MX vs. ATV Alive First Look

You can look at the title "MX vs. ATV Alive" and wonder a lot of things. For example: What do MX and ATV have against each other? Are they really fighting or just pretending? Will they ever reconcile? And the list goes on. But the most important question is this: What is the word "Alive" doing in the name? Well, funny you should ask--because that little subtitle looks like the most intriguing part of the game.

For the fifth installment in this off-road racing series, THQ is trying a new approach. Step one is to sell the full game at a lower-than-standard $40 price point in an effort to reduce the cost of entry and get more fans to pick up the game in stores. Step two is to prolong the life span of the game with an ambitious flow of free and paid downloadable content, with a variety of downloads ranging from new tracks and events right on down to new patches for your shirts and pants. In other words, THQ is aiming to keep the game alive long after release with a DLC schedule of far greater breadth and frequency than what it has pulled off in the past. At the moment, details are scarce on the specifics of what's going to be released as DLC; we only know that there's going to be a lot of it.

So should customers be concerned about a budget price tag leading to budget quality? Not according to lead designer Elliott Olson. "Traditionally if you know our games, we always pack a lot of stuff in it, and this isn't any different," said Olson. "There's a full experience in the box, and from there, it's just how you want to expand it and keep it going. Whether it's bike gear, tracks, whatever…that's just how it's going to happen."

Pointing to a few examples of how the team at THQ Phoenix has improved upon the last MX vs. ATV, Olson mentioned a revamped physics engine that places a greater emphasis on the sort of rough-and-dirty pack racing for which motocross has long been known. Now, you'll see more nudging, colliding, and less-than-friendly elbow blows--the sort of stuff that will make you really have to work hard for a first-place finish. What we saw of the game was an early build that lacked the sort of polish Olson was hinting at, but we could see the early signs of a more physical style of racing.

The brief demo we were shown at last week's THQ Gamer's Week showed an early version of the game hinting at what's to come. There was definitely a very physical style of racing on display, but at this early stage, it looks like there's still a bit of tuning left to be done in just how much racers react to getting shoved around because a lot of the tumbles didn't seem to match the initial bumps. Still, the muddy, carved-up tracks looked nice, as did the big air jumps, so there was stuff to like in that demo even if it was pretty rough around the edges. We're sure we'll have a better idea of just how well this game will turn out as we draw closer to its release date.