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Thursday, December 04, 2008 |
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Pure
By Jedihillis @ 12:45 AM :: 3981 Views ::  :: PS3
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When I think of games I want to purchase, I generally don’t think of racing games. Sure once every 5 years or so I’ll pick up a Gran Turismo or maybe even a Burnout title. With that being said it was easy for me to overlook PURE when it came down the advertising pike. Much to my delight, PURE turned out to be one of the most enjoyable racing games I’ve played in quite a while.
PURE is an off road racing game. The closest recent comparison would probably be Motorstorm for the PS3 except in this case you’re limited to using just ATV’s instead of various vehicles. If your a fan of only sim-style racers like Gran Turismo, you may want to think twice about grabbing this one. However if you’re reading this review you’re more then likely in demographic of those who don’t give a rip how realistic it is so long as its fun. Well there’s plenty of fun to be had here.
When you first hit the main menu you are given several modes of play to chose from. There’s nothing really unique here as you choose from either, world tour, single play, or online modes. I started with world the World Tour mode so I could get a good taste of how the game played. Before you even begin your first race you are treated to an in-game tutorial. What this basically means is that a commentator tells you to try different things while you’re racing around on a dirt circle. It’s a nice and easy way to get adjusted to the basics. What you’ll notice when going through this training is that game plays almost exactly how you’d expect it to play. Being that it’s a off road game, there’s a lot of drifting going on. Alongside your standard breaking and accelerating buttons, there’s a boost button. I found this to be quite useful in not only trying to speed ahead of my competition but also to help power slide in sharp turns. Boost also ties directly into the other main variable of the game; tricks.
From my experience most racing/extreme sports games use tricks either for points alone or simply for flash. PURE offers something slightly different in that your tricks tie directly into how much boost you earn. The more complicated the trick you perform the most boost you get. Also when you use up your boost your ability to perform higher level tricks goes down. Thankfully tricks are very easy to perform in that you basically just hold the left analog stick a certain direction and press either X, circle, or triangle. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the sometimes hand cramping motions that some games implement for tricking.
The presentation in this game is top notch. The graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on the new consoles. Whether it’s racing in the California sand dunes or the mountains in New Zealand, each course in awe inspiring. The only notches against it is the lack of destructible vehicles and the somewhat linear course design. Granted these are minor things and didn’t effect my overall enjoyment of it. The sound is adequate also but not mind blowing. It’s your standard fanfare of punk rock songs mixed with the constant whining of lawnmowers (i.e. the engines) Also from time to time, the commentator will step in and give you a tip during the middle of a race. This is okay the first time around but for some reason the game doesn’t remember when you’ve already heard a specific tip and continues to repeat it if you happen to restart the race. It’s somewhat irritating but if you don’t have to restart the race you’ll likely avoid hearing it more than once.
One final thing I should point out about PURE is it’s inclusion of a robust customization system. This system allows you to change everything on your ATV from engine type, to the type of handle bars your ATV carries. Each part can be swapped in and out for better parts as you progressively unlock them throughout the games World Tour mode. For those of you who think of Gran Turismo’s customization and think it’s daunting, you have far less to worry you here. When interchanging your parts there’s an easy to read display in the bottom of your screen which show how each part effects your stats. This makes choosing parts relatively simple and easy to manage. The one irritating thing I found was that it was difficult to locate when new items had been unlocked. In most games, there’s usually some sort of indication (i.e a flashing “new” sign) next to part you just unlocked. No such luck with this game. I never got far enough into the game to where I was constantly swapping out parts so overall this didn’t make for a ton of frustration. I have a feeling however that if I had continued on in the game it would have taken it’s toll on me.
To sum it all up PURE is a fun game that is simple enough to appeal to casual racing fans like myself but contains enough content and customization to keep the hardcore fans coming back for more. Last time I checked you could pick the game up for about $40 on Amazon. With that price tag and top notch production values, this game stacks up well against any in it’s genre.
Score:
9/10
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