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Flying High With Pure

Hey, do you like ATV racing? Even if you don't, this trick-based racer from Black Rock Studios might rope you in, anyway.

Massive air is the name of the game.
Massive air is the name of the game.
I've never stopped and asked myself "What would it take to get me interested in an ATV game?" because, honestly, I'm not interested in them. But Disney Interactive and Black Rock Studio went and answered the unasked question anyway with Pure, a trick-heavy ATV driving game that looks phenomenal and that I've been able to easily get into without previous experience in the genre. Considering I had no idea what the term "preload" meant before Jeff explained it to me, my continued interest in Pure probably says something about its appeal to ATV first-timers.

By the way, before you go thinking this one's coming out of left field, Pure has a pedigree worth talking about. Black Rock earned its chops in this particular area as Climax Racing, when it worked on both the MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury series in the past. If you're into racing games you've probably heard of those.

Pure is akin to SSX and other trick-focused racers in that you spend as much time in the air, hanging from the handlebars with your legs flailing out into space, as you do running circuits on the ground. The three-tiered trick setup is pretty simple. You start out with access to only basic short tricks, which you pull by hitting the right face button and one of the four cardinal directions on the analog stick. If you stick one or more tricks and land right, you'll build up some turbo boost you can use to go faster.

But don't burn your boost as soon as you get it, because building up the first third of your boost (referred to cloyingly as the "thrill bar") will unlock the second tier of tricks, which take longer to pull off. So, naturally, you need bigger air to do them. Getting two-thirds boost will then open up tier three. The game basically makes you balance your use of boost, which you can use to hit ramps faster and get more air, with your desire to keep the better tricks available for those times you do hit the big jumps. It's a constant tug-of-war that you have to manage sensibly as you're tearing around tracks in Wyoming, California, Italy, and Thailand.

Pure's one of the better-looking racers I've seen lately.
Pure's one of the better-looking racers I've seen lately.
If you're a total ATV neophyte like me, preloading means bearing down on the bike's suspension just before you hit a jump, then pulling back up as you lift off to get extra hang time. The game pops up a percentage meter whenever you jump that seems to indicate how much of the potential lift you actually managed to grab. I found that meter useful for perfecting my preload timing on subsequent jumps.

Your ultimate goal in building up boost is to fully fill the thrill bar (ugh) so you can access your "special" trick. That's just a long-ass character-specific trick that you need a huge jump to complete. But if you do, you get a fully boost meter again when you land, so you could theoretically keep your boost full all the time by catching massive jumps and special-tricking like a madman.

Pure has a multiplayer mode for up to 16 people that ropes in the three main single-player modes: race (long laps that require lots of tricking), sprint (shorter laps without big jumps), and freestyle (racers compete for score while picking up trick-related power-ups). Disney showed this mode off at an event, and the 16-player action seemed to work fine over their local network. There's a fourth mode, freeride, in the multiplayer that focuses on all racers adding to their own cumulative score based on all the things they do in a race.

There's some additional depth in the trick system, but otherwise there isn't a lot more to know about how you play Pure. And I like it that way. When these sorts of games get too technical, they lose me. I'm a little concerned that the game throws an awful lot of parts and upgrades at you as you win your way through the world tour, and it doesn't seem like there's an easy way to figure out what the best parts are at a given moment. But at least the game will build you a freestyle or racing bike automatically on command.

Like I said, Pure is a damn fine-looking game, but rather than take my word for it, how about you look at this gameplay montage. I made it myself! (For a not-so-secret bonus, watch through to the end to see the clip I made while learning to cut video in the horrific iMovie. I'm kinda proud of it.)

  


Kotaku also brings us the game's full soundtrack list, if you feel like you haven't heard Wolfmother's "Woman" enough times yet.

