Reviews

Though the first Forza Horizon game was met with critical acclaim upon its release two years ago (we gave it a lofty 9/10 rating in our official review), it wasn’t – in this writer’s opinion – quite as impressive as the game’s reception alluded to. For sure, it was a mighty technical achievement, and the […]

Officially licensed motorsport games are always initially focused on meeting the expectations of a set group of people. Formula One is the most popular, with MotoGP and WRC following suit. So when Milestone announced they were making a game around Motocross, they have a challenge in getting it to a much wider audience. The result […]

 (This review was carried out on PlayStation 3 version) F1 2014 is the fifth Codemasters game in the Formula One franchise to be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, and likely to be their last appearance ahead of F1 2015 on PS4 and Xbox One around May next year. The sport itself […]

If you’re a Vita owner pining for some racing action, your options have been severely limited lately. So limited, in fact, that the ever-reliable Milestone has been the sole provider for racing games on Sony’s portable powerhouse over the last few years, providing ports of their annual licensed racing simulations, i.e. WRC and MotoGP. While […]

Trials is a series you love to hate. It’s fun but frustrating; challenging but rewarding. Its winning formula of madcap biking and platforming nails that “just one more go” lure better than any other game I can think of, as you try and fail to climb that final hurdle for the 200th time. Literally. It […]

Motocross fans pining for an accurate game recreation of their favourite motorsport have had it tough in recent years. THQ’s popular MX vs. ATV series has been dead and buried for years (although it’s being revived this summer in the form of MX. Vs ATV Supercross), and Microsoft’s genre-defining Motocross Madness is all but a […]

Regardless of whether you were smitten with or despised Gran Turismo 5, it’s quite hard to argue against the claim that it was an inconsistent game. There were plenty of great, jaw-dropping moments in GT5: it was just a shame that almost everything else between was disappointingly mediocre. That same criticism can also – sadly […]

With DriveClub still impounded at Evolution Studios until next year, early PS4 adopters have had to turn to the ever-reliable Need for Speed series, now officially the second longest running racing game series after Test Drive in its twentith year, to scratch their racing game itch. Indeed, you can always rely on Need for Speed for […]

‘Authenticity’ is Milestone’s favourite word. For years, the Italian developer has focused on niche racing simulation titles, striving to create authentic game replications of licensed motorsport disciplines. Until recently, they have struggled to achieve this however, as their titles often lagged behind the competition. Last year’s WRC 3 veered closer to their vision, but it […]

If you’re a ’90s gamer who’s well-versed with racing games, there’s a good chance you’ll have fond memories of Microsoft’s Madness series. In the late ‘90s, two in particular dominated the PC racing scene: Midtown Madness and Motocross Madness. Midtown Madness was a gloriously OTT city driving game (which included 3D city sandbox driving a […]

With Trials Evolution’s potent popularity still regularly resonating with XBLA players, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that the successful series originated on the PC. And it all started with a crudely animated online Flash game hosted on Miniclip that did well to distract me in laborious school computer classes. Its success was thanks to decidedly […]

While you could argue that the number of quality console-exclusive games on PS3 has outnumbered those on Xbox 360 in recent years, there’s a certain bike game that has left PS3 owners understandably envious. I’m talking of course about Trials Evolution, RedLynx’s ridiculously addictive XBLA success story that is played adoringly by millions over on […]

Need for Speed Most Wanted on Vita is something of a rarity. While many high profile games are handed over to alternative developers who then churn out a shoddy handheld port that disgraces the franchise (*cough* Call of Duty: Declassified *cough*), Criterion Games decided to buck the trend and develop Most Wanted for Vita entirely […]

EA should be thankful to Criterion for pulling Need for Speed out of the ditch it wedged itself into. For years, the series was veering dangerously off course as EA: Black Box attempted to steer it in erratic new directions, churning out annual releases that depleted in quality with each passing iteration. Clearly, this was […]

Forza Horizon has garnered considerable praise for its fresh spin on the open world racing genre with its perfect balance between arcade accessibility and deep driving mechanics, but if there was one area that felt underdeveloped, it was off-roading. Considering this was Forza’s first foray off-road, it was disappointing to find Horizon’s garage was somewhat […]

Remember the Top Gear episode where Clarkson and co went on a road trip to find the greatest driving road? Playground Games presumably did. It was an episode that fulfilled the fantasy of every self-confessed petrolhead, with three men driving three ferociously fast supercars with the lure of the open road, stunning sweeping scenery and […]

