Blasting around dirt tracks, flying through the air with the greatest of ease, tons of true to life options at your fingertips…MXGP 14 really is worthy of its “official” title.   Whereas many other similar titles might just smash together generic riders and/or give you a swath of tracks which might sort of resemble real world locales this game grants you the real deal. In other words, yes there are real racers as well as real tracks featured in game from various places around the world, which is perhaps one of the best reasons to check out what MXGP 14 has to offer.

Of course everything’s a moot point unless the actual gameplay is satisfactory, right? Luckily, they seemed to have nailed that down too, offering you fairly tight controls as well as pretty decent AI to boot. They did a great job of capturing what is probably one of the most important elements too – the grittiness / dirt. Motocross isn’t really about subtle refinement; it’s often a physically straining and emotional mad dash across tricky tracks with other people all around you who are eagerly vying for position. There’s an emotional element which isn’t often easily portrayed by game developers, however they’ve done an admirable job in this area here. Developer Milestone has clearly demonstrated that they know what they’re doing and have what it takes to service the sport in a virtual domain.

The physics are spot on, obviously as are the motion-captured animations which further enhance the action onscreen. To further enhance the overall experience they’ve even included a terrain deformation system which makes everything feel even more realistic. Of course most will get off on the fact that there are no less than 60 real bikes available with 60 real riders and 14 true to life tracks, each one dotted with details. For instance, you’ll see everything nicely illuminated on the sidelines, whether it’s the fans or perhaps the local flora.

However, what many are probably going to flip over is the way it lets you dive into the experience of being a motocross rider. You can actually sort of experience a taste of the life of an actual competitor, even sign contracts with official teams as they court you and obviously, take on a season with intent to be crowned champion. For the serious MX fan who also likes video gaming, this is nothing short of awesome as it allows you to really connect with the actual racing in a way that most other similarly-themed games don’t account for.

On the PlayStation 4, MXGP looks perhaps a few strokes sharper, which is an added perk for those on the next gen system, obviously. The developer has also stated that there were special enhancements made which utilize the abilities of the PS4, which is great, but not at all glaringly obvious. All in all this game seems similar across whatever platform it is found on, which again, isn’t a bad thing at all (the consistency is actually a bit comforting).

As previously indicated, there are lots of options too, meaning you aren’t limited to one or two approaches. You have instant race, grand prix, championship, career, time attack, etc. to keep you busy and engrossed. Naturally, the more serious racers will want to dive into the career mode with aplomb as well as take to the multiplayer, challenging friends and enemies alike. The point is – the base features of the game open the door to all sorts of options which the determined and/or creative player can get hours upon hours of enjoyment from.

Motocross fans will certainly want to spend lots of time with this one, which is great because there’s lots of content to explore. The action is realistic enough to completely immerse you in the basic experience too, meaning that by the end of a race you’ll be on the edge of your seat (assuming that you’re not at the tail end of the pack, that is). All of the real tracks, racers and bikes is of course what makes the game stand out, which is something MX devotees will certainly be able to appreciate.

Rating – 7.3