It’s taken Rainbow Studios ten years since debuting with Motocross Madness on the PC in 1998, and seven off-road titles, to finally let what’s already a chaotic and relatively unpredictable sport off the leash. And here it is: MX vs. ATV Untamed. The trouble with this episode of the longrunning series is that, despite being let loose, it really doesn’t want to roam very far from its roots. And for a game that hasn’t changed a great deal in the last decade, that’s not good enough.

Taken as a standalone title Untamed isn’t bad at all. Physics has always been handled well for the series and to an extent that’s one thing we’re happy hasn’t changed much. MX vs. ATV is very arcadey, so you can expect a quite forgiving experience. At the same time the array of techniques available for you to control the height of your ascent on a ramp and the manner in which you fall all contribute to a sim-like feeling of realism much keener than that of true arcade games.

The rhythm-racing concept of pulling back on the analogue to gain height before pitching forward on the lip of a jump to boost does a lot to enhance the feeling of control as well. But ironically, despite giving you the option of even greater control of ATV vehicles with a Pro physics option, it’s very inconsistent, making the landing of your quad after hitting a 25-foot ramp a frustrating business that usually results in you eating dirt. The importance of a decent thumbstick control also seems to have been underestimated, as midflight vehicles just don’t seem to hold themselves correctly in the air: shift your rider’s weight about to control your jump and naturally your vehicle will tilt or even spin accordingly, but somehow it feels more like you’re manipulating an object suspended in limbo in a 3D graphics package rather than using gravity to your advantage.

Even if MX vs. ATV veterans don’t feel like Untamed is too familiar an experience to warrant a new game in itself, then the courses may prove bland enough to bore you after a few hours. Boring isn’t too strong a word to use either, after hitting what seems like a Welsh landscape of hills and valleys and performing the same tired jump and landing manoeuvres time and again. Untamed features some of the same tournaments of its predecessors (like the nationals and supercross) and usually you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you for all the jumps. Not that there’s no skill involved in executing a perfect landing, but your AI opponents are a breeze to outstrip for almost all of the nine difficulty levels that you can select in the early stages. It means that a spill and the accompanying time penalty is almost inconsequential and you’ll soon be at the front of the pack again.

The ‘Untamed’ part Rainbow Studios is referring to with this new episode is in the most part, the Endurocross event, aptly named as it turns out as you’ll need the patience of a saint to see it through to the end. In theory Endurocross should be the perfect antidote to the monotony of hills in supercross, with tires, ponds, rocks, tree stumps and other obstacles both natural and unnatural, breaking up the landscape and giving you a varied and interesting course. Except that it’s not: drive at any pace other than sluggish and you’re begging to be sandwiched between the ground and your bike, so most people will end up driving like Grandma in her Metro on Sunday afternoon. The only people who will derive any real satisfaction from this event are those who are willing to take their time to learn the nuances of its every course so that they can leather it around with relative impunity. It’s definitely no good for anyone who likes to race with uncertainty and employ split-second reactions rather than a learned drill.

These criticisms shouldn’t put off anyone new to the MX vs. ATV series who enjoys the odd racing game: Untamed is still a decent off-road title at heart. Rainbow Studios has bulked up the content considerably and as a multiplayer game it’s quite competitive too, especially once you have got to grips with taunting. But essentially it offers little new content for fans, plus it looks like a bag of arse: textures are bland, lighting and reflections are basic and particle physics is pretty lame – we’ve seen much better-looking games on the PS2. It’s a title for diehard aficionados and newbies only, if you’re feeling any ambivalence towards Untamed, don’t bother.

Ben Biggs