And when I thought my Fall lineup couldn’t get any better; cue Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. The first game was a launch titles and is still one of the best Playstation 3 games to date, famous for its insane appearance and sheer intense races. I was such a huge fan of the first game and when I saw the shots for the next Motorstorm, you can imagine that I was hyped, and unlike many letdowns this year, Pacific Rift has delivered.

          I can’t say for certain, but if there’s one thing that Evolution Studios based this game around, were the minor failures in the first one. The following complaints people made were: No split-screen races, only a few tracks, vehicles are pretty much the same, not good enough online. It all ends here; Evolution did sure as hell address these problems, but a bit better than I had thought. As in terms of presentation, this instalment looks awesome and gamers will appreciate how far Evolution has gone to designing it. The busting tune choices have been made again and no doubt you will appreciate what the game has to offer.

          Instead of setting the game in a single place, something that put people off of the first game as desert racing may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, the new game takes the festival to a pacific island which may sound bland, but when it’s topped by volcanoes, tunnels, chutes, rivers, and beaches, it all makes it seem as though you enter a completely new stage every time. The courses in Pacific Rift are broken into four individual zones; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, each resembling one of the planets elements. Each zone offers 24 events, ranging over sixteen stunning tracks, doubling the amount in the original game.

          Each track is glorious in design, branching in all directions, opening pathways for different vehicles types. New events have also been added to separate the convention racing-only approach on racing games. Pacific Rift offers Speed, Elimination, and Beat the clock modes along with others like Survival. Speed mode pits a single racer on a track with checkpoints; the player must pass all checkpoints in a certain time to earn rewards. Beat the Clock mode involves a normal race under timed conditions. My personal favourite mode, however, is Elimination mode. Just like any other race, your intentions are to zoom ahead to claim gold, but with the added incentive of not be killed in the process, sure enough as every fifteen second timer depletes to zero the car in last place is blown to smithereens...

          Other new features also include bunny hopping for the bikes and quads, this will allow you to jump higher off of ramp, and lightweights will also be able to duck under debris, all from the D-Pad controls. The Monster Truck makes its introduction, brining a new angle of fear into the game for swifter racers, it takes the bulk of the Big Rig and mixes it with the power to crush any vehicle that comes within a half-metre radius, making it a behemoth, yet it’s not too overpowered.

          Online mode is also present, booted up with its own experience and levelling system. Lag is rare, and games can host up to twelve players, and span out into all race types and race tracks. The sheer notion of slipping under a Monster Truck whilst on a quad against other players is enough to change my gears any day. However, the second game may be perfect but still, it has its problems. Glitches are extremely rare, but the invisible snags are an enemy to watch out for, but the main put-off is the re-spawning mechanic, you will notice that being taken out can sometimes simply put you at the head of the pack.

          Overall, Motorstorm has been one of the most essential purchases I have made on the PS3. It packs so much madness and charm, that gamers simply cannot turn it down. Even tweaks such as vehicle and driver customisation, add to what was a thrilling racing title. In terms of how successful it is in being a sequel, I would say it’s a better one than Resistance 2 was to its series.