MX vs. ATV Unleashed

The amount of game play is unreal when you break down all the stuff required to reach 100% game completion (after like twenty five hours of game play, I'm only at 21.7%)

Essentially, with MX vs. ATV Unleashed, Rainbow has perfected everything they introduced as the pioneers of next generation off-road racing. [Apr 2005, p.74]

I can't say this is the best game ever made but as far as the arcade racing genre is concerned it would be difficult to imagine how to improve on it.

It's always a good sign when the toughest decision you have to make is what game mode to start with; such is the case with MX vs. ATV Unleashed.

Bring back my Hit, Run, and Stunt challenges and you would have had a flawless game.

This game takes absolutely everything fans have enjoyed from the previous installments (control, tracks, etc.), lumps them together on an easily accessible disc, then adds golf carts.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack is flatter than a bottle of Mountain Dew past its "Best By" date, but the polished gameplay makes the racing action a total gas.

I'm a big "MTX Mototrax" fan, but I will have to say that this game has won me over with it's multitude of content... its like having two games in one really.

I look forward to MX vs. ATV Unleashed returning on the next generation of consoles and showing us what a leap in technology can do for the franchise.

While all the components from the franchise are here, it lacks that over-arching cohesion. [Apr 2005, p.116]

As a whole, I couldn't ask for much more with MX Unleashed. A few more challenges in Freestyle would be nice, but this really is the total package for race games -- which is no surprise, coming from Rainbow.

A ton of different play modes await too, assuring you won't tire of the disc anytime soon.

I cannot understand why the open-ended exploration of the game had to take a powder. Almost everything is chosen from a menu system now, instead of you being able to ride across a wide terrain to your next challenges.

It's nice to see that amongst the Gran Turismos of the world there's still space for light-hearted and fun arcade racers. MX vs. ATV has nothing do with realism, instead it pits monster trucks, motorbikes and air planes racing against each other. This is a very finely honed and fun game, which will entertain you for a long time to come. [July 2005, p.61]

Because the air races found in MX vs. ATV Unleashed are so frustrating, one wonders why they even made it into the game in the first place, especially when you consider how fun the game is with two (or more) wheels on the ground.

The floaty physics is surely intended to make the game more "mass market," but it's just silly to watch vehicles drift through the air like gravity was a myth. [May 2005, p.81]

Does one thing really well: the Zen feeling of hitting a jump just right, catching the curve of the dirt like a stylus in a record groove. [Apr 2005, p.116]

So this is a classic 6/10 - by that we mean that it's good fun and you'll enjoy playing it, yet you'll also be wondering what else you could be doing with your time.

While this is an arcade racer, skill still plays a big role. Shifting the rider's weight, proper use of the clutch and preloading the suspension are necessary for clearing jumps and effective cornering.