Game Review: MotorStorm

I got Motorstorm bundled with my PS3, but never got around to throwing up a review of the game. Motorstorm is a week long "festival" in Arizona's Monument Valley. The game's intro is hilariously over serious with that gruff old man announcer at the beginning, once you get past stuffy old announcer man the festivities begin. The games graphics are not what we saw in that E3 teaser but I suppose it's better to aim high right? One of the first things I noticed about Motorstorm, the sound level is way higher than any PS2 game I have, maybe because the game is on Blu ray....I don't really know. The music is loud and hard very fitting for Motorstorm.
The environment is well designed and the level of detail is not achievable on the PS2, the closest comparison is GT4's Grand Canyon track.
The game offers eight tracks on or offline; The Grizzly, Sidewinder Glutch, Rockhopper, Rain God Mesa, The Tenderizer, Dust Devil, The Mudpool, Coyote Rage. The tracks may not have much variety but they make up for it in design, each course has sections that branch out and offer multiple paths that intertwine and offer different types of terain from mud to rock to loose gravel. Other than that there's not much variety to the environment which makes sense since this "festival" takes place in Arizona's Monument Valley, but I still would've liked to have a bit more variety.
Motorstorm offers seven different types of vehicles; MX bikes, ATV's, Buggies, Rally Cars, Racing Trucks, Mud Pluggers, and Big Rigs. Do you want to go really fast and risk life and limb? Jump on a Bike (the crash sequences are spectacular!) Do you want to bully your way to the finish line and crush the gravel below your feet climb into a Big Rig. Those are the two extremes in the vehicle selection spectrum. L2 & R2 are used for the gas and break and R3 acts as your boost ignitor. If you thought you were going fast before hold down the boost for a few seconds but watch your boost meter or you'll pull a Challenger!
Motorstorm's online game is just as manic as offline and you can bust out your best Anakin Skywalker on a ATV impression with eleven of your friends. I set up a clan event where we had around 6 people racing together and I never experienced any lag. Motorstorm also supports chat via BT or USB headset, it's open mic but sounds infinitly better than CoD4's chat functions.
The servers are divided into US East, Central, West etc.
Some custom features include time of day, track, public or private admittance and vehicle types.
Motorstorm's like poptarts...IT'S CRAZZZY GOOD!

7/10

Bonus: Motorstorm 2 teaser coming atcha!