spend your winnings of game currency on upgrades and some aesthetic changes.
Just like in previous titles, you can definitely make your ride personalized. Rider customization thankfully requires no DLC, and you’ll be able to purchase all of the gear you want with your winnings from known brands like O’Neal, Fox, Alpinestars, and a plethora more, making your rider look quite rad as you hit the trails.
When you do have a preferred rider and vehicle, All Out does offer several game modes, including the Series Career, Arcade Mode (which acts as a local head-to-head), Time Trials, Single Events (for a quick play), Local Multiplayer, and Online Multiplayer (which I was unable to find any other players in any event type leaving me all alone).
Regrettably the Switch version is just riddled with performance issues at every turn. Apart from terrible framerate in The Ranch, the user Interface is slow to respond to inputs making for a clunky interaction within the menus nearly every time. There’re some serious sound problems that are easily encountered as well, where one such example was driving near a pond in The Ranch, the ambient birds and water sound effects would all of a sudden blast out of my tiny Switch speakers at like 200% volume.
And finally, my game crashed several times in various places as well, once losing partial progress.
I wanted to love MX vs ATV All Out. Seriously, this was one of my favorite series back in my teenage years, and I recall spending countless hours enjoying them. Unfortunately, there’s just far too many letdowns that my nostalgia is better left as a memory. In truth, I could have maybe forgiven some of the performance problems and low quality graphics that do sometimes come with the territory of a Nintendo platform, but to have nearly all of the favored content locked away behind individual DLC just pushed me over the edge to disliking this title in totality.
4.
5/10
4.5/10
Gameplay - 4.5/104/10
Final Thoughts: BAD
MX vs ATV All Out is the continuation of a decades long franchise. Regrettably on the Nintendo Switch it falls flat visually, looking heavily dated, and there are some seriously crippling performance problems visually and audibly in multiple areas of the game. Worse off, all of the enthusiast branded vehicle content is tied to paid DLC. If you want to go “All In” with this game, you’d be shelling out nearly $150 in total. My suggestion, however, is to follow suit with the game’s title, and go All Out as far away from this one as you can.
Alex Knight
Alex has been actively gaming since the release of the Nintendo. Turning passion into profession, he’s spent just over a decade in game development, and is currently the Creative Director at a studio.
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ATV LegendsMX Vs. ATV Legends is a racing game all about using bikes and ATVs, as opposed to the traditional cars of other racing games. A player gets to race through all sorts of tracks, experience career mode and Trail mode, and even customize their own bikes.
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A new player to MX Vs. ATV Legends may end up feeling a bit lost and confused when they first boot up the game, as there are many things for a player to get used to. There are some beginner tips for players to know before they begin to play MX Vs. ATV Legends.
Getting off to a good start in MX Vs. ATV Legends is going to be very important. If a player times it right, they can get a huge boost of speed right at the beginning of the race and shoot forward, thus getting themselves ahead of everyone and having a much better chance of winning the race.
However, getting a speed boost can end up being a bit tricky. The controls are a bit finicky, and it can take a little bit of trial and error for a player to figure out just the right timing for their boost.
This may sound obvious at first, but a player should really ensure that they keep up as much speed as they can, at all times ever. There is almost no reason for a player to stop or slow down during a race.
As such, when a player builds up speed, they should do everything they can to ensure that they keep this speed. As long as a player can keep up the speed, they will be able to get past a lot of other racers, on top of their momentum being able to keep them going.
There are many tutorials in-game for MX Vs. ATV Legends. This is something that everyone should know when they first start the game. These tutorials can be invariably useful for someone who is starting out in the game and may not fully understand all of the quirks of certain parts of the gameplay.
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It will always do a player good, at the very least, to skim through a few tutorials and brush up on their knowledge of MX Vs. ATV Legends and how everything works. If nothing else, they could finally understand a specific quirk that may have baffled them.
There are two things that a player may end up struggling with the most in MX Vs. ATV Legends. These are the ability to drift and the ability to jump.
