Pure: The Official Thread of Trickelating Racing Excitement

Bamelin

So ... Pure hits this week, some people may even be able to get it today if they are lucky. I downloaded the demo and loved it. Thought it was going to be a Motorstorm clone and boy was I ever wrong. This game is all about jumping to dizzying heights then pulling off insane tricks on the way down. I think that very possibly Pure has sleeper hit potential, and online is going to be crazy.

Game is appearing on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. I think I'll be grabbing the PS3 version mainly because that's what I played the demo on, (got used to it using Sixaxis).

cjelly wrote:

Features:

- 7 DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS
- 48 TRACKS
- CUSTOMISE YOUR ATV WITH OVER 100,000 COMBINATIONS!
- 70 DIFFERENT TRICKS, RANGING FROM THE TAME, TO THE EXTREME
- 16 PLAYER ONLINE
- RACE, FREESTYLE AND SPRINT EVENTS
- NO RUBBER-BAND AI
- FROM THE AWARD-WINNING DEVELOPERS OF MOTOGP AND ATV OFFROAD FURY
- IT'S FUCKING SSX ON QUAD BIKES!!!!!11111

REVIEWS:

MSXBOX-WORLD (me!) -- 9/10
IGN -- 8.6/10
Official Xbox Magazine -- 9/10
Official Xbox Magazine UK -- 8/10
GameZone -- 8.8/10
Gameplayer -- 9/10
Game Informer -- 8.5/10
TeamXbox - 9/10
1Up - B+






Borrowing this next bit from a thread over at Neogaf that outlines the environments far better than I could:

THE ENVIRONMENTS

Wyoming

We picked this environment because it has this amazing waterfall in Yellowstone Park called Tower Falls. They call it the Grand Canyon of Wyoming with the canyon walls covered in yellow sulfur and dead pine trees scattered along the river. We'd never seen this area in a game before and thought it would be a great place to see as you jump over the edge of the canyon.

New Mexico

New Mexico which has a mountain range called Sandia Peak high above the desert plains. It has some very tall cable car supports which tower over the terrain and we thought it would make a cool vertigo moment to jump in between the cable cars as they're moving up and down the mountain.

Italy

We found some good reference of Lake Garda which has amazing views of the lake, stretching out for miles with huge mountains rising up in the distance. This level was probably the hardest to create out of all the tracks and is one of my favourite tracks in the game. It's also available now for download as a demo on both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Ocotillo Wells

...in southern California. Pretty much any ATV rider has heard of it because of its natural jumps and great terrain.

Plus 3 more environments...!

Anyone else grabbing this? I'm actually really excited about Pure, and normally I'm meh when it comes to racers. The trick system got me completely hooked along with the massive draw distance when hanging over massive drops.

projectmayhem

I'm interested, I'll check out the demo.

Lunker

I'm glad someone else made a thread—I was really impressed by the demo. This is the love child of Excite Truck and SSX, two great tastes that taste great together. Its only sin is coming out the same week of Rock Band 2 and Dragon Quest IV, so I'll be Goozex-ing this and hopefully picking it up by the end of the year.

Dehumanized

I had fun with the demo. I think I'll have to wait a long time before snagging it, though... already heavily backlogged and just got RB2.

Bamelin

Lunker wrote: »

I'm glad someone else made a thread—I was really impressed by the demo. This is the love child of Excite Truck and SSX, two great tastes that taste great together. Its only sin is coming out the same week of Rock Band 2 and Dragon Quest IV, so I'll be Goozex-ing this and hopefully picking it up by the end of the year.

I kind of lifted (with his permission) alot of what cjelly had already done over at Gaf ... but yeah I was surprised there was no thread about this already too.

Originally I wasn't going to buy the game (there's just SO much coming down the pipeline) but I keep finding myself going back to play the demo ...

