ATV Offroad Fury

Offroading racing games are closely linked to the quality of their physics, and Offroad Fury has that foundation covered. Compared to Smuggler's Run, the only other major offroading PS2 game at the time, Offroad Fury's physics are far more satisfying, and customizable! Every jump has weight to it that can further be tweaked in the game's 'garage', which lets you adjust the springs to make the ATVs feel more bouncy or more rigid. The 3D air controls add a completely new dimension to the gameplay, shifting the focus from sliding or following racing lines into getting fast launches off of jumps and landing in the right places. Every track is littered with technical motocross jumps, meaning you'll have to memorize how fast and how high you have to launch off of every jump. Being able to find the right trajectory amongst all the ramps will become a constant challenge whether you're playing on the game's main tracks, or the supercross tracks.

The tracks themselves are generally featureless aside from the hills in the terrain and the dirt jumps formed into the track. The Red Rocks track is one of the few creative ones where the track weaves between the environmental features. As for the AI, they’re surprisingly competent with these tracks. They seem to know the right way to handle these turns and jumps without being unfair about it. Though sometimes, the AI will all pile up into each other, and other times they’ll fly off the track. They crash about as often as I do! And when another ATV hits you from above, you'll automatically go flying off of the machine. Some rough landings will launch you off as well, or in rare cases, your rider will have to slow down so they can readjust themselves back onto their seat.

Either way, if you’re looking for a challenge, the 'gear ratio' adjustment is essentially the difficulty selection of this game. Putting it on full acceleration will net you easy wins, but setting it to prioritize 'top speed' will have the opposite effect. As a side note, anyone who's played Motocross Madness on the PC (not to be confused with Motocross Mania) will notice much similarity in the track design here. That's because this game was made by those same developers! Offroad Fury has the same 'national' track design, the same enduro mode, and the same stunts as Motocross Madness. And unexciting as it might be by today's standards, this experience is at least a unique one.