E3 2011: MotionSports Adrenaline Hands-On Preview

Currently scheduled for release in October, MotionSports Adrenaline is a Kinect- and Move-powered collection of extreme sports games. Ubisoft had an Xbox 360 demo version of the game on display at its E3 booth this year, and so, without any regard for our personal safety (or dignity), we decided to give it a try. Only three events were available for play: mountain biking, wingsuit flying, and kite surfing.

Although the controls for each event were quite different, the premise was the same for all three: Reach the end of a course littered with obstacles (ranging from small fences to huge toppling columns of rock) while collecting point-scoring items in the shortest time possible. Furthermore, both the wingsuit flying and kite surfing events afforded us opportunities to perform tricks by striking poses at specific spots. All three events benefited from a good sense of speed and a visual style that managed to look believable without feeling like it was shooting for photorealism and missing.

In addition to the aforementioned events, MotionSports Adrenaline will feature kayaking, parkour, extreme skiing, and rock climbing. We're told that extreme trampolining might also make the cut, but there's a chance it won't be ready in time for the game's October release. Other features that weren't shown at E3 but we discussed with a Ubisoft representative included a party mode for up to four players, split-screen games in which players will be able to throw things at each other (a mud bomb that covers your opponent's side of the screen in mud while mountain biking, for example), and asynchronous online multiplayer that will automatically populate your events with ghosts of friends so that you can compete with them.

Based on what we played of it today, MotionSports Adrenaline promises to be a big improvement over last year's disappointing MotionSports. We look forward to bringing you more information on the upcoming game in the weeks and months ahead.