The game reminds me so much of what I loved about Surf's Up in terms of tricks ... but "off the rails". The bikes just feel right to me ... and I love the amount of air you can get.

One thing I felt in the Motorstorm demo is that getting too much air actually slows you down, whereas in Pure you need air to do tricks to charge your boost .... and because you are trying to combo tricks together, it gives this sense of speed and urgency to everything you do while in the air.

I can't wait to see what the 16 player online is like.

Lunker

Bamelin wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

I'm glad someone else made a thread—I was really impressed by the demo. This is the love child of Excite Truck and SSX, two great tastes that taste great together. Its only sin is coming out the same week of Rock Band 2 and Dragon Quest IV, so I'll be Goozex-ing this and hopefully picking it up by the end of the year.

I kind of lifted (with his permission) alot of what cjelly had already done over at Gaf ... but yeah I was surprised there was no thread about this already too.

Originally I wasn't going to buy the game (there's just SO much coming down the pipeline) but I keep finding myself going back to play the demo ...

The game reminds me so much of what I loved about Surf's Up in terms of tricks ... but "off the rails". The bikes just feel right to me ... and I love the amount of air you can get.

One thing I felt in the Motorstorm demo is that getting too much air actually slows you down, whereas in Pure you need air to do tricks to charge your boost .... and because you are trying to combo tricks together, it gives this sense of speed and urgency to everything you do while in the air.

I can't wait to see what the 16 player online is like.

I'm curious how in-depth the ATV customizing is, because I'm hoping it's not really critical in order to play the game well. I'm not a gearhead, so seeing things like that kind of turn me off, but I'll still check the game out.

This also just kind of highlights how desperately I want a new SSX game.

Bamelin

Lunker wrote: »

Bamelin wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

I'm glad someone else made a thread—I was really impressed by the demo. This is the love child of Excite Truck and SSX, two great tastes that taste great together. Its only sin is coming out the same week of Rock Band 2 and Dragon Quest IV, so I'll be Goozex-ing this and hopefully picking it up by the end of the year.

I kind of lifted (with his permission) alot of what cjelly had already done over at Gaf ... but yeah I was surprised there was no thread about this already too.

Originally I wasn't going to buy the game (there's just SO much coming down the pipeline) but I keep finding myself going back to play the demo ...

The game reminds me so much of what I loved about Surf's Up in terms of tricks ... but "off the rails". The bikes just feel right to me ... and I love the amount of air you can get.

One thing I felt in the Motorstorm demo is that getting too much air actually slows you down, whereas in Pure you need air to do tricks to charge your boost .... and because you are trying to combo tricks together, it gives this sense of speed and urgency to everything you do while in the air.

I can't wait to see what the 16 player online is like.

I'm curious how in-depth the ATV customizing is, because I'm hoping it's not really critical in order to play the game well. I'm not a gearhead, so seeing things like that kind of turn me off, but I'll still check the game out.

This also just kind of highlights how desperately I want a new SSX game.

Check out this vid here: http://www.gamereactor.eu/grtv/?id=2925

At the 25 second mark it sort of shows you how each part effects your bike based on 5 sliding attributes.

Max Speed
Acceleration
Handling
Boost
Tricks

Depending what part you swap in will effect how your bike feels on the track. I'm not a gearhead either, but this is simple enough to offer fun tinkering around while not requiring the massive hours of investment a game like say Chromehounds might (you could spend DAYS in the workshop in that game).

Fireflash

Bamelin wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

I'm glad someone else made a thread—I was really impressed by the demo. This is the love child of Excite Truck and SSX, two great tastes that taste great together. Its only sin is coming out the same week of Rock Band 2 and Dragon Quest IV, so I'll be Goozex-ing this and hopefully picking it up by the end of the year.

I kind of lifted (with his permission) alot of what cjelly had already done over at Gaf ... but yeah I was surprised there was no thread about this already too.

Originally I wasn't going to buy the game (there's just SO much coming down the pipeline) but I keep finding myself going back to play the demo ...

