I wasn’t sure how I felt about MX vs. ATV Supercross Encore when I heard word that it was coming out. I thought it was a strange franchise to try and bring back, for sure, but I was approaching it with an open mind. After all, Rainbow Studios was developing it, and they’ve made some pretty great offroad racing games in the past. Now it’s out, I’ve played it, and I know exactly how I feel:
I hate MX vs. ATV Supercross Encore.
Let me preface this by saying that I’m no stranger to motocross. Far from it, actually. I loved some of the earlier Rainbow-developed MX vs. ATV games. In my youth I was pushed into riding motocross by my father who wanted to live vicariously through me, so I know how these vehicles are supposed to behave on a dirt track, and they behave in this game is absolutely absurd and defies all logic.
The game asks us to shift our weight for better control in landings and turns. There are dedicated buttons for said actions, and there are animations to let us know we’re doing them, but aside from the visual feedback there’s close to no actual benefit or effect. The controls end up feeling empty and uncoordinated.
The poor controls are paired with an abysmal AI system controlling other racers, so our best bet for winning a race comes down to the singular strategy of hauling ass out of the starting gate — more or less — and gaining a lead as we carefully take the first few turns. This is enough to put us 14-20 seconds ahead of our competition, and we never need to look back.
The races themselves lack any tension, and in my experience the worst I placed was third; that literally only happened once during my first race. After we figure out how it works we can easily finish first and even lap other racers consistently.
The tracks are as uninspired as the rest of the game. I know motocross courses are generally not super exciting in terms of design, but the game takes them to a new level of dullness. This is a video game, and Rainbow has made some pretty crazy tracks in the past, so it’s baffling to me that they went with the most boring, cookie cutter ideas for this game.
I should note that we can customize our racers and vehicles with different models of gear that unlock in our racing career. The racer customization is purely cosmetic, whereas the actual vehicles have different stat ratings for speed and the like. However, I’ve found them to make little difference once the tires hit the dirt, and was able to dust everyone easily with the stock bike I started the game with, so all of the customization is largely a throwaway addition.
Sure, it’s a budget game, but last time I checked being reasonably priced didn’t mean a game can release in a piss-poor state and be immune from criticism. It feels significantly worse than the average budget game, and honestly feels like one of those iOS/Android attempts that are ported to Steam and sold for a few bucks.
MX vs. ATV Supercross Encore is a bad game that you absolutely, unequivocally, should not play. The racer AI is bad, the control is painfully sloppy, the framerate is wildly erratic, and there’s little to no depth outside of the very basic vehicle and rider customization. Honestly, I’m shocked that Rainbow made this game, but not as much I am that a publisher let it out the door.
This review is based on a retail code for PlayStation 4 sent to SideQuesting. Tom has experience racing in live motocross courses, and has a play history with the genre dating back to the 90s.
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