ATV Offroad Fury Pro Update
Preview News from IGN
Hitting shelves a few weeks after its big brother, ATV Offroad Fury 4, Climax Studios' ATV Offroad Fury Pro aims to give gamers a full-fledged and original take on the series for portable racing. The PSP title separates itself from the fourth game on the PS2 by including unique race modes, vehicle classes, Legend tracks and much more.
Just prior to E3 this year, we had a chance to get our first look at the game. While Sony had gone all out at that event and basically told us everything about the game, the company held an event in downtown San Francisco this past week to give us an updated look at the latest build and see how the game's progressing.
For the first time on the PSP, the ATV series will have its own entirely original title. Rather than being an updated port of one of the PS2's Offroad Fury games, ATV Offroad Fury Pro has been built from the ground-up with the PSP in mind. This means better controls that take the PSP's analog stick into consideration, and what we've played shows that Climax has very much indeed improved the series' playability on the portable. Control is generally much smoother than it was in the past, making navigating hills and tight turns much more natural.
The graphics engine has also seen a nice overhaul. While it obviously doesn't look as great as the forthcoming ATV Offroad Fury 4 on the PlayStation 2, Fury Pro does pack quite a graphical punch on the system. It's running quite well at this point, and even though the outdoor areas can be quite expansive, everything plays quite smoothly with little to no pop-in. Good stuff here.
One pretty cool thing that the game will contain is, in addition to its brand-new original tracks, a collection of "Greatest Hits" tracks from the first three ATV Offroad Fury titles in the PS2. Coupled in with the new vehicles like MX bikes, buggies and trophy trucks, these classic tracks should make for a nice revisit while tackling them in an all new way with the new rides.
We had a chance to check out one of the Endurocross tracks with an MX bike. These are essentially Supercross tracks except that they're specifically designed to make you die. That is, they're scattered with logs, bits of water and other not-so-good-for-your-bike objects. Difficult, yes, but fun as hell. You're basically at the will of the track and the goal is essentially to crash the least amount of times as possible.
A ton of stuff can be traded between ATV Offroad Fury Pro on the PSP and ATV Offroad Fury 4 on the PlayStation 2. The Legend tracks, for example, can be opened on the PS2 by connecting the games together, as are the mini-games. Created tracks can also be swapped between the systems as both games will utilize the same construction parts.
ATV Offroad Fury Pro is currently scheduled for release sometime in October, shortly after ATV Offroad Fury 4 on the PlayStation 2.
