Pure
Disney
PlayStation 3
4 stars (out of 5)
Review by Hayden Meikle
Pure fun? Pure adrenaline? Pure gaming excellence? It doesn't really matter how Pure got its name because Disney has struck gold with its first attempt at a big driving simulation.
Actually, it's a mistake to use that word.
From the opening scenes of Pure, it is obvious this is less about simulation and more about stimulation.
Think of it as sort of ATV Offroad Fury 4 meets MotorStorm and you get some idea of where this game wants to take you.
It's off-road quad-bike racing with some seriously fun, out-there aspects that have you on the edge of your seat.
Disney might be better known for its cutesy, fluffy-animal children's games but it threw its vast resources behind Pure, with impressive results.
The game has also attracted much interest because it carefully supplied teasers throughout the final months of its design stage.
It starts with the construction of a quad bike.
You get a very basic choice of engines, handlebars, chassis, shocks, tyres and the like, it being obvious there are more and better parts to be unlocked.
Then it's into a single-player career mode, not dissimilar to most games in the genre, that features 10 stages, each with a handful of events.
There is a standard race, normally three laps around a course; a sprint (shorter laps, basically); and freestyle, where the aim is to land as many gnarly tricks as possible.
The learning curve is not steep at all thanks to some really intuitive controls.
The accelerate and brake buttons are on the shoulders, while a simple up-and-down flick of the left stick gives you a "preload" - essentially a transfer of weight to jump higher.
There are tricks aplenty, and while other bike games have involved all sorts of complicated button-bashing to pull off a nac-nac or a superman, the makers of Pure have devised a neat system where the more boost you have built corresponds to the level of trick you can pull.
So basic tricks use the X button, medium tricks use the circle, and far-out-this-is-insane tricks use triangle.
It's a truly brilliant system.
The tricks are all spectacular and you have to think tactically about when to use them and how much risk you should take.
Virtual opposition is clever and varied.
All of the tracks, à la MotorStorm, have more than one obvious path, and you have to think on your, er, wheels about which way to go.
The soundtrack is predictably and appropriately on the head-banging side, and the sound effects are decent if at times a little subtle.
There is a reason Pure was named best racing game at E3 2008: it's very, very good.
As the late great Possum Bourne once said, it's the most fun you can have with your pants on.
