Have you ever wondered what would happen if Burnout left the cosy confines of the metropolises and suburbs to venture into the great, wild unknown of nature? Perhaps not - but the developers at Evolution Studios almost certainly have, as their lightning fast, crash and burn racer Motorstorm give a nod, gameplay-wise, to EA's crashing giant before letting loose to wreak havoc in the mountainous desert known as Monument Valley (a real life area located in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona). There are no tracks made up of well-lined streets, there is no oncoming traffic, there are no traffic diversions circumventing track layouts; hell, there are very few manmade elements of any kind to be seen anywhere, and the ones that are there are secondary objects at best. Instead there are canyons of dirt and mud, rough and rigid rock formations and more than a fair share of jumps.

Once you consider the track designs in the full package this game has to offer - photo-realistic graphics, accurate real world physics, unforgiving terrain that leads to many exclamation-inducing, slow-motion crashes, all refined to a sharp point of arcade gameplay - it is no surprise that Sony considers Motorstorm's debut to be an important factor to the success of the PlayStation 3, both short and long term. Not until you catch wind of the complete lack of lasting appeal outside of online racing does any part of the experience falter. Almost in spite of that problem, Motorstorm barrels through all naysay with wreckless abandon, to either win over gamers with a brute force collusion of awesome or leave them as permanent fixtures in the sand.

The game opens at the beginning of this year's Motorstorm Festival, an off-road racing, rock 'n' roll festival that is held in Monument Valley. Your goal is simple: place top three in as many race tickets as possible to earn the necessary points and victories to unlock new races, tracks and vehicles, all in hopes of making it to the final race, known as "The Apocalypse." Taking a very arcade-style route, the main controls consist of gas, brake and a regenerating boost, with the key to turning corners with ease in finding the right combo of brake and boost. There may not be anything original here, but the content is nothing short of perfection - apart from the fortunately optional SIXAXIS steering controls, which are far too sloppy and loose to be anything less than completely unusable.

The A.I. drivers seem to race and react like a human would, using boost, sticking to the best paths and showing no mercy, but sometimes its feels as if they are just there for show, staying back just enough to let you win but not enough to make it an easy one. As for the modes, there's the single player career mode and online only multiplayer - that's it. There is nothing here that deviates from the 'pick a race' mentality, with the only wild card being that some races limit which vehicles you can use. This is only a problem when you want to enjoy a single player race any way you want it, as you have to dig into the tickets and find the race that allows what you want, as a quick race feature is surprisingly absent.

To seemingly make matters worse, there are only eight different tracks to choose from. Just reading that number aloud sounds like a horrendous mistake at first, but withhold that judgment momentarily. You see, Motorstorm allows for seven types of vehicles (each with multiple skins) to race in its festival - rally cars, big rigs, dirt bikes, ATVs, racing trucks, buggies and mudpluggers. While each one has basic handling differences, such as weight, acceleration and top speed, the most important factor in choosing a vehicle is how it reacts to a track's terrain. Motorcycles and rally cars are better suited to solid terrain, while buggies, trucks and ATVs have little trouble with rough terrain and the big rigs and mudpluggers excel in rough and boggy situations.

Instead of creating a set of tracks for each terrain type, giving each vehicle a few races to truly shine on, Evolution Studios have incorporated numerous paths and shortcuts into each track, which exploit each vehicle's strengths and weaknesses. The first track, 'The Grizzly', introduces that idea from the get go, providing multiple muddy, smooth and rough paths, along with plenty of ramps (you can never have enough of those). If you don't know which path to take then follow a computer player who is using your vehicle, as they know exactly where to go. Big rigs stick to the straight and narrow paths paved with mud, while the motorcycles and rally cars speed along rocky ledges, using their speed to override the extra mileage. I don't think you will find anyone who wouldn't welcome additional tracks to any racing game, but in Motorstorm's case, its selection of refined, well-crafted, multiple route tracks compensates for the small number. What is here is of very high quality, with many layers to pull back and explore, so as long as you don't mind mixing up your vehicle choice, you should find yourself enjoying what is here instead of worrying about what isn't.

Don't stay too close to your opposition though, as Motorstorm has no trouble stopping you cold in your tracks with a stylish, slow-motion crash. Lighter opponents can run you into rocks, off cliffs or - if you both are on motorcycles - knock you off with old-fashioned fisticuffs, while heavy opponents can smash right through lighter vehicles and if that doesn't cause you to crash then Ma Nature's there to pick up the slack. This is where the arcade tag receives a thick coating of mud, as the terrain isn't there to just drive over like a tin can in the road - it is far more dangerous than any opponent. Using an amazingly realistic physics engine, what used to be simple road candy - rocks, bumps, eroded earth, etc. - now affects your vehicle in some way or another. Lighter vehicles like the motorcycle and rally car bounce all over the place when driving on eroded rocks due to their light weight, as well as easily succumbing to an instant explosion if coming in contact with any protruding rock, regardless of size. Heavy vehicles such as the big rig can roll over or through many obstacles, but they aren't immune to everything and can either get stuck or blown to pieces if they hit the right sized object.