The game reminds me so much of what I loved about Surf's Up in terms of tricks ... but "off the rails". The bikes just feel right to me ... and I love the amount of air you can get.

One thing I felt in the Motorstorm demo is that getting too much air actually slows you down, whereas in Pure you need air to do tricks to charge your boost .... and because you are trying to combo tricks together, it gives this sense of speed and urgency to everything you do while in the air.

I can't wait to see what the 16 player online is like.

I thought nobody played Surf's Up! It's a simple game, but it's still worth a few hours of fun I'd say.

I downloaded the Pure demo but RB2 kept me busy last night. I guess I'll have to try it now, this looks nice.

Kyougu

I LOVED the demo.

It's just not an instant purchase with all the stuff I'm picking up sadly enough.

Bamelin

Fireflash wrote: »

Bamelin wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

I'm glad someone else made a thread—I was really impressed by the demo. This is the love child of Excite Truck and SSX, two great tastes that taste great together. Its only sin is coming out the same week of Rock Band 2 and Dragon Quest IV, so I'll be Goozex-ing this and hopefully picking it up by the end of the year.

I kind of lifted (with his permission) alot of what cjelly had already done over at Gaf ... but yeah I was surprised there was no thread about this already too.

Originally I wasn't going to buy the game (there's just SO much coming down the pipeline) but I keep finding myself going back to play the demo ...

The game reminds me so much of what I loved about Surf's Up in terms of tricks ... but "off the rails". The bikes just feel right to me ... and I love the amount of air you can get.

One thing I felt in the Motorstorm demo is that getting too much air actually slows you down, whereas in Pure you need air to do tricks to charge your boost .... and because you are trying to combo tricks together, it gives this sense of speed and urgency to everything you do while in the air.

I can't wait to see what the 16 player online is like.

I thought nobody played Surf's Up! It's a simple game, but it's still worth a few hours of fun I'd say.

I downloaded the Pure demo but RB2 kept me busy last night. I guess I'll have to try it now, this looks nice.

Surf's Up was an awesome budget title. The only problem was how short it was (making it a firm rental title). I originally got it as a review copy, traded it in after finishing and reviewing, but I liked it so much I recently picked it up again from the bargain bin.

I really liked the music in the game too, it fit perfectly with the gameplay.

Polago

This is a definite pickup for me down the road (budget, woo!). Not sure what kind of online community it'll have over time but I'm sure finding an 8 person play group in January/February won't be too difficult, similar to Forza 2 or other solid racing titles.

Usually I'm disappointed when devs choose the "push a button, see a pre-set trick" style of stunting nowadays, especially in light of my skate lust, but it works fantastically here and is (much as has been implied) similar to SSX.

Bamelin, it uses the sixaxis controls on the PS3 version? That may seal which version gets the nod. Motorstorm's use of the sixaxis wasn't always precise or easy to use but DAMN was is fun.

Finally, seconding the Surf's up love. Short solid professional titles at bargain prices are a delicious thing.

greeble

I'll definitely download the demo now. But even if I really like it, it will be a delayed buy because of all the awesome shit coming out.

(Yeah I actually like the sixaxis controls in some cases. I realize they aren't as accurate but they can also be more fun. For example the sixaxis controls make piloting the helicopters in GTA IV exciting and challenging.)

METAzraeL

1up gave it a B+, the only gripes being clunky garage menus and the lack of extensive online features. I only checked out the review because I didn't recognize the name - I'd normally ignore anything atv - and the ssx feel really has me interested. I won't be picking this up soon, but I definitely will get it.

Bamelin

Got confirmation my copy will be waiting for me tomorrow. Anyone else managed to snag one yet? I heard 360 versions are trickling in today, PS3 version should be here in the next couple of days.

Fireflash

I just played the demo a few minutes ago and I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. I never even heard of the game before this weekend.