  • The Answer - "Into the Gutter"
  • Fred Baker - "Genius Touch"
  • Jeff Beck - "Grease Monkey"
  • Calyx & Teebee -" Dual Processed" Featuring MC Verse
  • The Datsuns - "Maximum Heartbreak" and "Sittin' Pretty"
  • Diet Kong - "With Magic"
  • Adam Freeland - "Spin Machine"
  • The Futureheads - "Beginning of the Twist"
  • DJ Hyper - "We Control"
  • Midfield General - "On the Road"
  • The Music - "Strength in Numbers"
  • My Luminaries - "The Sound of Music"
  • Noise Control - "Cities of Dreams' and 'Mud Bath"
  • Pendulum - "Granite' and 'Showdown"
  • Pop Levi - "Wannamama"
  • Qemists - "Drop Audio' and 'Stomp Box"
  • The Radishes - "Good Machine"
  • Silvertone - "Try"
  • The Subways - "Rock and Roll Queen"
  • Tapeworm - "Getting Through"
  • The Whigs - "Need You Need You"
  • Zero DB - "Late in the Day' and 'Redline"
  • Wolfmother - "Woman"
  • We Are Scientists - "Inaction"
  • Blindside - "For the Nation"
Brad Shoemaker on Google+

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Brad

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Edited By Brad
Massive air is the name of the game.
Massive air is the name of the game.
I've never stopped and asked myself "What would it take to get me interested in an ATV game?" because, honestly, I'm not interested in them. But Disney Interactive and Black Rock Studio went and answered the unasked question anyway with Pure, a trick-heavy ATV driving game that looks phenomenal and that I've been able to easily get into without previous experience in the genre. Considering I had no idea what the term "preload" meant before Jeff explained it to me, my continued interest in Pure probably says something about its appeal to ATV first-timers.

By the way, before you go thinking this one's coming out of left field, Pure has a pedigree worth talking about. Black Rock earned its chops in this particular area as Climax Racing, when it worked on both the MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury series in the past. If you're into racing games you've probably heard of those.

Pure is akin to SSX and other trick-focused racers in that you spend as much time in the air, hanging from the handlebars with your legs flailing out into space, as you do running circuits on the ground. The three-tiered trick setup is pretty simple. You start out with access to only basic short tricks, which you pull by hitting the right face button and one of the four cardinal directions on the analog stick. If you stick one or more tricks and land right, you'll build up some turbo boost you can use to go faster.

But don't burn your boost as soon as you get it, because building up the first third of your boost (referred to cloyingly as the "thrill bar") will unlock the second tier of tricks, which take longer to pull off. So, naturally, you need bigger air to do them. Getting two-thirds boost will then open up tier three. The game basically makes you balance your use of boost, which you can use to hit ramps faster and get more air, with your desire to keep the better tricks available for those times you do hit the big jumps. It's a constant tug-of-war that you have to manage sensibly as you're tearing around tracks in Wyoming, California, Italy, and Thailand.

Pure's one of the better-looking racers I've seen lately.
Pure's one of the better-looking racers I've seen lately.
If you're a total ATV neophyte like me, preloading means bearing down on the bike's suspension just before you hit a jump, then pulling back up as you lift off to get extra hang time. The game pops up a percentage meter whenever you jump that seems to indicate how much of the potential lift you actually managed to grab. I found that meter useful for perfecting my preload timing on subsequent jumps.

Your ultimate goal in building up boost is to fully fill the thrill bar (ugh) so you can access your "special" trick. That's just a long-ass character-specific trick that you need a huge jump to complete. But if you do, you get a fully boost meter again when you land, so you could theoretically keep your boost full all the time by catching massive jumps and special-tricking like a madman.

Pure has a multiplayer mode for up to 16 people that ropes in the three main single-player modes: race (long laps that require lots of tricking), sprint (shorter laps without big jumps), and freestyle (racers compete for score while picking up trick-related power-ups). Disney showed this mode off at an event, and the 16-player action seemed to work fine over their local network. There's a fourth mode, freeride, in the multiplayer that focuses on all racers adding to their own cumulative score based on all the things they do in a race.

There's some additional depth in the trick system, but otherwise there isn't a lot more to know about how you play Pure. And I like it that way. When these sorts of games get too technical, they lose me. I'm a little concerned that the game throws an awful lot of parts and upgrades at you as you win your way through the world tour, and it doesn't seem like there's an easy way to figure out what the best parts are at a given moment. But at least the game will build you a freestyle or racing bike automatically on command.

Like I said, Pure is a damn fine-looking game, but rather than take my word for it, how about you look at this gameplay montage. I made it myself! (For a not-so-secret bonus, watch through to the end to see the clip I made while learning to cut video in the horrific iMovie. I'm kinda proud of it.)

