The title of MX vs. ATV Untamed hints at the possibility of two merging gameplay styles, yet being quite inexperienced with the whole off-road racing genre, I played the game without really knowing what to expect. I figured that Untamed would find common ground between the two and yet instead the game proves just how different the two vehicles are. I am willing to bet that players will distinguish between motocross bikes and ATVs the same way that they would differentiate certain genres that they like or dislike; and sure enough, about half of Untamed I enjoyed and half I wasn't too crazy about.

The difference is in both handling and course design. Motocross bikes are taken through arena tracks where the space is limited and the turns are tight. Bike controls feel tailored more to this kind of gameplay, as the bikes themselves accelerate quickly and offer sharper handling so as to keep up with the constant winding of the arena paths. ATVs, on the other hand, offer more standard control mechanics and are utilized in big, open, outdoor tracks.

What is really interesting about the motocross tracks is that they're so tightly packed into their respective arenas that you'd be hard pressed to find a square foot that isn't utilized. The bikes themselves turn more sharply than you might initially expect and this is both a good thing and a bad thing; on the one hand it means that you can tackle any twist or turn in the almost snakelike courses without worry, but on the other it feels, well, weird. I always felt as if the controls were too sensitive and it's something I couldn't ever get used to. Perhaps I'm still too much of a newbie to the MX genre, but I never felt entirely comfortable playing Untamed's motocross segments and if I want to enjoy a game then I've got to at least feel comfortable playing it.

I vastly preferred the more user-friendly ATV mechanics, which offer perhaps a more accessible experience. The ATVs play like any other racing vehicle, so there's little to no learning curve in that regard. Where the series sets itself apart from other racers is in the usage of its vehicles. ATVs compete across wide, hilly outdoor areas that allow you to take advantage of high speeds and big jumps. Whereas I found that the motocross tracks were so tight and narrow that I spent too much time braking and turning to actually pick up the pace and have fun, the ATV courses really took the weight off and gave me more time to appreciate some of the simpler pleasures of off-road racing.

It springs to mind that racing in an ATV feels kind of like an interactive rollercoaster, with all the hills, dips, bumps and sharp turns you'd expect from such a thing. A good ATV race would kind of wear me out, as the shaky camera coupled with the near-constant use of rumble gave me a sensation that is probably as close to that of a real off-road racer as can be experienced on an Xbox 360. The high octane thrills (if you'll excuse such a cliché) you can derive from Untamed almost makes the overly peppy, angst-ridden soundtrack seem appropriate. Developer Rainbow Studios also figured that as long as they're doing off-road racing, they might as well cover all the bases and thus monster trucks and ORV Sport vehicles have been added to the mix in a few event-specific situations. The latter works fine, but monster trucks are so big and clunky and take up so much of the screen that I'd often run right off the track and not realize it right away because I couldn't see the markers!

Finding a playing style you enjoy is the first step. Untamed has several pretty rudimentary modes of play in which you can take your favorite vehicles out for a spin. Quick events, custom events and X-cross tournaments all work roughly the way you'd expect them to; it's the series events that are worth discussing in detail, partly because they exhibit a particularly fascinating flaw. Each series focuses on a different playing style and takes you through six or so courses. You are ranked along with your AI-controlled opponents, medals are handed out and so on and so forth. But after each race, you're then forced to participate in a second moto; i.e. you've got to compete in the exact same race again, a second time. If I may ask: WHY? Imagine playing through an action game and being told upon beating a level that you've then got to go back and beat it again! The courses don't change at all in the second run; Rainbow are basically just doubling the number of laps one must complete. Untamed isn't so bad that this flaw makes the game painful to play, but if I win I want to move on, dammit!

The reason this irritates me is because, as I've discovered, Untamed's simplistic and somewhat repetitive gameplay doesn't stack up to lengthy play sessions. This seems like the kind of game you're likely to pull out when you're bored, play for a few races and then put away again. When I wanted to really enjoy myself with Untamed, I simply chose the quick event option on the main menu and that way my experience with the game was brief and entertaining.

At least Untamed doesn't look bad, but then again this is the kind of racer where you're not really going to spend much time studying environments. The animation is smooth and I'm happy to report that the frame rate never suffers, which admittedly could really destroy a racer like this. The details are somewhat lacking though and upon closer inspection many of Untamed's environments look more like something you could have found on the original Xbox. The graphics aren't anything special, but they get the job done, more or less.

And that's a good description for MX vs ATV Untamed as a whole - it gets the job done. I think fans of the series will find just what they're looking for here, with a few shortcomings, but this means that Untamed doesn't offer much that will draw in any new followers. The game failed to garner any strong feelings from me; it's not really good, but it's not really bad either - it's good enough and so if it's motocross and ATV racing you're after then you could do a lot worse.

Reviewed by James Fanciullo for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).