MX vs. ATV: All Out

When I think of companies best known for their racing games, I of course think of developers like Polyphony, Criterion and Turn 10. One name that also makes the list is Rainbow Studios, the Arizona-based developer who has spent the last twenty years fine-tuning their off-road racing games. Their newest effort is MX vs. ATV: All Out, and it's something of a return to form after the disappointing MX vs. ATV Supercross in 2014. Too bad the whole thing is nearly derailed by some truly horrendous frame rate problems.

It's funny to say this about a racing game, but a wave of nostalgia hit me when I booted up MX vs. ATV: All Out for the first time. While I've always enjoyed Rainbow's take on all-terrain racing, I never really appreciated just how different it felt from the competition. This all came flooding back to me as I ripped around the corners and played in the mud. I'm not sure this game pushes the boundaries or evolves the franchise in any meaningful way, but it goes a long way to remind players why they fell in love with the series in the first place.

In a lot of ways, MX vs. ATV: All Out feels like a throwback to a different generation. This isn't some major overhaul with a bunch of gimmicks or a huge open world, but rather the kind of straight-forward, by-the-numbers racing game we used to see a lot of a decade ago. It's an all-out battle between motocross bikes and all-terrain vehicles as we race through mountains, beaches, deserts and indoor stadiums. If you loved the older games, then you're going to feel right at home with this long-awaited follow-up.

What I like most about this series is how it controls, especially when you're riding a dirt bike. You can lean around corners and boost yourself into the air with a simple flick of the right analog stick. There's more depth to the gameplay than you might initially expect, especially when it comes to dealing with the different kinds of terrain. For example, you can use the clutch to jump to the early lead or get a slight boost up a hill. It's never overwhelming, but there's certainly a lot to learn and master along the way.

This is one of the few franchises where I find myself excited to flirt with disaster on a motocross bike. Once you've mastered the controls, there's nothing like racing through the large and diverse outdoor levels. I like that it's not just a collection of set paths to race along, but rather large and wide-open stages that you can tackle in a number of ways. You can often get the jump on your opponents by climbing a mountain or dipping through a shortcut, and all of this encourages you to take chances and master the controls.

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For whatever reason, I find the indoor supercross races to be significantly less engaging. I'm not sure if it's because the events are shorter or a little too rigid in approach, but I find these races to be the weakest link in an otherwise solid package. My disdain of these events may help to explain why I was left cold by MX vs. ATV Supercross a few years ago.

Thankfully, the boring indoor races are merely a small portion of this game. The lengthy single-player campaign also includes a bunch of open-world waypoint races, as well as opencross events that see bikes and ATVs racing for dominance. There's also a fun freestyle mode that has you pulling off gravity-defying tricks in order to earn high scores. And once you've mastered those challenges, the game will toss you into faster speed classes and raise the stakes. Although there's nothing especially new or original here, all of this content will take you quite a few hours to race through. And even then, the game has both online and offline multiplayer modes that will extend its life even farther.

Do you remember when I said that this game feels like a throwback to a different generation? Well, that applies to more than the modes and gameplay, as MX vs. ATV: All Out looks like it could have come out a half dozen years ago. There's no reason to sugar coat this; the graphics are rough. Some of the outdoor stages look fine, but there's nothing here that suggests it's a modern game released in 2018. It doesn't matter how many bumps and hills litter the landscape, because the graphics always look flat.

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To make things worse, MX vs. ATV: All Out has a serious frame rate problem. I don't know if it's like this on all platforms, but the PlayStation 4's frame rate often dips into the single digits. This is not only distracting, but also a major obstacle when you're going as fast as you possibly can in a race. If you're used to the silky smooth animation in Forza, Gran Turismo and Dirt, then jumping to MX vs. ATV: All Out is going to be more than a little jarring. I can only hope Rainbow Studios will be able to get the frame rate under control in a future patch.

Fans of the long-running MX vs. ATV franchise will feel right at home with All Out. This is yet another solid entry with a nice variety of modes, a whole bunch of customization options and a diverse selection of outdoor locations. I also like the way the game handles, especially once you've mastered the motocross bike. What I don't like is the dated graphics and jerky frame-rate. It's great to see Rainbow Studios back to doing the thing they do best, but MX vs. ATV: All Out is a bit rough.