ATV Offroad Fury Hands-On

LAS VEGAS--Sony had a short demo version of ATV Offroad Fury for the PlayStation Portable at a Consumer Electronics Show event where it officially unveiled the forthcoming handheld in North America. We got a chance to try out some of the basic gameplay modes, including a quick race and a freestyle trick mode, and found that Climax seems to be reprising the same nitty-gritty racing action that fans of the PS2 series have come to appreciate.

The demo of ATV Offroad Fury had only two gameplay options--amateur supercross and professional freestyle--and we jumped right into both to see how they played. We were given a choice between a handful of different four-wheelers (there will reportedly be around two dozen in the final game) and three player models: a regular male rider, a witch, and a pumpkin-headed Halloween-style guy. Presumably there will be all sorts of wacky rider models available in the final game, allowing you to personalize your in-game avatar for the wireless multiplayer matches that will be available.

In the amateur supercross, we ran quick races on a couple of twisty tracks against two other CPU-controlled riders. The goal here was not only to come in first, but also to get the highest trick score. Tricks are performed much like in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series: You'll hit specific button combinations to do some crazy stunt in the air and attempt to complete it before you hit the ground. If you stick the landing, you'll get the appropriate stunt score added to your tally. If you blow it, you'll eat dirt and be set back several seconds in the race, which obviously won't do anything positive for your standing. Winning the race and achieving a respectable trick score at the same time will be a matter of knowing when to bust out a crazy stunt and when to simply slide around the sharp corner.

The professional freestyle mode allowed us to ride around in a larger area with no specific track (a construction area, in this case). We were able to simply ride with no time limit and attempt to perform as many tricks as we could, bolstering our stunt score and getting in practice at the same time. The freestyle mode will also give you a number of challenges that you can complete--one of these placed 10 red targets around the area, mostly in places that required us to hit ramps at the proper speed to grab them. Presumably, these freestyle challenges will allow you to access other challenges, and perhaps even other ATVs, riders, or courses (of which there are reportedly nearly 40 in all) as you complete them.

At this stage of development, ATV Offroad Fury has a solid visual presentation that's in line with the style of its PlayStation 2 counterparts. As we're seeing with a lot of PSP titles, the graphics aren't quite up to the level of the PS2, but they're so close that only a real stickler would have any cause for complaint. The game will apparently also feature a soundtrack of licensed hard rock. We heard only two tracks looping during the demo, but one can assume that the final game will contain more. ATV Offroad Fury is currently scheduled for a spring 2005 release, and we'll bring you more on the game soon.