MX vs. ATV Reflex

I am a huge fan of this series and with MX vs. ATV Reflex, they tried something new. I actually give them a ton of credit for being brave here and taking a chance. You see, this is the third game in the series, but they decided to start things from scratch and they created a brand new engine for this game.

Taking On All Comers!

One of the things that is very interesting about this game is that while it features motocross and ATVs, s it also has trucks and these buggy things as well. The vehicles can be kept in to themselves, but there is also omnicross which has all of the vehicles competing against each other which is very chaotic!

Omnicross Is Not A Transformer

I want to spend a moment talking about the omnicross aspect of MX vs. ATV Reflex. The idea of having a race where a motocross bike can go against a truck and an ATV sounds awesome and it is. However, the trucks have a real advantage here are they are able to just plow over the bikes! It can be frustrating at first, but I found this to be a lot of fun.

“Reflex”

The reflex in the name is actually part of the new game engine that they have created for this game. The idea is that the left stick is what controls the movement of your rider/driver. The right stick then allows you to shift your weight. This control scheme does take a while to get the hang of, but I found that it felt great once I nailed it. The reflex control scheme really makes the motocross bikes feel fantastic, but it works great for the other vehicles too.

Another new gameplay feature is the way that you can tear up the terrain. This not only looks cool, but it can affect the way the players behind you drive and can cause them problems or even make it easier for them to get through bits of the terrain.

Mud On Your Face!

Like other games in the series, MX vs. ATV Reflex has a ton of modes for you to have fun with. You have your championship mode where you try to prove that you are the best racer which is very addictive. You also have your free race, time trial, and so on. There is even an open-world style thing where you tear around an environment and they take part in various challenges.

You have standard races that can take place on a track in a stadium which feel epic. You can also do races that are more of a get from point a to point b kind of thing. You also have stunt tracks and hill climbing. I think there is a great variety to the kind of racing that you can do.

That Off-Road Style

The presentation of the game is a little on the mixed side. On one hand, I love how cool the stadiums look and the races that take place in more exotic locations are really cool too. However, this game (the PlayStation 3 version I can say for sure!) does suffer from pop-in and an erratic frame rate from time to time.

Pros:

• A nice selection of vehicles to use
• I thought the reflex control system was great
• The way you can tear up the terrain is cool
• There are many different kinds of races that you can do

Cons:

• The reflex system gives you more control, but it does have a learning curve
• Graphically, the game is not firing on all cylinders