Let me start this off by saying
that I was a big fan of the first ATV game on the PS2. Put simply,
it rocked. It captured the sport and portrayed it well with great
physics, a tough (but often cheesy) enemy AI, a decent selection of
multiplayer modes, and perhaps my favorite feature: the ability to
ride around a HUGE environment just for the hell of it. For me, it
was sort of a reminder of where I came from, growing up in the great
outdoors. So, when Sony dropped me an e-mail advertising the sequel,
I was pretty excited. Could it stack up to the original? Well, after
investing a lot of time into it, I can say both yes, and not quite.
Let me explain...
Graphics
The graphics in ATV ORF 2 are not
bad; the only problem here is that they really don't seem to be much
of an improvement over the original. You will notice a little more
detail in the ATV's, and your rider looks a little bit more
life-like (although they still look like little GI Joes when they
get thrown off of your ATV), and the environments are a little more
polished than before. There is now more varying terrain such as mud,
ice, water, and loose gravel that can affect the handling of your
4-wheeler. The water effects are obviously pulled straight out of
Splashdown, which is a good thing I suppose. Another cool thing that
you will notice is the fact that the mud clings to your 4-wheeler as
the race goes on. It's a nice touch. Overall, things look good, but
I really think they could have done a little bit more polishing as
you will notice a "Jaggy" here and there and the textures are a
little plain.
Sound
The sound is nothing spectacular.
Just a lot of your standard stuff. The sounds of the ATV's are
believable, and the soundtrack is good if you like radio-friendly
wuss rock mixed with a rap song here and there. I personally would
like to hear a soundtrack for a game with GOOD music for once, but
that will never happen considering everything that I consider good
would be a bad financial decision because it is not mainstream, nor
is it marketable. I just get tired of hearing the same songs on
every "extreme" game that comes out these days. Oh
well. Thankfully, you do have the option to turn off certain songs,
or turn ALL of them off if you feel so inclined. Other than the
sounds of your engine and the music; there really isn't much else to
hear, other than the grunts of your rider falling off and the
various bumps and squeaks from your shocks. In some of the courses,
you might hear the crowd cheer. That's about it: pretty standard
stuff, and there really is nothing wrong with that.
Gameplay
The first thing that you should
do before you start playing this game is place a pillow on the floor
a few feet in front of you. Just trust me, I will explain later...
ATV ORF 2 has most of the standard features of a racing game, and
then some. First there is the champion mode, where you race
different circuits with varying difficulties. The two-player split
screen modes, in which you can race each other to see who is king
crap of Turd Mountain. If you can unlock them there are some cool
mini-games that can be played with a friend as well - such as tag,
hockey, treasure hunt, and king of the hills. These are pretty cool,
but eventually the novelty wears off. The freestyle mode loosely
resembles the Tony Hawk series, where you are given objectives to
complete within a set amount of time. There is also the waypoint
editor, which is actually pretty cool. There is
a significantly larger selection of ATV's to choose from as well,
all of which are licensed. Doing tricks earns you points and so does
winning races. You can then use these points as money to buy new
clothes and unlock the better ATV's. Overall, it's a pretty nice
package, giving you plenty of bang for your buck.
However, I do have one huge
complaint about this game. The AI is horrendous. The
computer-controlled racers have that cheap handicap turned on. You
know… the one where you wipe them out and see them fly 15 feet from
their ATV as you scoot by and 2 seconds later they are on your ass
like flies to a pile of crap. Dear god this can make a guy mad. This
is where the pillow comes in to play. In your fit of rage, be sure
to aim for that pillow when you hurl your controller. This will save
you some trouble: trust me. I know, it sounds stupid, but hey, those
things are expensive. No joke. The computer AI is THAT cheap.
Online
You can play ATV 2 online with
either broadband or dial-up. ATV 2 works well online, but it really
boils down to whether or not you like to play that kind of game
online. I personally do not get too excited about it, if racing
online is your thing, then you will most definitely enjoy playing
ATV 2 online. The features are pretty much your standard racing or
seeing who can rack up the most points. You can jump right in and
play without too much hassle, and there is a decent amount of people
online at any given time. With broadband, things ran almost
flawlessly, and lag was almost non-existent: always a good thing.
I just found myself growing bored with it rather quickly, and
turning to other games such as SOCOM to get my online fix. Again,
this is a matter of preference. It really works well if you are into
that kind of thing.
Controls
This is where ATV 2 really
excels. The controls in this game are absolutely superb. Just like
the original ATV, the physics in this game are perfect in almost
every way, and that is what makes this game such a blast to play.
Everything just feels natural, from trying to keep your balance as
you race across the side of a hill, to aligning yourself with the
terrain below for a safe landing. The analog sticks never felt so
right. You will have to learn how to pre-load your suspension in
order to negotiate the various jumps in the game, which also works
very well. To do this you pull back on the analog stick just before
you hit a jump, and then press forward as you leave the ground and
voila: you are catching some wicked air.
You will have to practice each
race a few laps to figure out where you want to pre-load and where
you don't want to. It is very satisfying when you learn to go
through a whole race with out getting caught up on the moguls or
landing on the wrong side of a jump. The main thing about the
controls is that you will forget about that stupid piece of plastic
you are holding in your hands: this is a good thing. The trick
system is nothing special, but it gets the job done. It mostly
consists of pressing this button and this direction at the same time
to do this trick and hold it to gain more points, doing more than
one trick in the air obviously equals more points. When all is said
and done, the controls are perfect. Like I said before, it just
feels natural.
Overall
In the end, I would recommend
this game to almost anyone. It is easy to pick up and play, the
controls are tight, and there is plenty to do and the online mode
works well for those of you looking to do a little online racing.
You couldn't ask for much more out of any one game. I just hope they
do away with the cheap handicap system that they gave the computer
on this one and just make the riders tougher next time. I still
can't get over how frustrating that is. Other than that, I really
can't say anything bad about this game. Give it a shot.
