Well, for once, it is the latter. The story sees you placed in the middle of the Arctic, which has been suffering from the effects of global warming. What this basically means is that the developer, BigBig Studios, have been able to put in the famous mud physics PS3 players have grown to love. As you race around these tracks, discover shortcuts, and realise the painstakingly hard difficulty level, you suddenly start to feel addicted to the game, which is very surprising for a PSP game.

 

 

The graphics are amazing. From the slippery gleam of the ice, through to mush spraying onto the screen and right down to the destruction of your vehicle as you drive headlong into a wall, It may not PS3 quality but it stretches the PSP to the limits.

 

The vehicles themselves range in genres, from racing buggies, to skis, trucks through to cars. The whole bag is in here, and all these vehicle types can be bashed together in one race, which is just awesome stuff. Every one of these vehicles has a unique handling and acceleration gear, some better adapted for one form of terrain, one suited for another. And since you can’t chop and change during the race, it means you have to play the race again, adding a bit of needed length to the game.

 

The soundtrack is awesome as well. All the music suits the off-road style the game has created. This game also has taken into account various car noises, again making the race more enjoyable. If you play this game on silent you are kidding yourself, although it is good without sound, it’s great with all the music!

Arctic Edge also includes a brand new online mode. 6 player ad-hoc has been introduced and while the servers are anything but swarming, when you do find a game, it just takes things to new levels of awesomeness. But if you aren’t a PSP online player you aren’t missing out here, since you can play ever single race offline in Career mode…

 

 

If there is one picking point then it has to be that the Career mode can become pretty dull. It is simply the same formula over and over again. While it works, you can bore of this mode terrifyingly quickly, which could be a massive turn off for the game. However, at least every race is different and you can customise your ride entirely for a new race.

 

I am very glad to see that the developers have done an incredible good job carrying over the legend of Motorstorm series to the PSP. It isn’t the greatest racer, or the prettiest, ever made, but it is entertaining, fun and also quite challenging. Maybe not an essential title right now, but in a few months and with a bit of spare cash, it could be worth considering!