A great technical showcase that is incomplete as a game.

User Rating: 6 | MotorStorm PS3
I wanted this game to be great. Well, it is great at what it was designed to do... show off the power of the PS3 and give retailers a great game to display on their HDTVs. The graphics, physics, sound, and handling are wonderful but where's the game at?

Graphics: The graphics really raised the bar for racing games. To this day (Q1 2008) the graphics are still arguably the best for any racer out there. The color palette is rich and colorful which really compliments the arcadey style of the game. The lighting looks great with not too much bloom like in a lot of other games. On a large HDTV the game looks fantastic and is a joy to watch. The physics are stand out as well. The vehicles shatter when impacting a wall or another vehicle. Don't expect burnout quality crashes, but they are still very good.

Gameplay: The handling is very diverse in the game. The game does a great job of differentiating between the different classes of vehicles. When riding a motorcycle the handling is spastic and there is major oversteer like I would think a off roading bike would have. Contrast that with massive lugging big rigs that have huge understeer and lumber over ramps. The diversity of the of the tracks is stunning as well. Driving a buggy on the same track as a big rig is totally different. Rigs and mud trucks have to stay down in the muck to make the best times while ligher vehicles can stay up on the cliffs ramping from ledge to ledge. This type of diversity in vehicle play style is really unrivaled. It is a shame that the singleplayer is so flawed. The entire singleplayer experience consists of racing track after track for "tickets" that do nothing but open more tracks to race on. It is just a linear progress of tracks without any purpose or direction. Time trial was released later on PSN and can be downloaded for free. A career mode would have made this game a hell of a lot better.

Sound: The sound is as good as the graphics. The positional sound is great on a surround sound system. I could hear a big rig barreling up on me before seeing him smash me into a wall. The trucks give off deep bass while the bike scream as they hit the rev limiter. It is great hearing all these sounds come together in the larger races.

Multiplayer: Not much to see here. Hook up on PSN with other players to race around some tracks. There isn't anything to keep the player wanting to continue other than just the thrill of the race. There aren't any advancements to be made by the player. It gets old after a couple of hours.

Replay value: It's a shame that such a beautiful game has nothing to keep the player watching it. As great as the graphics are, as realistic the sound, the game gets old after a few hours. Nothing keeps the player wanting to continue except unlocking a few new vehicles and a few more tracks. There aren't any modifications, credits, custom paint jobs, continuations in a story, or anything to make the user want more. Once the pretty graphics wear off this game has nothing to offer.

Conclusion: For the third time, it is a shame. I really wanted this game to be better than it is. I wanted a career mode with some depth and a multiplayer mode that makes me feel accomplished. This game offers none of that. If you want a no frills racer that looks beautiful and handles good then this might be worth a rent. For those who have played any racing game in the last 5 years then just admire the awesome HD graphics from the brick and mortar retail floor and move on to something more complete. Hopefully Motorstorm two actually gives us a game this time around.