First Test: MX VS ATV Alive - Dirt Rider Magazine

THQ's all new MX Vs. ATV Alive, is indeed very alive. I have been playing it now for about a month and have gotten to know this game pretty well. Similar to when you first started riding and racing, you had to work through the ranks to where you're at now. You can choose the difficulties of Rookie, Amateur, Pro and All-time. As you get better and the more you play, you unlock performance parts, tracks, gear and rider skills such as getting up quick, scrub master, holeshot boost, etc. Before you know it, you'll be ripping on Lil' Hanny, Eli Tomac and the rest of the pros that line up every weekend like a veteran of the game. It also has sick flowing tracks, but the downside is they aren't real tracks like Glen Helen, Red Bud or Budds Creek. Hopefully in the future they will be available to download in the Moto Depot.

You don't start out riding 250's and 450's like you do in the previous MX Vs. ATV games. It is more of a real world setting and you start out on a Blaze or Takisha 125. From there, you have to prove yourself in order to get better bikes. You can purchase Microsoft points that you spend at the Moto Club Depot if you are too impatient to race and unlock the good stuff. Here you can buy helmets, gear, goggles, performance parts and race bikes like an RM-Z 250. This is the DLC, or Downloadable Content area of the game. When you buy the game ($40) it comes with James Stewart's personal compound for free so you can go practice where he does and ride like a maniac on his two outdoor tracks or you can go shred both of his supercross tracks. But the down side is you can't race on the supercross tracks. I'm sure later on it will have supercross track packs where you will be able to race against the rest of the pros. Another cool thing is when you're racing; the lines get worked in and ruts form throughout the track. So when you want to go riding on a rainy day, go play Mx vs. Atv Alive.