Game review by David Chapman, Common Sense Media
age 10+
Off-road racer breaks down before getting on the track.
Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Windows 2022
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Parents need to know that MX vs ATV Legends is a racing/sports game available on the Xbox Series, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 PlayStation 4, and Windows based PCs. Players take on the role of an up and coming off-road driver as they make their way through the professional circuit, building their career and reputation along the way. The game promotes competition and good sporting behavior, particularly when racing against others in either local or online play. The game's filled with product placement, as real world off-road companies are represented as sponsors for events and gear.
bco1296 Adult
July 2, 2022
age 5+
Worsts game mechanics I have ever played. Mx Vs Atv reflex released over 10 years ago and it’s been the best moto cross game ever since. Doesn’t make sense to me why they would move backwards. Sound is terrible and botchy. It feels like I’m playing a arcade game with terrible physics from 2005. Please fix this game. It’s not worth $40
Players can open up the throttle and take the competition off-road in MX VS. ATV LEGENDS. As an up and comer in the off-road circuit, you'll need to polish your skills racing motocross dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), utility terrain vehicles (UTVs), and more. You'll take your off-roading off the beaten path as you explore huge open environments. You can get some friends together and compete in two-player local split-screen races, or go online and join in huge sixteen player squad based competitions.
When you're ready, you can take to Career mode and build your legacy. You'll win events to gain fans, which leads to bigger sponsors, who open up bigger events, leading to even more fans. Keep the cycle going and before long, you'll rise up in the ranks from an unknown rookie to a true off-road legend.
For over a decade and a half, the MX vs. ATV franchise brought the two-wheeled acrobatics of motocross bikes and four-wheeled fun of all-terrain vehicles together firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, MX vs. ATV Legends has come rolling in to the series with flat tires and an empty tank of gas. On the upside, the game's playable and there's some fun to be had when racing against friends in online or split-screen matchups. On the downside, just about everything else never even gets off the starting line.
Visually, the game's a mixed bag. While the tracks and environments have some good detail, the same can't be said about the people and vehicles.
Worse still, the visuals stutter and break apart when doing something as simple as changing your look at the Locker. From an audio standpoint, the game's licensed soundtrack is wasted since you can barely hear it over the engine and other vehicle sounds. What you're left with instead is an endless stream of white noise. Basic controls like throttle, braking, and steering are easy enough, but using any of the other more advanced moves is a frustrating mess. This is made even worse if you decide to enable the custom camera, which inexplicably uses some of the same buttons as operating your vehicle. As it stands, MX vs. ATV Legends is a mess of a game that either needs more tune-up time in the garage or a trip to the virtual junkyard.
Families can talk about competition and gaming. What are some ways that video games can help teach kids about sportsmanship? What are ways to be supportive and encouraging, regardless of wins or losses?
What are some ways that experience in video games such as flight simulators or driving games, can carry over to the real world? When does this virtual experience cross over into the territory of "Don't try this at home"?
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ua | 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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 the 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.
| 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.
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.
