Don't go racing in your good clothes, because you're going to get really dirty.
The game modes are pretty standard fair. You have the World Tour, which is the game's career mode. It's broken into 10 stages, and each stage has a required amount of points to accumulate before the next stage is unlocked. Each stage is made up of different styles of racing; Race, Freestyle, and Sprint. As you unlock more stages, they will contain more events. Each event has a possible 16 points that can be won. Other modes include Single Races, Trials and Online play.
Before you can even begin racing, you'll need to select a character. Each character has a different personality. They say different things during the races, and they all have their unique set of special tricks. More characters will be unlocked for to use as you're playing through the game.
Of course, you'll need to build an ATV for your character to ride, and the ATV building system is rather verbose. You'll be selecting just about every single part that comprises an ATV startingn with the frame all the way down to the handle grips. About half of the parts you select effect the performance, while the other half is just for aesthetics. Each part has different makers, and just about every part lets you chose your own color. If you don't have the patience to build your own vehicle, you can press X to have the game randomly select parts for you depending on what kind of ATV you want. You have slots in your garage to store your ATVs, and more slots will open as you progress. It's recommened that you tune at least three different ATVs for each style of race, so that you have some sort of edge in competing.
There are three kinds of races in Pure. Race is just that; a straight-forward three-lap race to the finish line. Freestyle is very different. There are no set number of laps, and instead of racing to get first, you're competiting to get the highest score by pulling off tricks. As you're executing tricks, a combo meter will begin to build with multipliers. Keep tricking before the meter winds down and the multipliers will continue to stack. You also have power ups on the track that increases your boost, gas (you have a finite amount of gas, so pull off as many tricks as you can before you run out), unlock your special tricks, or even give you another multiplier. The last style is Sprint. Sprint is a very short race comprised of five laps that are usually about 20 seconds in duration. It's focused largely on acceleration and taking turns as fast as possible.
Pure has a boost system that is dependant on its trick system. In order to trick, you have to catch some air, and you can gain more air from a ramp by preloading first. To preload, you flick the controller down, then up and once airborn, you hold the A button down and then tap a direction. As you're pulling off A tricks, your boost meter increases and eventually you'll be given the option of pulling off lengthier B and Y tricks. If you use your boost past these tiers, you'll lose the option to use them. When you fill your boost meter to capacity, your special tricks unlock, and you execute them by holding down the L and R bumpers and then tapping a direction. These tricks take some time to complete, so you should only do them when you get some really nice air. You can also do front and back flips by double tapping up or down and holding that direction, as well as tweaking normal tricks by holding down an L or R button. Doing these will get you more boost as well.
For the most part, Pure is easy to play. You can definately tell that it is an arcade style racer, as the physics are nothing like you'd expect in a simulation. You'll find controlling the game to be a bit harder and trickier as you enter the more advanced races with more powerful engine classes. Jumping can become more hazardous as well, and you'll probably crash a lot more times than you'd like. The AI at times can be very frustrating, and you'll wonder why they take turns faster than you, or how some can even pull off special tricks after just a couple of jumps when you haven't even built yourself up to the Y tier. The AI has been observed to make mistakes, though. They wipe out on landings, or tip over from banging into rocks too close to a curve, so you'll always have that feeling of "I can do it!" that will keep you coming back for more.
As far as graphics go, this is one of the better looking racers on the 360. The first thing that stands out are the gorgeous tracks. They are very well done, with an enormous amount of detail. Some jumps will have so many trees below that you can't even tell where the track is until you get close to it. The riders and ATVs are both rendered extremely well. What's most noteworthy is just how dirty they both end up getting. Whether it be from sand, dirt, grit or mud, they start out clean, but finish as one huge mess. The physics also provide for some hilarious animations, as your rider rarely flips off his ATV the same way twice. You may even be inclined to experiment in crashing in different ways just to see which one yields the most laughs!
Audiowise, the game is just as nice. The sound effects overall sound just what you'd expect from an ATV racer. Engine noises are prevalent, accentuated with thunderous whooshes as you pound the turbo button. Crashes sound like they hurt - jarring and painful. Your rider has a handful of sayings that he'll exclaim as he either gets screwed over by a competitor or passes one to boast. The music for the most part is rock, and after a while it can tend to be repetitive and annoying. Most racers usually are more fun to play with your own custom soundtrack anyway.
If you love ATV racers, or off-road racing in general, this is a very solid game to pick up. The World Tour is of decent length, and there are inconsistencies in difficulty between events, but it's still a lot of fun. You can extend the length of the tour as well by focusing on placing first for each event instead of just moving on when you get enough points. The addition of an online mode means that you can continue to play the game with friends and strangers alike once the main game is finished. The most surprising thing about this game, though, is that it came from Disney Interactive Studios. You wouldn't expect a game this fun to come from that publishing house. It may be a bit shallow for full retail price, but it makes a perfect title for 30 bucks.