PlayStation Day: MotorStorm Pacific Rift first look

Get set for some more brutal off-road racing as the MotorStorm festival heads to an island paradise with MotorStorm Pacific Rift on PlayStation 3.

Currently the best-selling game on PlayStation 3 with over 3 million copies sold, MotorStorm has redefined the racing genre with its combination of brutal off-road racing, different vehicle classes and a pounding soundtrack to drive the action along.

Now the action is set to get even more intense as the festival ups sticks and moves to the temperate climes of the Pacific Rim for the sequel, MotorStorm Pacific Rift on PlayStation 3.

Island in the sun

Judging by the early version of the game on display at PlayStation Day, the new setting of an island paradise in the Pacific Ocean lends itself extremely well to the MotorStorm playing style. The overgrown jungle landscape is just as tough an adversary as the other racers, throwing barbed vegetation, free flowing rivers, winding mountain roads and sudden precipices at all who dare strap on a helmet and get behind the wheel of a vehicle. It's not just a pretty backdrop either - the environment reacts to your vehicle in exactly the way you would expect it to in real life. Large vehicles are able to push their way through thick vegetation, crushing trees and snapping branches as they go, while smaller cars and bikes will have to find another path, or follow the bigger boys, waiting for the opportune moment to overtake. It's brutal, dangerous, relentless and unpredictable, just as you would expect from a MotorStorm game, and you'll need to use your brain as much as the accelerator if you want to survive to reach the finish line.

Luckily you have a new tool in your motoring arsenal to help you overcome the challenges of the island - the monster truck. Monster by name, and monster most definitely by nature, the monster truck can crush smaller rivals, plough through vegetation and climb steep ledges, but be careful on the corners as a high centre of gravity make it extremely easy to tip over if you drive carelessly.

Speed racer

Speaking at PlayStation Day, Paul Hollywood, Creative Director of Evolution Studios, confirmed that MotorStorm 2 will contain 16 tracks - twice as many as the original MotorStorm - and that up to 20 players will be able to race each other online in the brutal, anything-goes races that MotorStorm is famous for. Hollywood also confirmed that, after listening to community feedback, MotorStorm 2 will feature four-player split-screen multiplayer, making it the perfect game to play with the family at the weekend, or with friends after a night out.

The game is also set to include ultra-aggressive Artificial Intelligence, new attack manoeuvres and many more dangerous and unpredictable events, making this the most challenging MotorStorm experience yet.

First impressions are that Evolution Studios have managed to improve on the already impressive original: the visuals look crisper and more realistic, the physics are tweaked to perfection and the whole experience feels as you would expect it to from a talented team who now have a great deal of experience in developing for PlayStation 3 under their belts.

The addition of new multiplayer modes, the new monster trucks and the wealth of new tracks mean that this is one game that deserves to be a storming success when it's released later this year.