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ATV Offroad Fury Pro Review
Written by Dan Biersdorf on Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Wide array of vehicles, great visuals, and a solid online presentation.
Very repetitive, lack of variety and much better suited for the
When is Sony going to realize that the PSP should not be used as a dumping ground for console like games? Ever since the system was released back in 2005 the software library has been plagued with games that are either ports of a home console, or at least games that just make more sense on a console. With its limited buttons and control options Sony, and other developers for that matter, need to acknowledge that games have to be built around the specific hardware, not just figure out how "such and so game" can be altered for a portable system. By doing this it creates forced gameplay mechanics, long loading times and awkward controls, and that's exactly what hampers ATV Offroad Fury Pro. But don't get all up in arms quite yet, for all of you fans of the PlayStation 2 titles, ATV Offroad Fury Pro is a faithful transition over to the handheld scene and is much more improved upon over last years Blazin' Trails.
From the moment you start playing this title you'll immediately notice the sharp visuals and how everything runs very efficiently. However this kind of graphical presentation does come at a cost as its obvious the trade off here was loading times. While not nearly as bad as some of the other games we've seen in the past (such as the notorious WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2006), I couldn't help but feel they got in the way of a true portable experience and ruined the "pick up and play" philosophy.
At the beginning of the game you'll only have access to a very minimal amount of vehicles and options but as you progress though tournaments and other events you'll gather points and cards that can be redeemed for more unlockables. In order to unearth all of these goodies you'll be spending the majority of your time in the championship mode and it's the main way to progress through the game. Each event consists of four races, and the goal is very basic; be the first one to the end while doing tricks along the way. It's a very straightforward process, but with each race consisting of five laps each, that very process can get boring, very quickly. There's little differentiation throughout the entire game but if all you really wanted was a racing game to begin with then you won't mind. Although for all of you who want some variety will be annoyed in no time.
Another major drawback is the faceless AI. The computer players will typically act as if they are on "rails" which means they are basically on a predetermined path and unless you interact with them (such as bumping them off the road) they'll rarely make mistakes and depending on the difficulty level you've set will speed along at a generic pace. This results in an even more mundane experience that it already is. Thankfully Sony was wise enough to include both local and online multiplayer which is probably the one honorable feature and will certainly be the reason you keep this one with you down the road.
ATV Offroad Fury Pro is an amazing technical achievement on the PSP, and is leaps and bounds better then last years Blazin' Trails. However you can't help but feel like you're playing a ho-hum console game that will leave you wanting more of almost everything. It has decent gameplay options, an ok soundtrack, basic course design and mediocre computer AI. No matter which way you cook it everything ATV Offroad Fury Pro brings to the table is more of less acceptable and offers nothing that stands out (aside from maybe the online play). Whether you can live with an "acceptable" game or not is up to you, all I know is I'll be playing ATV Offroad Fury 4 on the PS2 where the series (as of now) belongs.
posted November 29, 2006