MOTOR STORM

Outside of existing franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Killzone and Final Fantasy, perhaps the biggest and most anticipated game coming to the PlayStation 3 has been MotorStorm. After the extremely impressive, but fully CG, trailer that was shown at E3 during the system's first unveiling, PlayStation fans worldwide have been waiting to see if the final product could live up to the target render. The downloadable PlayStation Store demo gave gamers a taste of what was to come, but the full release is finally upon us.

So the question is, does the game live up to and properly recreate what we saw in the target video? Yes and no. The game doesn't look quite as good (though it is certainly a system showpiece), but it does come extremely close to bringing the chaos that we saw in the video to the PlayStation 3.

Click here to watch the video review.

MotorStorm lives and thrives on the moments when you're right in the middle of a pack of vehicles, everyone pushing each other towards the cliff sides and you're doing all you can just to survive. There are more "Oh $#@&" moments in MotorStorm than any other game around, and no matter how many laps around the same track you've made, you'll constantly see new crashes and vehicles careening to their death.

Really, there are very, very few racing titles (or even games in general) around that deliver as engaging an experience as MotorStorm. There's really no better way to put it than that.

The game lets you choose from a number of different vehicle types, each of which have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, motorcycles are very quick and agile, but can't stand toe-to-toe with bigger rides and slide in the mud like a hound dog on ice. On the flip side, the large trucks can plow through hazards and other rides, and the changes in environment types barely affect their handling. But, they're not very quick and must stick to the slower and wider sections of the tracks.