Pure
An ATV racer with a mixture of elements that’s far from pure, but still fun
Tags: Pure Categories: Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Oct 27th, 2008
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pure (title page) | 2 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Disney Interactive’s Pure is something ambitious for a publisher generally known for games based on franchises straight from the house of mouse. It’s a new property that aims to be a competitor in the ATV racing genre, and while it doesn’t exactly distinguish itself as a force to be reckoned with, it still manages to offer some new and interesting ideas.
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The best way to describe Pure would be to take the average ATV racer and add in an SSX-style trick/boost system, and back it all up with a parts customization system akin to what most people are used to seeing in the Gran Turismo games. And while each of these elements in and of themselves could have made for an awesome new spin on the genre, together they seem to be at odds with each other.
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The boost/trick system, for example, suffers because the way the game’s physics usually keep players from catching really big air as is the norm for SSX games, thus stunting the potential for incredible trick combos and the promise of a huge boost for pulling it off. On the other side, the game’s less-realistic elements make much of the game’s realistic customization seem like a pointless time-waster – who cares what style you pick for some tiny metal piece on the side of your ATV when it doesn’t affect its stats and it’s barely noticeable?
This issue extends to the presentation, which has neither the realism of a sim, nor the same level of color and pizzazz one expects from an arcade-style game. And it doesn’t help either side of the formula that the graphics, while decent, are nothing spectacular.
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However, even putting aside the tug-of-war between the sim and arcadey elements of the game, it still has its fair share of issues. For one thing, the game maps a lot of commands to the left analog stick, including steering, jumping and tricks. This wouldn’t be quite so bad if jumps had more air, but as it is, it’s far too likely to inadvertently go into another trick when you intended to just set yourself up for a landing.
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Still, in spite of these issues, Pure still manages to be a fun game, and it provides such a unique spin on the genre that fans of this sort of game should certainly check it out.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Solid gameplay + Arcadey and sim elements are something new to the genre |
7.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Arcadey and sim elements don’t mesh well - Somewhat problematic control scheme |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Pure might have been a truly great game if its developers took either the arcadey elements or the sim elements and just ran with it, but in their attempts to combine the two we’ve gotten an ATV racer that’s decent but flawed. | |
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Tags: Pure
Posted by Jake McNeill on Oct 27th, 2008 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
