Mad Riders Review: Fast Paced Racing

Mad Riders Review: Fast Paced Racing

Mad Riders
Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network
Ubisoft
Racing

Mad Riders is a fast paced off road racing title available on the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. In this title you are racing ATV’s and pulling off stunts. You will also get to select your color of ATV and style of rider based upon your color preference. There are multiple vehicles to unlock as you level up and each one features their own strengths such as speed, traction and air maneuverability for tricks and control.

The game features a quick play mode, multiple online modes and a tournament mode. It also has an elite mode for an even bigger challenge. Mad Riders features all the right gameplay modes for the arcade game that it is and it comes with a tough challenge to make it even more worthy. My only wish is that it added a time lap leaderboard instead of a leaderboard based solely on your career score. However, when it comes to the gameplay, this is where I have my major gripes with the game.

The gameplay in Mad Riders can be a lot of fun at times and that will be the case for those who enjoy a fun style racing title. All of the tracks have good moments in them with fun jumps, hidden pathways and a overall fun set up for you to race. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of instances where you come across hills and other areas that make it hard to see what’s ahead of you. Most of the time you can pretty much move straight ahead without much interference, but it’s not a comfortable feeling at all and I took issue with that.

My other issue with the gameplay is that if you go slightly to far to the left or right, you will more than likely land in a “out of bounds” spot that will simply reset your vehicle on the track. There are areas where it is to easy to run into these “out of bounds” spots and get reset. There have also been moments when I barely hit a spot and it looked like I should have kept going but it reset me. It feels a little “glitchy” at times when it comes to that. Of course as you keep playing you’ll learn the tracks better and do a better job of avoiding it. I don’t have an issue with missing a jump or drifting out of bounds, it just seems there are moments where the path is a bit too narrow. I almost wish the game felt a little bit bigger and wider at times.

Even after dealing with the issues I mentioned, this game can be enjoyable with each moment and each game type – Regular races, race against the time and tricks. I also like performing a lot of the tricks at high speed and it’s always fun to boost yourself off of a huge ramp and then perform multiple flips. Performing tricks is one way to fill your boost meter and you will want to boost as often as possible if you want to win. There are also items for you to collect which includes boost icons.

This is a decent title that can keep you busy for awhile with all of it’s content, especially with how difficult it can be. It will also be a tough challenge if you want a perfect 3 stars (first place) on every track. In the end, I thought it was alright, I just wish it played out a little bit better than what it does.

Score: 6/10