  


Kotaku also brings us the game's full soundtrack list, if you feel like you haven't heard Wolfmother's "Woman" enough times yet.

  • The Answer - "Into the Gutter"
  • Fred Baker - "Genius Touch"
  • Jeff Beck - "Grease Monkey"
  • Calyx & Teebee -" Dual Processed" Featuring MC Verse
  • The Datsuns - "Maximum Heartbreak" and "Sittin' Pretty"
  • Diet Kong - "With Magic"
  • Adam Freeland - "Spin Machine"
  • The Futureheads - "Beginning of the Twist"
  • DJ Hyper - "We Control"
  • Midfield General - "On the Road"
  • The Music - "Strength in Numbers"
  • My Luminaries - "The Sound of Music"
  • Noise Control - "Cities of Dreams' and 'Mud Bath"
  • Pendulum - "Granite' and 'Showdown"
  • Pop Levi - "Wannamama"
  • Qemists - "Drop Audio' and 'Stomp Box"
  • The Radishes - "Good Machine"
  • Silvertone - "Try"
  • The Subways - "Rock and Roll Queen"
  • Tapeworm - "Getting Through"
  • The Whigs - "Need You Need You"
  • Zero DB - "Late in the Day' and 'Redline"
  • Wolfmother - "Woman"
  • We Are Scientists - "Inaction"
  • Blindside - "For the Nation"
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hungrynun

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Edited By hungrynun

This game just got me into ATV racing games.

Boss.

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Edited By mattbodega

Looks like you guys can finally fire Vinny, cause Brad can make videos!
(MattBodega thinks Vinny is totally awesome and will fight anyone who says otherwise)
Great preview, Brad! The game's on my radar, and I don't like ATV games either.
Edit: Wait! I really need to finish these videos before I comment! At the end of the video, there's a little clip of Ryan in front of the greenscreen from the Braid Review!
Madness!

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DualReaver

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Edited By DualReaver

Wolfmother sweet! lol

Looks fun, and I used to really liked the Offroad Fury series.

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MasterSplinter

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Edited By MasterSplinter

I cannot wait to get my hands on this. The game looks gorgeous, the trick system integration sounds like fun and online should be equally as entertaining. lol @ Ryan.

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Tarsier

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Edited By Tarsier

Looks pretty cool. Is it for the 360? I skimmed over most of it.

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Edited By Claude

Sounds a little like Splashdown, but on dirt. I like ATV games, but having to perform tricks to race well,  that scares me a little. In ATV Offroad Fury, you don't have to perform tricks to race. It does look good and if the trick implementation feels natural, that's a buy on my end. 

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Edited By GUnitVer1

Can't wait for the demo on XBL Marketplace or PSN before the game's release (I think they want the demo out before retail). You can pre-order the game to get the demo as well.

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zoozilla

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Edited By zoozilla

Sweet.  We need more games like SSX, especially on this-gen consoles.

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logson

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Edited By logson

This game has super Burnout Paradise look with its font and boost meter flames.

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TheGTAvaccine

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Edited By TheGTAvaccine

Wow, that game looks good. Reminds me of SSX, but with 4 wheelers.

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Edited By MitchyD

This game came out of nowhere for me, and your SSX comparison has me antsy beyond belief.

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Edited By JoelTGM

Looks beautiful, I've never seen a sky or ocean look that vibrant before in a game.  They get you going in the air real high it looks like, arcade gameplay like that is awesome.  If it plays as well as it looks then that's going to be a one awesome game.

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Edited By Vinchenzo

I like these racing games that don't take themselves too seriously and throw in massive tricks and air. Might be buying this one since I'm a fan of SSX Tricky and Amped 3. They may not be the same "sport" but they are a different kind of beast that you can appreciate.

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Subway

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Edited By Subway

Reminds me a heck of a lot of downhill domination which isn't bad, cause I loved that game. I'll probably pick this up as long as it gets half way decent reviews.

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manathirst

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Edited By manathirst

SSX on dirt, this game does look beautiful.  I'm not a fan of off-track racing but with tricks and gorgeous graphics, I'm sold.

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Edited By wefwefasdf

That does look awesome!

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Edited By roofy

i like the ryan vid at the end, nice touch

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Trnck

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Edited By Trnck

you should put the Braid review clips on all other videos!!! that's awesome!!!

