Exclusive MX Vs. ATV Reflex Review

MX Vs. ATV Reflex Xbox 360, PS3, PSP and Nintendo DS Exclusive Review

MX Vs. ATV Reflex may at first look like something that has just rolled off an assembly line, but its appearance is nothing if not deceptive. Its predecessor (2007′s enjoyable but slightly stale MX Vs. ATV Untamed) didn’t set the world ablaze, and this sequel appears from the outset like something (once again) tailor-made for its undemanding core audience, and nobody else.

But Reflex is a significant reboot, and it deserves to be embraced by anyone who’s ever enjoyed an impeccably crafted racing game. The new innovations are representative of Rainbow Studio’s startling desire to shake things up, and one of those innovations in particular – a dynamic known as ‘Rider Reflex’ – is nothing short of utterly marvellous. This new gameplay tack completely changes the face of off-road racing games, and turns Reflex into something borderline essential. In short, it gives you full control of your rider, at the same time as full control of your vehicle, for the first time.

The left thumbstick controls your machine (as expected) but the right stick allows you to shift the weight of your rider around. This fundamentally alters the way that you have to approach the game, because just treating it in the same (slightly) crude fashion as you would its predecessors, will definitely result in a face full of mud. Master the intricacies of ‘Rider Reflex’ however, and you can use it to balance out as you ride over stretches of dangerous ground, gain massive air to assist with tricks, and use it to tackle corners faster and far more cleanly than you can with just the standard controls.

This is a near-perfect gameplay system, and its a wonder that nobody has ever attempted it to this degree before. It lends such a feeling of realism to proceedings, and demands such a brilliantly nerve-racking amount of concentration to master, that the game ends up feeling like the first of its kind. Another superb addition to the gameplay scheme is ‘Wreck Avoidance’ which is nothing less than pure simplicity itself. If you make a poor landing or get aggressively nudged by another rider, a large green arrow will flash up on the screen, pointing in the direction that you must position the right thumbstick in to avoid bailing. These arrows appear on screen for around one second flat. Nail it and you re-gain your composure; fluff it and you’re hitting the deck. This adds another layer of tremendous excitement, and some of the later races – which features AI characters who are both crafty and combative – will be played from the edge of your seat. Passers-by are liable to suspect that you’re watching a terrifying horror movie.

The problem with many off-road racing games is that they do appear to go out of their way to appeal solely to their target audience, which often alienates everyone else. MX Vs. ATV Reflex isn’t massively different stylistically – it still has the hit-and-miss soundtrack of hard rock and metal, and it still obsesses over rider names and venues that many of us have never heard of – but the gameplay is now nothing short of sublime. Stir the excellent track design into the mix alongside stellar AI, an unusual and wholly welcome new ‘Free Ride Series’ that breaks up the game by bringing sporadic sandbox play to the party, and a bevvy of terrific online modes (the best of which is definitely the variant of the classic ‘snake’-style game that is as compelling to play as it is hilarious) and you’ve got a jam-packed, high-quality package that everyone should sample.

MX Vs. ATV Reflex is a bold step forward for its development team, and if they continue down this path of fruitful innovation, the sky will surely be the limit. But MX Vs. ATV Reflex is no mere promise of things to come; its a fully-rounded cracker of a game in its own right, and it deserves more than just ‘cult classic’ spray painted on its chassis. Get involved.

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