Although they are incredibly important to know in order to improve in the game, they are difficult to perfect. A player will have to try a lot of trial and error in order to perfect drifting and jumping. Luckily, free-roaming will be their best bet, as it will give them a less stressful method way to explore and try again.
Free-roaming in MX Vs. ATV Legends is not considered to be a very enjoyable game mode.
The open world a player can free roam in is very empty, and generally just does not have much to offer in terms of exploration.
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However, any player can use Free Roam mode in order to practice their controls. Due to the large, open-world that players can roam around in, they will be able to practice all sorts of controls, such as learning how to steer better.
A player may think that there is a particular race track that can be used as an "easy" track; whether that is for getting quick wins, or as a way to ease into the gameplay. However, there is no track that fits that dynamic.
There is no track that is a guaranteed "easy" track, as they all have their own twists and turns that make them difficult in some way. It would instead be heavily recommended for a player of MX Vs. ATV Legends to simply get used to each of the tracks instead of always going for a particular one.
As it turns out, a player can not really drift away from the path of actual race tracks in MX Vs. ATV Legends. If they try to go off the path, perhaps to take a shortcut or something similar, they will not be able to get too far.
Once a player gets past a certain point, they will automatically be placed back onto the track. As they will be put behind many of the other racers after this, going off the beaten path will put players at a serious disadvantage.
MX Vs. ATV Legends is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC.
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The off-road racing genre is not as widely represented in the gaming arena, so the output of almost every such project is albeit small, but an event. The MX vs ATV series has been around for over ten years and during this time managed to become recognizable and respected brand.
The previous part - Supercross - came out four years ago, and turned out not to be the most successful. The more fans waited and counted on a full version for the new generation, updated and improved. Were you waiting? Did you ask? Get it. MX vs ATV All Out brought in to throw mud at you from head to toe. So that stock up on a reliable suit and pull it tighter over your head helmet.
The game starts with tutorials, which are located here on one of the four open locations with the possibility of free movement. On the this relatively large map we will be returning every time after the completion of championships and races. Apart from introductory functions, in the modes of free driving, you can practice tricks on the presented jumps and ramps and try to collect collectibles scattered around gears. Career as such is not provided and we ourselves are free choose which missions, modes or competitions to pass.
They open gradually, but even at the very start they are presented an impressive number. Supercross, national competitions, opencross, checkpoint races without a clear route and freestyle stunt competition held its breath in anticipation dizzying somersaults and hot crazy chases. From collaborative modes provides split-screen and multiplayer with participation of up to 16 people.
At first glance, the project does not experience a lack of content. But it is worth taking a closer look, and it becomes clear that most of the tracks use the routes of four key locations, and the choice of arenas is not sparkling with variety. It is also important to note that a large amount assets and materials borrowed to some extent from previous games and moved with minor changes. Let with reservations, but there are dozens of trails to choose from with different conditions and in a variety of geographic regions. Transport represented by well-known models of motocross bikes, ATVs and buggy.
Each can be customized, improved, modified to your taste and color, using licensed parts and materials. The rider can be personalized in the same way, choose the brand and choose the color of the helmet, suit, gloves, shoes and other items. Money without any problems are earned in races and competitions, and you can spend them in garage.
Now directly about the process itself. And here everything is far from so rosy. The first thing to say is that it is absolutely broken control. Yes, to physics in the MX vs ATV series and previously emerged weighty claims, but this time the creators have outdone themselves, in bad sense. Most of all went to bikes. Okay, from the arcade no one expected a race of miracles, but at least some logic in management, one way or another, was traced in the previous parts. On the this time we have a solid lottery. How does a two wheeler behave? the aggregate is known, probably, to one god of chances, for events are impossible to predict.