Until recently, Sony’s slow-starting PlayStation Vita handheld was sorely lacking in decent driving games. The usually reliable Ridge Racer turned out to be a shameful cash-in completely stripped of content, Asphalt: Injection was irrefutably expensive for what was essentially an expanded port of a cheap-as-chips mobile game and the least said about the sloppy port […]

Those of you who are a bit older than me will probably have fond memories of wasting your precious pocket money on Spy Hunter. Now considered a coin-up classic, the original Spy Hunter stands as one of the defining combat car games of the 1980s that casted you as an anonymous agent with a simple […]

Our resident Forza commentator Ross is back with another video full of ravishing ramblings on the latest DLC car pack for Forza Horizon.  This time we turn our attentions to the IGN December pack, which included a pretty exuberant collection of exciting exotics, Grand Tourers and off-roaders. The swathe and elegant Aston Martin DBS is […]

It’s been a long and bumpy road for developer Milestone’s WRC series. Released back in 2010, the Italian developer’s first WRC game was a valiant attempt to get rallying back on the gaming map after Evolution Studios’ (who are now in charge of the acclaimed MotorStorm series) successful stint of five WRC titles during the […]

Our resident Forza Motorsport commentator Ross is back with another video car pack review, this time turning his attentions to Forza Horizon. Check out our video review of Forza Horizon's debut DLC below, where Ross  gives each and every one of the monsterous machines available in the November Bondurant DLC a thorough test drive and […]

While licenced games do have their obvious perks, one of the big fears around such titles is that, over a series, they can get a bit stale after a while: when a body governs how much you can get away with, it’s only a matter of time before you reach the edges of the box. Check out […]

To say that your plucky rider in Trials Evolution is a glutton for punishment would be quite an understatement. Over the course of my extensive playtime with the clinically-addictive Trials Evolution I’ve tossed the poor sap off towering buildings, impaled him on ill-timed, bone-snapping jumps and incinerated him with explosives. It’s a wonder he has […]

Nobody could have predicted the gargantuan success of Trials HD. A high definition remake of a crudely-animated internet flash game that did well to distract me from insipid IT lessons, its debut on home consoles brought an addicting formula of bikes and physics-based puzzles that proved to be a runaway hit on Xbox Live, selling […]

Team VVV enjoyed Techland’s Nail’d and Mad Riders appears to be its unofficial sequel. Just like its predecessor, Mad Riders is an over the top quad bike arcade racer with a sense of fun. Mad Riders is available on XBLA, PSN, and Steam for £7.99/$9.99 USD/800 MSP. We tested the Xbox 360 version. Mad Riders […]

Turn 10 continue to release a wealth of quality DLC content for Forza Motorsport 4, this March pack has been dedicated to Pirelli and clearly they all tore up a set of tyres of two in their illustrious motorsport careers. Cars from a range of era’s and in these video reviews our man Ross takes […]

Released in the latter half of 2009, Trials HD caused quite a stir in the world of Xbox Live Arcade, part of a new generation of titles with a larger file size giving the options for far more detailed gaming experiences, while still buried within the simplistic nature expected of the XBLA environment. Though despite […]

As I write this the Formula 1 season approaches its climax and this weekend brings us the Belgian Grand Prix, for me the Spa circuit has always been one of the highlights of the F1 calendar and after a few laps around it on Supercar Challenge you’ll begin to see why, high speed and low-speed […]

All things come to those who wait, unfortunately, though our review for NFS Shift has come later than hoped it gave us the time to thoroughly test it out and have our usual rummage beneath the bonnet. As we already discovered in our feature Needing More Speed, this represents 15 years of an ever-growing franchise […]

Every year when we see the regular raft of EA franchises making their annual appearance and of course no Christmas charts would ever be complete without the inclusion of a Need For Speed title. Entitled Need For Speed Underground, you take the role of an undercover cop working his way into the street syndicates of […]

It’s been 18 months since Moto GP’s last video game outing and in that time the racing genre has moved on considerably with significant strides in graphical performance, but with a long-term goal to building more Western-focused franchises it’s reassuring to see that Moto GP 09/10 certainly hasn’t had any corners cut in its production. […]

It’s interesting to see Capcom publishing Moto GP 2008, not a product we would automatically associate with this Japanese developer but it does show how the publisher is expanding its awareness of the western markets and looking for new IP’s with which to build a regular base. A first toe in the water perhaps but […]