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MX Vs. ATV Reflex Review
Written by Robert Workman on Friday, December 18, 2009
Variety of courses and vehicles, decent graphics, Game Sharing.
Awful sound, loose controls, you can't perform tricks properly, collision detection either slows you down or stops you dead in your tracks.
Similar to its console counterparts, THQ's DS port of MX Vs. ATV Reflex provides a number of courses, indoor and out, to choose from. You can cruise around indoor arenas or try your luck checking out the mountains and other terrain, getting some mad air and performing tricks. As you proceed, new classes of vehicles unlock, along with new skins for your current rides. There's decent variety, but you'll need lots of patience to see everything.
MX Vs. ATV Reflex's biggest problem lies in its loose controls. We encountered two major issues over the course of each race that we just couldn't shake. The first involves turning. When you need to steer your bike left or right, it takes a second for the turn to initiate. Now, in typical driving games, controls react quickly enough that you don't plow into a wall. Three or four races in, we were still having that problem.
That brings us to the second issue with Reflex, the collision detection. Tantalus tried to capture the intensity of racing, but failed to nail the realism. Whenever rival bikes come in contact with yours, you slow down. Even if they're hitting you from the sides, you don't bounce off of them the right way, and instead end up losing speed while they keep theirs. Not only that, but if you hit a wall, or anything that comes close to resembling a wall, you stop altogether (without the option of turning around) and restart from a different point.
Bugs aside, once you get into it, you may have fun with Reflex. The single-player content is decent, with several cups and freestyle events, but your best bet is multiplayer. It's easier to laugh off the game's screw-ups with friends, either by using local versus action with multiple carts or through the game's convenient Game Sharing option. Since you wouldn't recommend this $30 game to friends, Sharing is the way to go.
The presentation fares no better. Although the graphics aren't bad, with easy-to-see biker details and tracks (although the camera view isn't user friendly), the sound is miserable. The music did nothing for us, with half-hearted alternative tracks galore. Worse yet, all the engines sound the same, and they'll get on your nerves just as quickly as a screaming child.
Sorry, THQ, we know you were trying to create a fun portable racer, but MX Vs. ATV Reflex for the DS doesn't measure up to the console version. The slippery controls, questionable collision and unbearable sound make this a game we'd love to forget.