I might even consider buying this, based on how much content there is in the game.

scootch

the graphics... jesus the graphics on this is really really good!

ChewyWaffles

bought it, now if I just had time to play it. I almost sprang for TFU, too - might pick that up tomorrow, but it sounds so short.

RainbowDespair

I thought this was just a generic racer. From all of your comments, it sounds like I was horribly wrong and need to go download the demo ASAP.

Bamelin

Anyone tried a 16 player match yet? I'd like to get some MP impressions.

Also what version have you guys bought (or going to buy).

Bamelin

Great article here outlining some differences between PS3 and 360 versions.

Speaking to VG247 today, Pure director Jason Avent said that the differences between PS3 and 360 were comparable to the differences between LCD and Plasma TVs.

“Their final render hardware seems to produce slightly different results in terms of how colours are represented and one is often softer than the other but it’s really only as different as a good LCD TV is from a Plasma,” said the developer.

Avent said working on PS3 with Pure had presented a “new challenge,” but that 360 and PS3 were much of a muchness in the right hands.

“We’ve been working on Xbox 360 for years now, so PS3 was a new challenge, yes,” he said.

“MotoGP 06 and 07 led on 360, but we were already developing PS3 versions of our technologies before we started Pure, so it wasn’t very far behind.

“They’re both great machines and if you do things right, there isn’t much difference between them in terms of capability.”

ATV racer Pure’s already catching critical acclaim, and releases later this month

METAzraeL

much of a muchness? what's that supposed to mean?

RichardTauber

Doesn't have any dirtbikes? Meh. And getting too much air is supposed to slow you down, fellows.

Bamelin

Finally snagged my copy today (PS3). Anyone else with the PS3 version add me to your friends list, would love to do some online later this weekend.

Scotty

I was wondering when someone would make a thread for this game. I downloaded the demo on a whim, and boy, am I glad I did.

It's stellar.

Fireflash

Yeah the demo is really fun. More people need to try this. It's a very pretty game too.You can really admire the jaw dropping scenery in the demo when you do one of the huge jumps and can see the snow covered mountains in the distance.

Scotty

It's made by DISNEY of all companies too...Walt must be getting an erection in his grave right now.

Bamelin

I finally got to play last night.

The game fucking rocks. Graphically speaking it looks great, but the actual gameplay is pretty addictive. I made it to Class C before I logged off, and I noticed that as you move into later stages things really ramp up in terms of jump height, speed etc.

This is the sort of game I'll be playing on and off between everything else coming out. It looks great, and plays great. I really hope it sells, it's far too good a game to go under the radar.

Bamelin

Here's a partial review I wrote up in the Gaf Pure thread based on both online and offline play:

Online so far isn't too bad. Usually a room fills up with about 4 people or so and then the host launches. I haven't had the chance to take a part in 16 player mayhem as of yet.

Lots of trash talk during online matches (some extremely annoying), seems alot of folks just leave their mics off.

If you are going to go online you'll need to play a decent amount of single player first to unlock and upgrade parts. Most players take high class (engine) bikes into online, if you're still with your basic starter bike you WILL get destroyed.

All in all I'm pleased with my purchase. There is alot to like here, from insane graphics, to rock solid framerates. Gameplay is ace, the trick system is super addicting, and single player offers alot of replayability (many folks will want to get "1st" place in every race, and unlock every part -- this could take a looonng time).

I'm usually not a completionist whore, however with Pure I found myself constantly doing a race "just one more time" to try to place better, increase my overall world ranking, and open up new parts ... I do feel however that this is the sort of game that even once "complete" you'll still find yourself coming back to race a round or two.

All in all a good buy in my books.

Pompa

im so glad this is good. i downloaded the demo last week and i cant stop playing it, it really is quite addictive. im not that great at it, but i always aim to pull off the special trick and land them. is there any other modes besides racing? say, a big jump mode just for pulling tricks?

