Watch your step, for you’ve just entered theGraveyard. Inside, we’ll be digging up games that have long been without a pulse. You’ll see both good and bad souls unearthed every month as we search through the more… forgotten…parts of history.
The Motorstorm series became something of a system-defining franchise on the PS3, but one game that gets swept under the rug in it is the PSP/PS2 entry Arctic Edge. The PS3 games were some of the most visually-impressive racing games of their era and remain a bit of a hidden gem since they weren’t re-released in any form afterwards. Arctic Edge aimed to distill things a bit while still keeping the thrilling multi-vehicle racing action alive and succeeded wonderfully. The team behind it had an impossible task set out before them, but did all they could to cram as much of the core Motorstorm experience into less-powerful hardware.
Vehicular Mayhem
One remarkable thing about Arctic Edge is that it came out in an era with a massive difference between portable and console versions of games, essentially being completely different games. It was all too common to buy a game on the GBA and except it to be similar to the console version only to find it radically different both in looks and gameplay. The PSP being a widescreen device with near PS2-level graphical horsepower, but lacking a second set of shoulder buttons and a second analog stick. Later on in the PS2’s lifespan, a few PSP games were brought to the PS2 to give them a new lease on life for folks like myself who didn’t get a PSP until its second half of life or who just wanted to play them on the big screen natively.
Motorstorm feels like an odd fit on something other than the PS3 when you look at it as a crazy spectacle racing game with stuff happening constantly and parts of the track falling apart around you. The benefit of the drop in hardware, however, is that it forced the developers to shine a light on the core racing action in a way that hadn’t really been seen to that point. It was easy to write the series off as more style than substance, and by taking away a lot of the flash and distilling the experience down to a rock-solid arcade-style racing experience, it showed how well-crafted everything was to begin with.
Arctic Edge showed off a side of the series I wasn’t expecting because it does feature some of the destruction that made it stand out so much on the PS3, but more sparingl, so it actually works as a surprise and almost a jump scare when you’re in a close race and suddenly have a cliff above you falling down into your path. The shift in presentation winds up working out nicely because it makes the focus on races more pronounced instead of having everything get lost in the shuffle. There are a healthy amount of race options available too – from regular races to elimination to time trials, all requiring careful play in order to excel.
Graveyard: Burnout 3: Takedown
Burnout 3: Takedown changed the game for the Burnout series and had an influence that has lasted decades.
Northern Lights Lunacy
Unlike a lot of racing games, the Motorstorm franchise gives you a near-unlimited boost in theory in some ways while still keeping things fair. Players can boost as much as they choose until their engine overheats and that can be avoided by either taking your finger off of it for a few seconds or drive through water – just like in the PS3 games – and it’s a delicate balancing act to ensure that you don’t overheat. Doing so will slow you down and prevent boosting for a while, which you’re able to get away with if you’re leading, but is something you don’t want to risk in a time trial situation where every half-second can make a big difference. Finishing first nets you 100 points, while a 75 pound second place finish means it will take longer to unlock new vehicles and races.
Arctic Edge has aged nicely control-wise because you can use both the normal PS2 method of face buttons or opt for a more modern trigger-based setup to race. The classic PS2 face button setup allows for something different when you get used to trigger-based racing games. Having X to accelerate and square for brake is fantastic for faster response times, although it does take getting used to when you’re so used to trigger control. I prefer triggers for more intuitive throttling of gas and brake, but I didn’t mind trying out the PS2 method for a few races to give it another shot and it worked nicely. It just wasn’t as organic-feeling as triggers.
Arctic Edge has aged nicely control-wise because you can use both the normal PS2 method of face buttons or opt for a more modern trigger-based setup to race.
The shift to the Arctic changes up the nature of the real-time track changes. Instead of worrying about mud accumulating and slowing you down or leading to you sliding around, you have to worry about icy environments causing you to slide or mini avalanches putting a halt to your progress. The reduction in track hazards makes each one stand out a bit more now instead of causing chaos frequently for the PS3 incarnations. Those games put you on the edge of your seat more often while this version allows you to focus on the racing action more than before. Having so many vehicle types from ATVs to trucks to monster trucks, big rigs, sports cars and motorcycles ensures that there’s always something to learn from a particular combination.
If you’re on a course with a ton of tight turns, then you may want to test your mettle with a motorcycle before settling on a sports car to avoid oversteering and flying all over the place. Luckily, if you do that, you only need to hit select once to reset yourself and it’s a snappy experience there – a surprise given how many modern-day games struggle to get that right. Here, failure is annoying to be sure, but never frustrating since the core experience is so fun and a loss in a race is a learning experience.
Visually, Arctic Edge is aided by cutting the amount of on-track vehicles to ten since it enables the experience to avoid slowdown. Even with things going on with track destruction, things don’t slow down and while the pace is slower than the PS3 mainline entries, it’s still faster than most PS2-era racers out there. There weren’t a ton of action-centric racers on the console beyondSpeed Racer that we covered last monthand a few others like DT Carnage that came later on in the system’s lifespan.
Like the mainline games, the soundtrack is full of hard rock and a killer sound design as a whole. It’s less immersive than the PS3 games with fewer vehicles around to surround you and fewer track hazards to scare you during a race, but it’s still a strong point of the experience. Each vehicle type feels different based on not only its control and look, but how its motor sounds and puttering with a motorcycle evokes something different than using a loud monster truck to attempt to dominate the competition.
Motorstorm: Arctic Edge is a bit more lost to time than even the PS3 entries, which at least stood out as big entries on that console while this PSP/PS2 game slipped under the cracks in real-time on PS2. It’s a game that feels perfect for a modern re-release on the PS4/PS5 since there aren’t any licensed vehicles used. Time will tell if that happens, but if it does, modern-day console owners will be able to enjoy this hidden gem once again.
Graveyard: Speed Racer (2008)
The 2008 Speed Racer movie brought about a fantastic action-racer from the team behind GripShift
