ATV: Offroad Fury

PS2

Sony/Rainbow Studios - 2001

      First, I must state than none of us are "ATV enthusiasts." For some reason, rather excitable people seem to think that this game is great because even people who don't ride ATV's like it. What does that have to do with anything? Sure, I liked it, but because it's a fun video game. I'll wager that everyone who likes it plays video games. Max Payne is about a vigilante cop; should I be suprised because regular cops like it? Should I be suprised because Ape Escape was sold to children instead of monkeys? I haven't seen any lions gnawing on their copies of Simba's Pride. I've only seen about 3 zombies with Resident Evil, and I don't even think that they liked it.
      -Sundu

      The first time I was on an ATV...I ran into a tree. There is a little scar on my forearm from it. I've noticed that my rider in ATV Offroad Fury takes much nastier spills than the one that mutilated a centimeter long scar on my arm. He gets no scars. Many times I think he should have died. Right before I hit that tree...I thought that I was going to die. The little dude riding the ATV in the game hits a tree while flying through the air and doing a trick and he just yells a little and is back on his ATV in a matter of seconds. What I'm getting at here is that we shouldn't try to make ATV Offroad Fury more like life, we should try to make life more like the game!
      -Yahtzee

What we liked: At first, we liked crashing and jumping, in no particular order. We played chicken a lot, until we realized no one ever turned. Then we played "jump really far," which I probably don't need to explain. Eventually we actually played the game. We really enjoyed setting and re-setting the records. It really becomes an obsession because you have to hit every jump perfectly to get the best times. The multiplayer is definitely the best part of the game. The two player is great and, one year later, we found out it can be four player. That is approximately more fun. Finally, we loved the endurance stages: they are enormous, but that's not all. We liked where the stage ends. There is an invisible wall that launches you and your bike one-million-ish feet through the air.

What we didn't like: Our biggest problems deal with the stats. During the multiplayer races, the game does not tell you lap times. This is frustrating because you probably want to know how well you did. It wouldn't be so bad if you could see your splits after the race, but you can't. You have to exit to the main menu and then go into the hall of fame and find your course. The game used to tell us when we got the fastest lap, but it decided to stop doing that. A big drawback to 3 and 4 player is that, in the stadium, the stands are replaced by a black fog, which is very disorienting. We also really didn't like that, when you run into obstacles, you approximately die. Even cardboard boxes will throw you off your bike. Finally, if you land a jump kind of funny (funny-weird, not funny-haha), the rider stands up and "masturbates." Needless to say, when masturbating, you can't control your bike at all.

What to expect: A pretty solid racing game. In addition, expect some big jumps and even bigger crashes. Also, expect fast acceleration. You never have to worry about taking a turn well because you get right back up to speed. The courses range from long, high-speed endurance courses to short, fast stadium supercrosses.

What not to expect: Gran Turismo or Tony Hawk. This game has zombie-realism, meaning that it won't let you do ridiculous stunts or get speed bursts, but it also doesn't care about physics. You can jump forever and turn however you want with no real penalty.

What sets it apart: The huge jumps and freestyle competition. In freestyle, you do tricks for points instead of racing. Also, in most racing games, the focus is on taking turns well. In ATV, the focus is on timing jumps well. Long jump series can make or break a race. This allows for different some experimentation to determine just where to land.

Ratings on:

Controls: 8 - They work fine but loading jumps can be a little hard. Loading involves hitting down at the bottom of a jump and up at the top. It lets you go much higher, but the timing is questionable on this and sometimes you don't go as far as you should. Other than this, the controls worked very well.

Graphics: 6 - The stages are huge and have some buildings and obstacles. However, the textures are pretty plain and the ground will freak out in multiplayer, flashing in and out of focus. Also in multiplayer, the stadium background is replaced by black. Not only is this disappointing, but it is very distracting.

Sound: 4 - The game has real songs in it, though they appear to be unrelated to anything. There are all sorts of styles and they don't really go with the game. It's like having a radio playing. This isn't really good or bad. What we did find is that the music of Skanatra, a ska band that cover Sinatra songs, goes perfectly with the game. The sound effects, on the other hand, are definitely poor. There are about four grunts for crashes and two of them are clearly female, even if your rider isn't. The ATV's sound like a swarm of bees. I don't know if that is realistic, but it isn't pleasant.

Style: 3 - It doesn't really impress. The graphics are plain, even though the stages are huge, and it strays little from the standard racing game. The jumps are neat, however, and freestyle mode adds some appeal.

1st hour: 6 - He jumps high, and crashes really hard. We load everything, resulting in very bad races. Every corner is a suprise so the courses can be frustrating.

5th hour: 7 - Starting to learn the courses and get some records. The harder courses are still too hard.

1st week: 8 - "Pry the controller from my cold dead hands." -Yahtzee

1st month: 9 - Got almost all records, we are amazing.

1st year: 9 - Running every stage almost perfectly. The records we don't have are approximately unbeatable.

#1 thing(s) we hate about this game: Jumanji! Yahtzee! Yamaha! Whatever that sign says! We can't help but run into it. Also, there are the little white tires that keep you from cutting corners and absolutely destroy anyone who touches them. And those boxes! They look like hay, but what you don't see is that they are filled with cement and have steel reinforcing rods inside in case you run into them.

      by Sundu, Yahtzee, and Man Down