Developer: Black Rock Studio
Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
Rating Guide: How I Review Games
Screenshots: Available Here

Audio Recap:
 

Review:

PURE.  It’s the perfect name for a game that’s a pure thrill ride waiting to happen each time you grab the controller.  I’ll try to limit the amount of times I include the name of the game to describe it but it might be a little hard considering the fact that it’s really pure, unadulterated fun!  Black Rock Studio and Disney simply blew my friggin’ mind with this game.

PURE is purified racing bliss in its finest hour.  Let’s get aerial with the review.

Gameplay, Graphics and Sound

PURE is a simple game involving ridiculous racing and freestylin’ that would make even a professional racer smile.  There are seven real world locations (Italy, New Mexico, Wyoming, Thailand, New Zealand, Glamis Dunes and Ocotillo Wells) with more than 30 tracks for you to enjoy.  You can have no fear when you play this game because it requires you to go all out from beginning to end.  The competition rests in the PURE World Tour, Single Events, Freestyle or Sprints.  The World Tour is where you earn the glory by competing to become PURE World Champion.

Your weapon of choice is of course an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle).  PURE allows you to build your ATV from scratch with dozens of parts available for you to tweak, color and plaster with decals.  As you race, you unlock more parts, outfits, garage slots, special tricks and locations to race in.  There wasn’t much in terms of color choices so it was hard to have every one of my ATVs unique.  A character customization option would have been nice as well.  The only thing you can do with your character is change the helmet color and unlock a few other costumes.

The controls of the game allow anyone to pick up and play.  There are a variety of moves to pull off while you’re in the air and that’s when the fun starts.  You can pull off all kinds of tricks both normal and special.  Just pull the L stick in any direction combined with pressing the A, B, Y or LB/RB buttons.  The level of tricks you can do depends on how much boost you’ve earned.  The more boost you earn, the more your Thrill Bar fills up and unlocks A button tricks, B button tricks and so on.

Each character even has their own unique special trick.  Rosa does a sick move to where she’s actually sleeping on the ATV.  I wish there were a greater number of tricks to do and unlock but I guess you can’t have it all.  I must say though that even when I did repeat the same tricks, it didn’t get old.

I haven’t even mentioned how great this game looks and sounds.  The locales are beautifully crafted and the draw distance on some of the jumps you pull off is simply mind blowing.  Pulling an Air Guitar or Sidewinder special trick is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen and done.  You have to do it to understand.  What impressed me the most were the little details like the way your shirt blows in the air while your ripping incredible speeds and the gestures your rider would have while speeding by another racer was really cool.

You can even see mud and dirt splattering on your clothes and your ATV when you’re driving through dirt and mud.  The characters are also animated and I was definitely impressed seeing how they react to certain events during races.

Xbox LIVE Extras

PURE features online play for up to 16 players on Xbox LIVE.  And it is crazy action!  The most amazing thing is that there’s little to no drop off in gameplay or design.  It looks just as good online as it does off.  You can play in ranked or player matches and even set the preferences while competing.  You control the engine class, the location and the type of race you want to play in.

There isn’t much to say about PURE on Xbox LIVE except that it’s the same fun from the single player experience magnified by dusting others across the world.

Conclusion

PURE is a heavy dose of wild fun!  If I could, I would take Black Rock Studio and Disney Interactive out for dinner for a game that’s “pure” greatness.  The only thing I can say that disappointed me was the fact that I didn’t want the ride to end.  I could’ve used a few other options as I mentioned above but overall this game is pure in its purest form.  Okay, that’s the last of using the title to describe the game.

I’m hoping there’s a sequel planned because I want more.  Pulling off some of these tricks in mid-air is what I came to crave.  PURE is the Xbox 360’s first thrilling off-road racer.   Rise above the competition!