As Ozzie Osborne will tell you, riding quad bikes can be dangerous, riding them at outrageous speed and on insane tracks against other riders is downright suicidal!
Fortunately for us gamers we don’t have to go outside and risk our necks doing that we can do it safely at home. With the latest offering from UBISOFT, the title MAD RIDERS says it all really. This is an adrenalin rush of a game, no fancy realism like in some bike games, just good old, trouser staining high speed action and I like it!
MAD RIDERS is a great no nonsense arcade racing game that puts you up against up to 12 players in multiplay mode. With plenty of customising options and some crazy bikes plus a zombie and gorilla rider available, the average gamer won’t be disappointed.
OK MAD RIDERS is not the greatest racing game around. There are a number of glitches that can be slightly annoying, the soundtrack isn’t much to write home about and the graphics aren’t exactly stunning. But the good thing is UBISOFT has got the price right (800 MSP) and releasing it on XBLA® instead of disc is a good move.
This game is not just about racing mind, there are plenty of other neat little options available. Mastering the air is one, do stunts and fill your boost bar, or power slide your way round corners as you hammer your way round over 45 tracks at breakneck speed.
The scenery is very tropical and set in a variety of locations, with some nice additions to challenge your skills. Like the short cut feature, you have to hit a target that opens a short cut so you can get the jump on your opponents. Then there is the target mode where you have to land on a target to increase your boost, not that easy this one though.
Stunt racing is another mode where it doesn’t matter about winning, just getting a good stunt score is the objective. The ghost challenge can be a tough one, racing against a professional ghost rider (no flaming skulls I am afraid) to get a fast score. Also the arena mode is a time trial race, again not that easy but fun.
The on-line multiplay is the best part of MAD RIDERS. Racing against friends on line is fine, unfortunately you can’t multiplay off line due to there being no split screen option. Again I can understand that, due to the price of the game, some corners have to be cut.
Summary
MAD RIDERS is a great little arcade game for the price, and more fun than quite a few games of the same genre. OK the soundtrack and gameplay can get a bit dull after a while, and the lack of off line multiplay does take the edge off a bit. But overall not a bad little game. I give MAD RIDERS 7 out of 10
- Mad Riders
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Developer: Techland
- Genre: Racing
- 1-12 Players
- XBLA
- Release date: May 30, 2012