Not one to let explosions go to waste, Evolution makes sure you see each of yours in a detailed, slow-motion sequence. Slowing down the few seconds after impact while switching to a stylish camera angle, the graphical prowess of the PS3 is truly flexed as vehicles shatter into hundreds of pieces and drivers are thrown helplessly from their seats before colliding with pain. Watching yourself crash is amusing, but creating the havoc is even more exhilarating. Drift into a heavy competitor and cause them to crash into a wall, then watch as the drivers behind you, unable to react in time, slam into its turned over body - I challenge you not smile! Even escaping a harrowing death by an inch or watching vehicles around you miss ramps and rupture into scrap metal will bring the daredevil out from within your subconscious, imbuing your driving style with a 'devil may care' attitude. All of the 'holy @#$@' moments, as many a reviewer has dubbed them, provide add an alluring sense of danger, ferocity and reality to every race in Motorstorm. It's also a good way to keep you on your toes, knowing that at any moment, by either your own hands, someone else's or Nature's, you could be on the wrong end of Death's scythe.

When Motorstorm made its first public appearance at E3 2005, it was shown as pre-rendered videos, giving gamers an unfair first look at Motorstorm's beautiful disasters. While the real thing may not be able to hold a candle to the shadow of its video self, it is still a graphical masterpiece that does a wonderful job of showing off the power of the PS3. The detail put into Monunment Valley is staggering, the earthy tones brought to life with an unprecedented amount of detail and texture. The ground is especially excellent, with rough rock faces indented and worn down from years of weather and driver abuse (which the physics translate into the gameplay with perfection), with dust being kicked up in dry areas and - my personal favorite - the breaking of virgin mud. To see the surface of what appears to be just dirt broken into my tires to reveal dark, wet mud and then to watch it shine and simmer in the desert sun as more and more tracks are laid into it - never disappearing until the race is over - is a sight to behold.

Though courses may not have mirrored versions, they can be raced on during different parts of the day, the sun's placement recreated with unparalleled realism. The sunlight cuts across the mountains at different angles, shadows begin or end at different points and the entire Motorstorm world morphs in and out of color palettes based on the time of the day, ambience that is simply breathtaking. The vehicles are decently detailed, with all the nooks, crannies and slick paint jobs you would expect from a brand new unlicensed vehicle. However, it is the visual way they react with the tracks that really brings them to life. Dirt and mud collect on various areas of the vehicles, depending on where they are driven and how many times. Any bumps and bruises collected along the way are replicated on the vehicle with painstaking detail, as cracked windows, broken lights, crumpled bumpers and other assorted damage seem to adorn the vehicles more than their paint jobs. Crash your vehicle and watch as it falls apart in slow motion, the pieces gently sprinkling the sun-drenched earth.

The ambience doesn't end with visuals either, as a racing game's sounds are always a very critical ingredient. Every vehicle type has a different set of sounds, grunting, spurting and revving with haunting accuracy, while tires change their tune depending on the surface they are rolling on. When you crash, the music and sound effects are funneled to a far away place as you fly helplessly into the air, giving off a sense of brooding until your vehicle hits the ground. While the soundtrack is a typical 'extreme' sports game song list, hitting all the popular genres but with a live twist, the game's inability to juggle the tracks around severely undercuts any excuse of quality over quantity. Whether you enjoy what is here or not, the lack of a custom soundtrack option - one that every Xbox 360 game has due to its hardware - hurts. There are only so many times (probably around three) that I can listen to the Kings of Leon without wanting to stuff my eardrums with dirt.

As I said in the beginning, lasting appeal is the only area of Motorstorm where Evolution truly dropped the oil, leaving gamers to spin their wheels without gain. The single player consists of the career-style mode only, which makes so little sense. I can defend the eight tracks due to their ingenious construction, but there is nothing I can find that justifies the lack of modes. How about some sort of challenges, car upgrading or track course that really shows off those awesome physics? Anything that extends the game's life would have been good, and if you don't take advantage of the multiplayer then this becomes an extremely hard $60 purchase to justify.

If you are into online gaming then Motorstorm provides one of the best online experiences available. The multiplayer is destructively fun, even more so than single player, as causing A.I. opponents to crash is nothing compared to the rush you get from doing the same thing to a human player. Online races can range from two to twelve racers, which can lead to some insane matches. There is an online leaderboard, but since it only tracks first place finishes, which can be earned quite easily in one-on-one races, the rankings are horribly unbalanced and skewed (if you remedy only one thing about this game Evolution, please make it that). Take note that the multiplayer is limited to online only, which may come as a blow to some gamers, although I can understand that this early in the PS3's lifespan it would have been a great technical undertaking to keep things fast and detailed in a split screen mode.

For the most part, Motorstorm is a game that does not fail to meet it lofty expectations. However, it is in having such wide ambitions that the game also fails, as meeting the expectations of gameplay and ambience have left other areas such as lasting appeal and additional content by the wayside. Even with a barren landscape of options, Motorstorm's annihilative mindset, suicidal gameplay and opulent presentation make this one race, regardless of the means, that has to be engaged at least once - even if it's only for a weekend rental. Mark my words though - you won't want to send it back!

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).