Sometimes, the racer generally falls off motorcycle on level ground. This happens even on straight sections and small speed. In addition, from time to time, the steering wheel for some reason jams, and driving becomes impossible. As a result, we obediently move out in complete bewilderment into a ditch. The latter is also the case with other types of transport. buggy and ATVs behave a little better on the road, after all 4 wheels and some rudiments of clutch let you know, but the pleasures of no virtual driving. No road feel at all and dimensions, dull boxes with wheels that, when in contact with the slightest obstacle behave as if they have zero weight and are not affected by gravity. Bleeding, changing tires and clutch make no appreciable difference. The same trough accelerates faster and goes a little faster. Okay, just accelerate especially here everything still won't work. Even open locations are full of bumps and various obstacles.
Unacceptable performance adds fuel to the fire, clip motley glitches, as well as stable-periodic freezes and departures.
On some tracks, the frame rate per second drops to values so low that the game starts to look more like slide show. To win in such conditions, not to mention the performance the most dangerous tricks requiring well-balanced actions and distance calculation is not just difficult, but almost impossible. What surprisingly, the game manages to slow down even in the absence of rivals on the track - in free ride or ghost racing modes, the situation doesn't get better. In online battles, the situation, as you understand, further exacerbated, turning the ongoing disgrace into a special kind of masochism for everyone involved. And okay picture matched, but visually All Out looks at best tolerably, and sometimes even inferior to MX vs. ATV Supercross Encore, which and 3 years ago never impressed. But even there, at least the dirt looked like dirt and bikes with cars were left on it noticeable juicy footprints, here we don't even have that.
The difficulty of the races is quite uneven. On the same level some competitions are held without hesitation and the slightest strain, others will make you sweat properly.
General situation exacerbated by tight unresponsive controls, broken physics and performance below the plinth. Among the proposed schemes management was not found in any way convenient and universal. One way or another, for different types of races, you have to select individual options. Some layouts are more optimized for stunts, better on others cross country and so on. I personally had a particular difficulty. when passing exactly motocross arenas. It's crazy physics bikes, miscalculations in the layout and a lot of active objects, in the form barriers and other building structures, intertwined together. As a result, overcoming such stages, and I am already silent about competition turns into a real torture.
Online All Out is slow and buggy as hell. Matches and opponents are searched for a catastrophically long time, sometimes search at all freezes. The connection often breaks for no apparent reason. Login and It is already a great success to hold a regular online match here.
For me personally for some reason could not connect to most of the active sessions - gave a connection error. Repeatedly noticed a strange a situation where the players who dropped out during the race eventually occupied the first places with zeros instead of time indicators! Pro local multiplayer incidents can be told for a long time and eloquently, but it is better not to try to repeat on yourself. The game also there are network achievements, like "take first place in 25 online races" or "come first in a race with 15 live opponents." It won't be easy to do it all honestly, so, probably, it remains to hope for happy bugs. One in a word, aiming at getting the platinum cup, you can only sympathize and advise stocking up on sedatives means. By the way, judging by the statistics of the received trophies and personal Observations, there are two non-working ones. These are cumulative trophies - drive 100 miles and spend 100,000 local currency in the garage. If a the first one is not so easy to trace, but about the second I have no without any doubts.
Spent even more than the required amount, and no result followed. Again, all hope for a speedy fixes.
What did we end up with? I will be extremely categorical and honest. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a failure. As sad as it is to realize, it's not just a disappointment, but a real slap in the face with mud. The situation is not saves even a wide variety of settings, tracks and modes. The release version of All Out in terms of quality and level of playability is barely pulling on the alpha test. Obviously the project will get better with time. – several patches have already been released, and in the future we may well to please the next Encore version. In its current form, this lewdness does not deserve the slightest attention, and even more so your money.
Fans motocross and off-road racing can only sympathize. MX vs ATV All Out was one big disappointment. tight management and terrible physics, an incredible amount of technical flaws and bugs, unacceptable performance on most tracks even in the absence of rivals and many other unpleasant moments.
