ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails Updated Hands-On

SAN FRANCISCO--Earlier today, at a top secret location in San Francisco, SCEA was showcasing playable versions of eight upcoming PSP games. One of the games being shown was Climax's ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails, which is essentially an enhanced version of the PlayStation 2 game ATV Offroad Fury 3.

The first thing we checked out was the game's training mode, which did an excellent job of familiarizing us with all of the controls. After being shown videos of an ATV performing maneuvers and stunts, we were required to repeat them, with the necessary button information appearing on the screen. Each of the training tests was played against the clock, and we were awarded bronze, silver, or gold medals based on our performance.

Once we were comfortable with the controls, which are almost identical to those in the aforementioned PS2 game (the right trigger is used for powerslides, while the left trigger performs stunts), we entered into a couple of races to put our skills to the test. The indoor circuit and enduro track that we raced were both instantly recognizable from ATV Offroad Fury 3 and played every bit as well as they did in that game. The graphics on the PSP have been scaled down quite noticeably, and the controls felt more sensitive than we remember them being on the PS2, but otherwise the experience was virtually identical.

The big selling point for ATV Offroad Fury on the PSP, then, will almost certainly be its wireless multiplayer support, which we were able to check out against another event attendee and had a lot of fun with. We're basically feeling good about ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails at this point, but it remains to be seen whether the game will offer enough new content to appeal to ATV fans who have already purchased and played through ATV Offroad Fury 3. We'll bring you more information on the game as its March release date closes in.