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Edited By jimbo_n

This is actually the first Ive seen of this game in action and I must say. Really impressed. Potential Motorstorm 2 killer with what seems like, an interesting trick system. I want to know more of this game!

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godzilla_sushi

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Edited By godzilla_sushi

How about the AI? If Moto GP 07 had any flaws it was in the AI.

This game looks fantastic, it really does. I'm so excited!

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Ubergeist

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Edited By Ubergeist

Wacky ending.

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TheGamerGeek

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Edited By TheGamerGeek

What was up with the end of the video?

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Edited By MayorMcCheese

I always felt like i missed out on Motorstorm but this game looks similar so i might get this

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Edited By Jensonb

I'm really looking forward to this :D

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Edited By TwoOneFive

this is definitely a big competitor for motorstorm 2. 

having tricks makes the game a lot better. i wish motorstorm2 had something like that going for it. having not played the first one, i am not sure if there even is a point system involved. motorstorm is just all about more brutal in your face wild racing, this is more about speed and style and massive jumps. 
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Wright

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Edited By Wright

looks like a pretty slick game. though those landings would no doubt shatter his balls =)

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joslop500

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Edited By joslop500

haha nice

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Jiquk

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Edited By Jiquk

Racing games ewww.

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coonce

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Edited By coonce

i am totally buying this game! i seriously can't wait for this puppy to hit store shelves!

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Edited By superezekiel

Boss indeed, you hungry hungry nun.

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hexogen

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Edited By hexogen

This looks awesome. I think this will be the first ATV racing game I've owned since the original ATV Offroad Fury that was part of my PS2 bundle back in the early 2000s.

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Edited By Rio

gamer sure does look purty

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Mister_Snig

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Edited By Mister_Snig

Looks like SSX on wheels. Which reminds me.

Where the hell is my SSX, EA?

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DaveKingston

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Edited By DaveKingston

Dude....Pure Looks....FUN!!!

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Edited By Chocobo_Blitzer

Man, I was all ready to be all dismissive and snobby about another ATV game but this looks really neat. With EA apparently shelving the SSX series, this might be something to help fill that void.

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SaitenMar

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Edited By SaitenMar

Looks nice, reminded me of Motorstorm a lot! thought it does look a lot of fun and nice music aswell.

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scroll

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Edited By scroll

Yeah that kinda looks great.

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deactivated-64bacb6417c49

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Looks cool, visually stunning - and Ryan...WTF?!

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Edited By mike

Looks like a better looking, more fun version of Motorstorm...but for the 360.  I'm normally not interested in racing games too much, but this has my attention now.

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kilzombie

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Edited By kilzombie

Game looks slick, I like it.

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Edited By samcotts

I was about to say this looks like SSX on wheels, but quite a few people beat me to it. Screw this, give us a new SSX game already!

Pure does look like a lot of funny though.

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Edited By Nintendude

This is something I'm ready to buy for 360. For me Motor Storm looks really boring next to this.

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FLStyle

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Edited By FLStyle

l337 imovie skills right there.

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Edited By Razor

Not to bring everyone down here because after watching that video (U DID THIS BRAD?? RYAN?? VIN?? GOODWERK BUDDY) I feel like I'm completely done and over with games in that genre.  That genre being racing games with slight twists to them but still CLOSED WORLD racing feels so much like 1996 to me, like on my n64 with Waverace64 that I'M COMPLETELY DONE WITH GAMES OF THIS KIND.
Ya there I said it, sorry but that games is boring to me, its a very generic racing game with a twist, the physics is non-existent even for a racing game when you jump 50 feet in the air and the 4wheeler doesn't even bounce even a bit when it hits the ground..... only good thing I can say about the game is that its got DECENT MUSIC and DECENT GRAPHICS(decent graphics as in 1st generation x360 games like PGR 3 graphics).

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Edited By GalvanizedNails
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get2sammyb

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Edited By get2sammyb

The graphics are amazing. Absolutely amazing.

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reversethedevil

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Edited By reversethedevil

that game looks fcukin' dope! trick system does totally look like ssx! which where the hell has ssx been anyway?

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War77Machine

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Edited By War77Machine

I think I will wait for the reviews on this one.