A big part of the MX vs. ATV series has always been not just the racing but also the stunt driving/flipping/crashing. Untamed keeps the idea kicking with some huge indoor/outdoor arenas that include jumps and other fun obstacles to pull some nasty tricks off of. Because the controls in the game are so good the racing and stunt driving comes very natural to almost any gamer that has ever played any racing title, whether it included MX/ATVs or not. This generalized sense of the game is evident almost throughout the entire playing experience and while it will surely pull in many new fans to the series some older gamers may find it a bit easy. All of the bikes/quads are customizable as well with multiple different upgrades; fortunately all of these can be purchased with the in game currency that is racked up with almost no effort at all. A couple hours into the game and we had a fully maxed out MX bike and were able to complete most of the races easily. Our biggest complaint when it comes to the single player experience in Untamed would be that we just needed more to do and maybe a bit more variety. The developers did add some really sweet mini-games that are a blast to play but they are short and will only give an hour or so of added longevity to MX vs. ATV: Untamed.
Hearing plenty of gripes from fans of the previous MX games Untamed includes a fully functional, and operational, multiplayer mode where gamers can take on each other in a number of different standard events as well as the mini-games mentioned earlier. The ability to play with someone sitting next to you on the couch or someone sitting in a different country is nice but the same complaints from the single player experience leak over to the multiplayer one. Everything that is included in Untamed is done just fine; all of the race modes work and the mini-games can be fun for a few minutes but there just isn’t anything new here. We would liked to have seen something that can only be found in this racing game, not generic multiplayer events that can be found anywhere on the 360. The stunt mode is probably the most fun to be had with more than one person, that or the mini-game titled “snake” which pits people against one another with beams of light coming out the back of their bikes.
Previously we have used the words average, ok, and pretty good but when it comes to the graphics in MX vs. ATV: Untamed the words will change. Having played the PS2, PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360 versions of the game we can honestly say that the differences are minimal at best. The only thing that is really good in the game is the framerate and that is probably only because the 360 version of the game is using PS2 textures. Everything in Untamed looks really bland and with an off-road racing game that is just something that cannot happen. After seeing games like Dirt and Motorstorm it is well known what can be done with an off-road racing game and Untamed does none of it. While the bikes themselves do look quite good (and authentic) everything else is well under par. Particle effects are non-existent, weather doesn’t change, nothing is destructible/free-forming (think the opposite of Sega Rally), and the backgrounds could have been built with on early version of Windows 98. Fortunately the quality controls and good gameplay modes outweigh what are subpar graphics for a next-gen system. Don’t get us wrong, on the PS2 Untamed looks really good but for what gamers have come to expect the game fails. The sound effects in Untamed may have been pulled right over from previous games in the series but either way they work just fine and a decent alternative-rock soundtrack fits in quite nicely for the races.
