MX vs ATV Alive review (Xbox 360) ★★

There’s a reason this game is cheaper than usual for a console title: it’s not very good. It’s unstructured, shallow and pretty much solely dependant on Xbox LIVE multiplayer modes for any semblance of fun that lasts longer than five minutes. The single-player mode is based on a wholly illogical sense of progression; unless it’s trying to push a utopian agenda to destroy the average racer's thirst for victory.

As a follow-up game it’s had to make changes to its predecessor – MX vs. ATV Reflex. That change seems to be to have massively reduced the options available to single players. You can race in normal mode, short course mode or free mode. All of which aren't particularly inspiring.

And here’s why - the rub as it were. In single-player mode, you don’t have to win to advance and unlock courses. There isn’t even a career mode. You have to gain "points" and "experience". OK, so this could be alright, only winning a race doesn’t actually get you that much to those lofty ends. Add to this that the difficulty levels take massive incremental shifts – rookie level saw victories with 20-second leads whereas boosting up to "amateur" took days just to get in the top three. Consider that you only have access to four races and winning them all on the easiest mode doesn’t unlock you one more track and it all points to a rather existentialist nod of ‘what’s the point’?

In fairness, the racing is smooth and the riding process itself enjoyable, you gain points and experience in free race mode by doing tricks and massive jumps. These are much harder to do, though more satisfying, in race mode. The tricks in themselves require all digits on deck to wiggle joysticks and clasp shoulder buttons, so they’re a complete pain in the ass for the average player seeking immediate gratification. After all, this isn’t Tony Hawk's where it’s solely about tricks. So what is this all really about?

It’s the multiplayer mode. You can whip other people who are somehow even worse at this and get points, so you can progress quicker. The tracks are well defined, the scenery and responsiveness of the courses are considerable. Sunny courses fly by, iced tracks slide past you. It’s carefree if you’re not in it to win it and are happy to roll over an unending series of landscapes. The short courses also cram contestants into each other; so bobbing into each other is a jolly. But once again, points and victory without some potential massive trophy dangling at the end is all a bit of a prize-tease, and a nasty one at that. You can ride on a quad bike, as some kind of apology for being a long, drawn out yawn of game, but I’d rather steer clear of this.