With an impressive list of tracks and modes, wide opportunities for customization and tuning of vehicles and a solid the amount of related thematic content, the game is very hard to enjoy. And if optimization with bugs is possible correct with patches, then with controllability, I'm afraid to do nothing will not work. She is completely broken. A particularly difficult situation with motorcycles, where every turn becomes a lottery, and motocross - fierce torture. If you miss this type of games, better pay attention to MXGP, ageless Pure or even Monster Energy Supercross, All Out is worth avoiding.
This review is based on the digital version of the game for Xbox One, edited by the publisher.
When it comes to niche projects for a narrow audience, it is always difficult to say unequivocally whether everyone else should pay attention to them. For example, if you don't like football, you're unlikely to run for a fresh copy of Football Manager without being told about it.
But in the case of MX vs ATV: All Out, things are even more complicated.
In 2016, THQ found a second life under the THQ Nordic brand. The company began bit by bit to collect its small empire again, announcing a couple of sequels to their best gaming series. For example, Darksiders will return after a six-year hiatus this year with the release of the third part, and Red Faction Guerrilla will get a second chance after the release on PS4 and Xbox One.
But the company also decided to develop a more specific direction - the MX vs ATV motorcycle sports series. If you pay attention to Metacritic, you will notice not the highest ratings from both critics and players. However, THQ Nordic decided it was worth having something for sports fans in their release basket. The result of this decision was All Out.
After starting the game, you are immediately thrown without much explanation to the farm, a vast location with transition points to learn the basic rules of the world of extreme jumping over mountains of mud.
The first thing that catches your eye when the bike takes off with a roar is technical problems.
Most likely, Rainbow Studios, the team that developed All Out, was given a small budget, without giving funds to create an engine from scratch. Therefore, developers had to be content with Unreal Engine 4, a fairly flexible tool in capable hands. The catch is that they never managed to fully optimize the engine for their needs. The studio put all its efforts into writing a vehicle physics module so that players can comfortably ride on the tracks, turning a blind eye to obvious flaws before the official release.
All Out has a damn unstable frame rate that even the huge first day patch couldn't fix. Trees and vegetation tend to appear from the void, and some of the objects on the tracks have no physics.
The game looks like a port from the last generation, which was full at the start of sales of PS4 and Xbox One. At the same time, All Out manages to show such pirouettes of poor optimization that you involuntarily look at the calendar to check what year it is.
During the existence of Unreal Engine 4, it was already possible to master the features of the engine. Or at least hire a specialist who can help the team realize their ideas without lowering the quality bar.
Unfortunately, All Out's problems don't end there. The game suffers from a lack of a rich visual presentation stemming from technical issues that Rainbow Studios had with Unreal Engine 4. Instead of generating dirt clods flying in all directions, the game invites you to look at a puff of brown smoke from under the wheels. The machine cannot flatten the grass, tear off the tape, warp the haystack, or leave a realistic mark on loose ground. The earth behaves like ice cream forgotten in the sun. It simply melts under the wheels, leaving behind a characteristic dark trail.
Another unpleasant aspect is the musical accompaniment. The selection of songs in All Out raises many questions. Why so few tracks? Why do they all sound the same? Why in 2018 should the player be left alone with the mournful compositions of absolutely toothless Californian punk rock bands? But the answer to them lies on the surface.
No more budget. The team obviously didn't have a separate expense line to buy licenses for fresh tracks that would appeal to most players. Therefore, I had to choose not the most popular genre and not the most interesting bands. This cannot be fixed with a patch, so your favorite playlists and headphones are used.
The only good thing about All Out is the gameplay. Everything you expect from bikes, buggies or quad bikes is implemented perfectly. All Out is a pleasure to drive around the tracks and do tricks. Especially when there is no frame rate drop. No one will require you to memorize complex combinations of buttons on the gamepad. Everything is intuitive.
Modes in the game do not cause complaints either. Love tricks - go freestyle in a special mode. Love to set records - time trials are always at your service. I want to spend time alone with myself, riding along the beach - an open location in the right scenery for you. You can change discipline or vehicle at any time, even if it takes a couple of loading screens, as well as some of your personal time, to find the items you need on the menu.
