Mad Riders

It will inevitably leave you itching for your next race.

Ubisoft has a lot going for Mad Riders, and thankfully it's going in the right direction. After all is said and done, and our vehicles are finally out of gas, we stop to think, "Is Mad Riders a game that will conquer the Xbox Live Arcade and take over the top spot?" Probably not. While the execution is solid, there are a few blemishes that separate it from the leaders of the pack. With that being said, is Mad Riders worth a purchase? If you enjoy racing off road through extreme courses on ATV's or a buggy, then absolutely.

Although Mad Riders might not feature anything in the way of innovation in either its core gameplay or race modes, I appreciate how developer Techland has honed its racing craft and made it so I never have to let up on the throttle.

A light, casual and funny game at a low price; if you're into arcade and frantic racers, it's worth your Microsoft Points.

Mad Riders is a good arcade title starring the long time inflated quads. The game, however, is ideal for anyone looking for a fast-paced game, easy to understand.

Mad Riders is all about adrenaline, lightning fast quads and huge huge jumps. The vehicles are not as difficult to control as in nail'd and the stunt system has improved. But still AI and visuals are not up to standards.

The title's lack of track variety or anything really unique, takes away from what had the potential to be a great off-road racing experience.

Overall, Mad Riders is a good - but not great - racing title, and those looking for a new racing experience will feel that this is $10 well spent, despite the omissions and issues.

A good Off-Road racing videogame with a great arcade style, astonishing environments and accessible driving.

A good sense of speed but way to easy.

Speed, great music and tons of content. It's impressive how much Techland is willing to give you for just 800 Microsoft Points. Many other developers wouldn't think twice about releasing this as a full price title.

Although the game copies-and-pastes track sections into one another to make-up its large track roster, it's still 45 original tracks at the end of the day which will keep you guessing upcoming turns instead of memorizing them.

Why did they put four wheels vehicles in this Wipeout clone? Who copied the Excite Truck feeling so well? We don't have an answer but Mad Riders is a well conceived racing game, despite the lack of variety in the gameplay and game modes.

Mad Riders has the feel of something whipped up between bigger projects to keep the teams at Techland energised. That's not meant to be an insult, mind, as it feels like the sort of game that would have been fun to work on and design, which carries over into the experience of playing it.

Sadly, the floaty handling returns, which limits the feeling of tactile connection to the game. Similarly, while the simplistic trick system is adequate for boost hoarding in races, the stunt events are a fiddly chore. Techland still hasn't entirely 'nailed' it then, but you definitely won't feel robbed for the price.

Mad Riders features some thrills and excitement but nothing that really demands the attention of gamers.

It's an uninspiring distraction from games like Pure and Nail'd. The lack of congruency between the level design and control scheme definitely doesn't help.

Mad Riders borrows a little too liberally from other titles to truly have its own identity. What is there, however, is an enjoyable enough arcade racer.

A slick entry with a few bumps in the road. [Oct 2012, p.62]

Hiding behind features taken from many titles such as Pure or Sega Rally, Mad Riders doesn't appear as a strong competitor on the market, lacking an identity. If the main campaign proposes a good challenge, yet not really difficult, the multiplayer mode offers a disastrous experience with its invisible online communty and a split-screen fonction clearly missing. Mad Riders is fun for a few laps but don't expect to play it all night.

Mad Riders is not a bad game, just an unfortunate one. Nail'd is now in the bargain bin along with some of the older MX vs. ATV games, and they are much better. This feels like a stripped down version of Nail'd and one that is not nearly as entertaining. The lack of diversity and progression are disappointing, and the stiff controls don't lend themselves well to this type of game. If you want an off-road racer for your console, there are a lot of other, better choices out there.

It's just plain boring.

Suffers from horribly blurred environments and rather buggy (ho!) collision detection. [Sept 2012, p.101]

Techland has overlooked the fundamentals. A shoddy, albeit lightning-fast, racer. [Issue#87, p.88]

As a fan of the genre I hoped for improved nail'd but Mad Riders turned out to be worse in every aspect. [August 2012, p.78]

The convincing sense of speed is dulled by a lack of weight to the handling, while collisions betray some erratic physics: you can easily be shunted into a respawn by other racers, yet left relatively unscathed by a head-on smash into trees.

What'll positively set your teeth on edge, though, is how any sense of breakneck speed comes as the result of a ridiculous eye-torturing wide-angle camera (not shown in screens at right). It's like racing while staring through a hotel-room peephole. Spare yourself the headache.

It's certainly not a waste of time, but Mad Riders just has too many flaws to really justify itself as a proper racing game. Stick with whatever version of MotorStorm you currently own.

Mad Riders is Nail'd with better stunts, disappointing tracks and a fresh set of inconsistencies.