ATV Offroad Fury Pro Review




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Developer: Climax Studios Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: October 26, 2006 Also On: None

I’ve always been a fan of racing games. I suppose that started back in the SNES days with games like Super Mario Kart, which led to watercraft racing with the release of Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 64 and Cruisin’ USA. More recently I have been most impressed with the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises, as well as a brief stint with Midnight Club 2 and some Dreamcast racers like Metropolis Street Racing and Sega Rally. For whatever reason, I’ve never got around to playing Sony’s ATV franchise. The whole idea of mixing tricks and racing never much appealed to me. Now that I’ve played ATV Offroad Fury Pro for the PSP, I wish I had given the franchise a chance earlier.

First thing’s first: this is not a port of the PS2 version of the game. People are so used to playing the same game on the two systems that they’ve just decided to ignore the PSP altogether. I wouldn’t blame them, except for the fact that ATV Offroad Fury Pro has exclusive tracks, new race modes and mini-games such as Rings of Fire (drive through a series of rings), Pool (use your ATV as a cue ball) and Card Battle. There are also new event types including Endurocross, Rallycross, Circuit, Snowcross and Rally.

One of the first things that you need to do in order to avoid frustration is enter the training. This will teach you all of the basics, such as how to perform the different aerial stunts that will help you accumulate points. This game can be unforgiving if you get careless on the track. You’re going to lose a lot of time against your opponents if you wander off the track, crash and fly off of your bike, etc. Make sure that you get down your landing technique, braking and turning.

Most of the single events are locked and will require you to place well in order to unlock them. In the Championship mode you are going to need to choose a sponsor. They’ll give you bonuses and whatnot depending on your performance, with each sponsor having different requirements. Some sponsors are tailored for specific event types, so choose a sponsor that will fit you best. By competing in events, you will earn yourself cash and unlock parts for your vehicle. For a handheld game, ATV Offroad Fury Pro is pretty deep.

Sony takes full advantage of the PlayStation Portable’s Infrastructure online multi-player capabilities by taking ATV Offroad Fury Pro to the Internet. You can compete with other people in single races or championships, as well as the mini-games that I talked about earlier in this review. You don’t have to play online though, as Ad-Hoc multi-player is also an option. No matter which one you choose, you’ll have up to three other racers jumping the hills with you.

The graphics in ATV Offroad Fury Pro really show off the power of the PlayStation Portable. This is definitely not something that you would find on a Nintendo DS. You have a large variety of courses, all well-designed and vehicles that are easy to see for performing stunts. The frame rate is also never a problem. Fury Pro certainly is not as pretty as ATV Offroad 4 for the PlayStation 2, but it’s not bad on the eye at all. It’s also not bad on the ear, depending on what kind of music you like. They have some recognizable names like Alkaline Trio, although I can’t say I really care for the music.

If there is one racing game that you should have on PSP this fall, it’s ATV Offroad Fury Pro. Whatever problems I read about with the first game that coincided with the system’s launch have been fixed. You have nice handling, superb graphics for a portable game, a bevy of game modes and the option to play multi-player both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure. There’s really no way you can go wrong if you’re a fan of ATV by buying Offroad Fury Pro.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 8
Creativity: 8
Replay Value/Game Length: 8.5
Final: 8.1
Written by Kyle Review Guide

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