The MotorStorm franchise has been kicking up dirt on the PlayStation 3 for a couple years now, but it's about to start digging through snow and ice when it hits the PSP and PS2 in the form of MotorStorm: Arctic Edge. Much like its PS3 brethren, Arctic Edge will focus its racing mechanics around an environmental setting (and its hazards), this time of a snow and ice-filled setting.
The game's tracks work their way up a mountain, with the opening tracks situated near the bottom, and the final tracks closer to the peak. As you work your way through the game and up the mountain, you'll find that the amount of snow and ice that you have to deal with increases. At the start, you'll find patches of snow here and there that you need to watch out for, but the tracks at the top of the mountain will be almost entirely made of snow and ice,psp themes, making these courses much more treacherous both in terms of layout and hazards than the opening bits of the game.
Arctic Edge maintains the MotorStorm look and feel despite running on lesser hardware.
Of course, the snow and ice aren't just pretty to look at as you'll have to watch out for (and even utilize) a number of different elements during each race. Avalanches, for instance, will play a part in the races. If you're near an avalanche warning site and cause a bit of noise, either by laying on your horn or, say, exploding, you could cause a ton of snow to come crashing down on the course, blocking the way of or even taking out other racers (and perhaps yourself). As of right now, the avalanche will dissipate after it does its thing, though BigBig Studios is looking into making it a little more permanent for each race should they be triggered.
Another cool use of the environmental setting is that you'll sometimes come across bridges made of ice. Small vehicles can take these without issue, though if a larger vehicle attempts to take the high road, it can cause the bridge to crack and fall apart, essentially leaving that route undrivable for future laps. Obviously, this could be a pretty good strategy to use if the bikes happen to be putting up faster lap times than your truck.
One other unique bit you'll find in the game is what's known as bobsleigh turns. These banked turns are filled with ice and you can actually take the whole thing spinning in circles. While I didn't get the chance to try one out, I'm told that you'll basically be out of control the whole time, and instead of focusing on steering straight, your job will just be to get through it as quickly as you can and come out of the other side in one piece. Sounds cool to me.
MotorStorm wouldn't be MotorStorm without cool crashes, and BigBig Studios looks to have done a pretty good job getting them in here. It looks like the damage is all predefined as opposed to the dynamic damage from the PS3 games, but it appears to be well done. The slow-mo crash camera is in as well, which is good to see, though it doesn't appear that you'll come flying out from your vehicle when you bite it, at least in the enclosed rides.
The game will feature 24 vehicles, three each in eight classes, including the new snow machine and snow cat classes. Some 12 tracks will be present, and each support a mirrored version, allowing you to race in reverse (so some might call it 24 different variations). You'll also find vehicle customization, though it'll simply be for looks as the developer doesn't want players to spend their time building a vehicle that doesn't look the way they want just to get the best performance.
Burlingame, CA - KOEI, recognized worldwide as the premier brand of strategy and action games, today announced that DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce for PSP (PlayStation Portable) system is available at retailers starting today. Gamers can find DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce, this year's hottest multi-player experience, at: Amazon.com, Best Buy, EBCanada, f.y.e., Game Crazy, GameFly, GameStop, and Target.
DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce delivers the newest and most revolutionary combat system to the franchise, with never-before-seen aerial fighting techniques, the ability to wield secondary weapons, and most of all the incredible "Fury" that transforms each fighter into a supernatural warrior.
Consumers can get a peek at all of the furious action by downloading a free demo and trailer today, from PlayStation Network.
About DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce
The multi-million selling Dynasty Warriors series has long been renowned for pitting a lone warrior against an army of thousands. The highly-anticipated action game reinvents the Dynasty Warriors brand of action into this year's hottest multi-player experience on the PSP system.
DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce is a game unlike any other in the series. For the first time, up to four friends can join together to form a "Strikeforce." As a team, players will travel to different towns, embark on quests, and use coordinated assaults to conquer heavily-armed fortresses and colossal beasts.
End of level bosses await intrepid heroes with a multitude of guises and deadly attacks while enemies, spread throughout each stage, possess much greater levels of intelligence and more powerful attacks. So now more than ever it's imperative that players work together as a team and find ways to overcome the challenges and obstacles that stand between them and victory.
New "Fury" transformations give characters even greater supernatural abilities and attacks, including lightning fast speed and the ability to fly. Warriors can now take to the skies and face off against their foes in spectacular aerial combat.
Later this year, KOEI will offer new content for DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce. Additional quests will be available free-of-charge, exclusively through PlayStation Store.
DYNASTY WARRIORS: Strikeforce is developed by Omega Force and is for 1 to 4 players. Multi-player play is via ad-hoc mode only. This game is rated "T" (Teen- Violence) by the ESRB. For more information, visit www.koei.com/strikeforce.
Lastly, it's definitely worth noting that the game will indeed support multiplayer action, with up to eight players able to compete via both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure play on the PSP, while the PS2 take supports split-screen racing. Good times indeed.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is currently slated for release sometime this fall.
Ice and snow are both your friends and enemies.
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Over at Gamepot.comthey’ve posted a great interview with SCEA’s head hardware honcho John Koller. Koller has some great insights about what Sony’s doing things like dropping the price of the PS2 and staying where they are on the PS3. It’s an interesting read if you’re a Sony fanboy (or girl) but I won’t give you the play by play. Next year when John gives us an exclusive interview you can read it at eatsleepgeek.com. Until then you’ll have to wheel over to gamespot.
Get'em, Logan.On top of that, the PSP is the only Wolverine tie-in I've played this week where you don't get to choose how to customize the character. When you complete a level and a Primary Objective, you get your health, damage, or healing factor boost. Complete a Secondary Objective and you'll unlock a bonus item like artwork, movies, or even Wolvie costumes. Those carrots on a stick are nice, but not being able to choose how I upgrade Wolverine kind of sucks. I'd prefer to pour the attributes into the categories I want instead of the game doing it for me. 
5.5 Presentation
