Following in line with its predecessors, Artic Edge brings a new twist to the expanding series with new vehicles and a new element of ICE.
But is this game a true chip off the old block or does it give the cold shoulder?

Developed by bigBIG Studios, Arctic Edge brings the Motorstorm series to the PSP for the first time, and with it many new features, new vehicles, massive tracks and all in a relatively small size of 525MB. This iteration of the series continues the over the top antics of impressive vistas, huge jumps and some mayhem along the way.

Motorstorm Artic Edge’s main festival mode takes you through a rising spiral of increasing challenges, allowing you to obtain medals in each race which in turn rewards you with points and when reaching certain benchmarks, will unlock new ranks of competition which in turn leads to more races and new tracks as well as events, there are often ten standard races in a rank but there are mostly other variations. Speed Races, seen in Motorstorm Pacific Rift, are a race through check points to keep a countdown timer from hitting zero. Each checkpoint you pass through gives you more time and determines whether you place first, second or third depending on how much time you have left over by the end of the race. They’re a great way to break up the gameplay and perfect for on the go racing, especially as they also give you a slight look at many of the track’s branching path.

Another mode named ‘Time Tickers’ has you race against four other racers competing for points that vary depending on your position in the race with the goal being the first person to reach the high score of that track, it’s another fun little mode to break up the gameplay. The game also features custom races, time trails as well as download ghosts and as well as race online against six other competitors.

An addition that made it into Pacific Rift also shows up here; Photo mode allows you to pause the game and take a snapshot of your spectacular crash or just a WTF moment and share them with friends.

And if you haven’t guessed by the name of this Motorstorm, the festival takes places within the artic, leading to tracks created around the theme of muddy logging towns, cracked glacial and ice caverns. There are 12 tracks in all, full with multiple paths, massive jumps and twisting half pipes. The vehicle selection this time is composed of 8 different classes, ranging from the Motorstorm standard of ATVs to Big Rigs, but Artic Edge brings in the introduction of Snow Mobiles and massive Snow Ploughs.

 

Artic Edge does a fantastic job of porting over the extreme nature and the pure fun of the PS3 Motorstorm title to palm of your hand, allow admittedly the crashes don’t carry the same degree of precision as the PS3 titles but crashing is still all part of the fun with the ability to get back in the race so quick epically with some help from the boost, which yes can cause you to overheat but luckily the snow can cool you down, however it’s only a certain type of snow, it has to be deeper than your average soon which can take a little getting used to, to be able to tell the difference. But either way you will be happy as this is a true Motorstorm experience on the PSP with all the great elements of Pacific Rift and the original title. It us undoubtedly a must have for fans of the series.

+ Great variety ofvehicles and tracks.

+ Visuals are still superb even on PSP.

- Minor AI glitches.

8.0/10

By Darren Arquette Posted Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 5:57 pm