THQ has made their share of both MX and ATV games. They have been quite good games for what they were, but THQ has brought the best of both worlds together to create the ultimate MX and ATV experience. What could be a better possible combination? Both of these racing types generally are on the same types of tracks and allow basically the same amount of freedom, especially trick wise. This game brings back a great career mode along with multiplayer features such as Xbox Live play.
THQ has created many types of these games in the past, but has combined the best features of both the MX and ATV world to create an extremely fun off-roading experience. This game has many different game play features, and in-game features to make it very easy to learn, and also allow you to learn more advanced features as you progress, practicing them on one of the many in game levels. The game includes both single player and multiplayer options creating an all around experience for many players whether you are playing the single player game or playing online against up to five other gamers.
The game may be called MX vs. ATV Unleashed, but it includes much more than that. There are subclasses of the MXs, along with ATVs, and even many other vehicles to use, including planes. Helicopters, golf carts, sand rails and even monster trucks. This game creates one of the most diverse racing experiences available. The vehicle choices are as diverse as the available game modes. The game allows you to play single player races, championships and even multiplayer races. The championships even have their own options allowing you to participate in a few different structured championships with differing vehicles.
The championships in the game help you win points to unlock different items in the game such as different vehicles. This system allows you to perform various tasks to win points towards these unlockables and makes you work for the extra features in the game, which only adds life to the title. The gameplay is rock solid with easy-to -learn controls and many neat features helping along in the game. One of these features is called pre-loading. This means as you approach a jump, moving the d-pad or control stick in a certain manner allows you to pre-load your suspension to gain even more air to make it over a certain terrain obstacle or even to allow more time to perform a trick.
Pre-loading is a great feature to utilize and literally allows you to get the jump on the competition. The clutch in the game is also a great feature to utilize and allows you to control the vehicles with amazing accuracy. This all combines to create an easy-to-play racing game for the seasoned racing veteran all the way down to a child looking for a fun experience. The career mode is the meat of the single player experience, but other features such as challenges and even free races are available. This creates a huge gaming experience and allows a lot of replay because of the large variety of vehicles.
The multiplayer adds a lot of fun to this title and allows you to even go online and compete. This can be a lot of fun, and this Xbox Live gameplay create one of the most immersive off-road experiences available on the Xbox. This experience is like no other game, even other THQ off-road racing games. THQ definitely has the market down in this area, and other developers can only try to innovate as much as THQ has done with this title.
The graphics in Unleashed are done well and both the environments and the vehicle models are detailed believably. The visuals look good throughout the game, but in the larger levels, where you can basically drive anywhere until you hit the insane exploding invisible walls, don’t look as detailed because of their shear size. The particle effects and lighting are also rather impressive. The graphics in motion look good, but they are not pushing the hardware like other games on the Xbox. You can see work has been done on this title though to make it look well, but the graphics could have been improved.
The models in the game are done well along with the animations, but they are not as life-like as some might have come to expect from this generation of games. Some of the animations look great, but some look non-human and could have had some more time put into them, but the game does not suffer from this small letdown. The interface of the game is very simple and intuitive and allows easy navigation of all of the games modes. The controls in the same manner are also simple to learn and master. There is a learning curve here because of the advanced maneuvers, but they can be learned easily through time, especially by watching the tutorial videos.
The audio in the game is done well with the engines sounding good, and you are able to tell the difference between the different vehicles. The game include a good sized soundtrack with many popular songs such as a song by artists like Papa Roach, and mostly music that puts you in the mood for some off-road, highflying racing action. The sound effects in the game are done well and they are quite distinctive. They could be a bit more detail done and have a bit more variations for the effects, but for this game, they suit it quite well. The game allows you to use custom soundtracks, which is a great feature and if you do not enjoy the soundtrack, or just want to listen to something different, you are able to.
Final Thoughts
MTX vs. ATV Unleashed is the ultimate off-road racing title. Rainbow Studios has done an excellent job, making THQ one of the best game companies for all of your non-automobile racing needs. They already have the top motorcycle game on the market (Moto GP 3), along with this ultimate off-road title. It would be an excellent motocross game, but throw in ATV’s, and a bunch of other vehicles that you can whip around on insane trails and jumps and you have an even better title. MX vs. ATV Unleashed is an excellent choice for a different racing game compared to what else is available in the current market. If you are an MX or ATV, or any other off-road fan, this is one game to check out.