Ultrachrist

I loved the demo. SSX in ATV form! This is a most definite purchase from me some time in the future.

I don't think I had even heard of the game before yesterday either.

Bamelin

Pompa wrote: »

im so glad this is good. i downloaded the demo last week and i cant stop playing it, it really is quite addictive. im not that great at it, but i always aim to pull off the special trick and land them. is there any other modes besides racing? say, a big jump mode just for pulling tricks?

There are 10 circuits, each with 4 different events. Events come in 3 flavours -- race, sprint and freestyle.

Freestyle mode you have a tank of "gas" and try to pull off as many tricks as possible before your gas runs out. Scattered around the track are powerups (extra gas, double/triple points for next trick, boost powerup etc). The Freestyle mode is alot of fun and really captures the flavour of the game in my opinion.

fragglefart

I tried the demo for this game, and man, it was surprisingly bloody good.

I'm not really bothered about multiplayer in this case, but hitting the tricks and jumps in single player felt really, really fun. As soon as I see it for £20-ish, I'll get it for sure, what a funky little game!

Eye Tyrant

I can't remember the last time I was looking forward to a racing game, but the demo for this sold me hard. Just hope it plays as smoothly online as it does sp.

bloodyroarxx

I think the reason this game surprises me as much as it does is because after what is now Black Rock Studio took over the reins on the ATV Offroad Fury series they lost their magic and some how now its back and better then ever. Although my one complaint is the controls on the 360 version. The blow ass because the bumpers are hard as fuck to hit in midair because they aren't level with the triggers.

ThrustinJ

The demo was okay. 1.3GB for a trainer and a single track?

I love the look of the game. The graphics and filters.

The multiple track branches are a nice change in these frenetic racing games.

The tricks are easy.

100,000 bike combinations? Really? What's the point?

I'm just really glad there aren't pickups, gates or stars to collect on the track. A nice and clean racer.

Bamelin

My full review is finally finished:

http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=965877

Bamelin wrote:

Let’s be honest, for the vast majority of gamers Pure came pretty much out of nowhere. ATV off-road racing games have never really garnered much buzz before release, and Pure would have been no different if not for an absolutely incredible demo. Sporting graphics that are arguably some of the finest seen this generation and gameplay to match, the Pure demo made heads turn. After playing the demo the only question that remained, would the full retail product have enough content to justify a purchase?

Let me be the first to say, Black Rock Studio delivers on the promises made in the demo and then some. For those not in the know Black Rock Studio was formerly known as Climax Racing, responsible for the popular Moto GP series as well as ATV Offroad Fury. The name change occurred when Disney Interactive Studios purchased Climax. Despite the name change, the studio’s commitment to quality has obviously stayed the same.



Gameplay: 9/10



At it’s heart Pure is an arcade racer that at first glance looks similar to games like Motorstorm, but really is an entirely different beast altogether. What makes Pure different is the manner in which one gains speed. Speed in Pure is directly related to one’s nitro boosts, and that juice can only be earned by doing “tricks”. Tricks make up a core concept within the game, as players will constantly be performing tricks when going over jumps, in order to gain extra nitro juice. Tricks are performed by pre-loading one’s bike (pressing down then up at jump), getting as much air as possible, and then pressing one of the trick buttons. What makes the trick system interesting the manner in which tricks and nitro juice become dependent on each other. The more nitro juice the player has, the more difficult tricks they can perform. Difficult tricks, or “chaining” tricks together earns more nitro juice. Players however, will need to use their nitro juice to keep up with other racers, and risk losing the ability to use difficult tricks if they use too much. It becomes an addictive balancing act, using measured nitro boosts, while attempting to keep the nitro meter full through death defying stunts. Further complicating things, the game punishes you with less nitro juice if you use the same trick too often. This forces players to be creative, and keeps things interesting for those watching the action as well.

All of this may sound somewhat confusing, however in practice it leads to some incredible fun. The race circuits are set up with some absolutely breathtaking jumps, and players will find themselves desperately trying to chain together as many tricks as possible while soaring through the sky.

The events themselves are broken into three categories, race, sprint and freestyle. Race and Sprint events are standard “first to cross the goal” type affairs. The main difference is that in Race there are plenty of jumps and tracks are usually long. Sprint on the other hand the tracks are very short, and there are very few jumps. Freestyle is completely different from these two in that it’s entirely based on performing tricks. The course is scattered with additional power-ups which give you score multipliers on your tricks, give you more boost, or give you extra gas. This mode ends when your gas tank runs dry.




Graphics: 10/10



I rarely hand out perfect scores, but honestly, the game looks absolutely incredible. If next generation graphics had a definition, one could argue that definition would be “Pure”. The tracks and bikes are rendered almost picture perfect, practically photo realistic. The game also boasts an incredible draw distance, something you will see first hand the first time you go over a massive jump. Go download the demo and you’ll see what I mean. The full retail product looks even better.



Sound: 9/10



I really like the soundtrack they put in the game. The track list is very impressive with 25 different licensed tracks. All of the tunes fit perfectly with the game atmosphere, really helping to fuel the sense of speed and urgency prevalent in the game.

In terms of environmental noise everything sounds exactly how I would imagine it should. The bikes give off a meaty roar, and players have the whole “Dude” thing going on that I would expect of daredevil ATV riders. Using nitro boost also gives a satisfying whoosh. The track list and environmental effects basically all serve to fuel and intensify the “I AM AN INSANE AND CRAZY ATV DAREDEVIL!” experience that the game delivers.




Longevity: 8/10



The single player portion of the game consists of the World Tour, which is broken into 10 unlockable circuits each containing between 4 – 7 events. While it won’t take very long for a decent player to unlock all the circuits, I believe that the quest to come in 1st in all events will keep players coming back for more. Depending on how the player places in each event they unlock new equipment to upgrade their ATV with. The ATV garage is practically a whole other game in and of itself! There are 25 different parts to play with and most of the parts affect speed, handling, acceleration, and boost negatively or positively. Players are given and unlock new ATV slots in their garage, which encourages experimentation of parts. What works great on a freestyle jump course, may not work well in a sprint event.

There isn’t really any other single player mode although you can play each track individually instead of in World Tour mode.

In terms of online longevity, the game offers all of the single player race modes (race, sprint, freestyle) and also adds an additional mode called Freeride. Freeride allows players to “play the way they want” meaning folks will be scored based on what they did in each individual area. For example one player may choose to try to get the most tricks, another may be determined to get the fasted lap time. 16 players can participate in the fun, which should help keep some life in the game once players have completed the single player World Tour.



Overall: 9/10



Pure is sheer unadulterated fun. The game offers breathtaking graphics and addictive gameplay, combined with a decent set of single and multiplayer modes. The game is probably one of the best arcade/extreme sports style racers to hit the Xbox 360 this generation, and is in my opinion a game that must be played. Do NOT let this game pass you by under the radar, Pure is truly a great experience.

Review By: Scott Strickland - Overall Rating 9 (out of 10)

Gameplay: 9

Graphics: 10

Sound: 9

Longevity: 8

Overall: 9

Chance

Well, just by comparing it to SSX you've moved me to try out the demo - we'll see.

METAzraeL

it has local multiplayer, right?

fragglefart

Bamelin wrote: »

The game also boasts an incredible draw distance, something you will see first hand the first time you go over a massive jump. Go download the demo and you’ll see what I mean. The full retail product looks even better.

Really?

Zhaosuke

i started playing this game this morning, its a whole load of 'pure' awesome

AlexE

The first time I went off that massive jump in the demo, my face was like . Now whenever I play, I try to pull off a special move (which are all pure awesome) and I'm all like :rotate: