We analyze the version for Nintendo Switch of the latest installment of the MX vs. ATV, which is not up to the task neither as a port nor as a motocross game.
In Game of Thrones there was a very popular saying among some characters that went like this: “What is dead cannot die.” Anyone would say that it is the same leitmotif that the members of Rainbow Studios, the developer at the controls of MX vs. ATV All Out. The game came out in March 2018 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, platforms on which it failed critically and publicly. In Metacritic, for example, the version with the most reviews, the one for PS4, the press gave it an average score of 4.2 and users a 4.1. It thus became the worst-rated installment of the MX vs. ATV (which dates back to 2005 and has six different chapters with it). In addition, the sales it recorded seem ridiculous, even though they are only available on sites like VGChartz, whose data must always be taken with a grain of salt. But its creators did not collapse after such results and they joined the Greyjoy House. “What is dead cannot die.” Or said in a much more traditional and Spanish way, “from lost to the river”.
As things were not going to get worse, several months after the launch, already in 2019, Rainbow Studios released an Anniversary Edition of the game in which it included all kinds of content that was previously paid DLC. There was no resurrection, but almost. This review reached 6.9 on Metacritic … and then dropped to 3.6 in user ratings. Many of the original buyers felt cheated and argued that the “Anniversary Edition” was the one that should have been marketed from the start. Now, a year after that second christening, Rainbow Studios is going for the third. You think MX vs. ATV All Out can be squeezed even more than the Springfield lemon tree, and in this case with a version for Nintendo Switch. If things don’t go well, what’s one more nail in the coffin? And if it goes well, who knows, maybe there will be hope for the franchise, which these days rivals from different disciplines such as Monster Energy Supercross, Ride, MotoGP and MXGP are pressing. All of them, curiously, developed by Milestone. Continuing with the Game of Thrones analogy, it’s like seeing the Drowned God cult (MX vs. ATV All Out) struggling to survive against the Faith of the Seven (the Milestone sagas). Today at FreeGameTips we want to check if the third time is the charm and if this time the saying of the Iron Islands is completely fulfilled. Because it ensures that what is dead cannot die, true, but also that “it rises again, harder, stronger.”
Where are the Anniversary Edition DLCs?
There will be some naive who think that this port for Nintendo Switch includes all the downloadable content that MX vs. has had to date. ATV All Out. After all, it goes on sale for 39.99 euros, when in any store you can find the Anniversary Edition of PS4 and Xbox One for less than 20 euros. Nothing is further from reality. This port has the contents of the original game, the one from 2018, and therefore comes to the eShop accompanied by 42 DLC whose sum amounts to more than 160 euros. That is to say that as incredible as it may seem, Rainbow Studios and THQ Nordic ask for 200 euros for an experience that costs 20 euros on other consoles. We are going to repeat it because it is difficult to assimilate and understand. Rainbow Studios and THQ Nordic ask for 200 euros (game + DLC) to play on Nintendo Switch at something that costs 20 euros on PS4 and Xbox One. Maybe we should repeat it a third time because there must be something that is not escaping and that we do not understand . Or maybe we should take note, close the discussion here, and sell each remaining paragraph and sentence separately.
It is a real shame, because the game is not just content, but the DLC of the Anniversary Edition made many of its failures forgivable. To give some examples of what we are missing without them, now if we enter the garage we will only have access to Hacendado vehicles. Most are private labels called THQ Nordic Turbonoséqué and Rainbow Turbonoséquántos. It’s time to go to the checkout if we want to access Honda, Husqvarna, Kawasaki, KTM, Polaris, Suzuki or Yamaha dealers. If we want to play disciplines like Arenacross, more of the same happens, and several licenses of official competitions are also cut off, such as the Pro Motocross Championship or the mythical amateur race of Loretta Lynn’s. We lose up to two wonderful DLCs designed by Ricky Carmichael (“the king of motorcycles”) and Slash (the guitarist of Guns N ‘Roses). They added dozens of tests, circuits and even a second sandbox-tinged map in which to practice, explore and put ourselves to the test. All that, of course, is paid again. And the list of examples goes even further.
The worst version of the worst installment of the saga
The cuts don’t end here. The (for now soulless) online mode goes from allowing 16 players per game to a maximum of 8 people on Switch. A common snip, yes, but that rivals like Monster Energy Supecross 3, for example, managed to reduce it so that it was only 16 to 12. And taking into account that the game was never any kind of graphic reference on PS4 and Xbox One (rather the opposite), the sacrifices of the Nintendo Switch version make less sense than usual. The popping is triggered, the vehicles seem to float on the stage and as they would say in Forocoches, the pilots are more rigid than the clavicle of a Transformer. Textures are poorer, effects on the ground are reduced and lighting is flat. Not to mention saw teeth on which the WHO should rule. They could be harmful to health. MX vs. ATV All Out runs at 30 frames per second … at best. The frame rate is ridiculous and as soon as several cars accumulate on the screen the game goes to jerks. Add to it that it still has the odd bug and sound effects that are just as poor, crushing and poorly implemented. At least you can lower the volume to give prominence to the huge repertoire of songs, which taking into account the budget managed is a pleasant surprise and has more than 40 songs from groups like The Offspring and My Chemical Romance. (Although nothing like your own playlist).
For the rest, MX vs. ATV All Out has been the same game we met in 2018. It is a contradictory title that as soon as it looks like a simulator and offers you more customization options than any other game of the genre, as it simplifies and becomes an arcade with improvable controls in the that each bike feels identical to the others. A title that pretends to be off road offering us an open world map, but leaves it empty and nondescript to bet everything on closed circuit tests. A delivery with continuous loading times, in which artificial intelligence is conspicuous by its absence and where the physics and collision system still needs an urgent review (at times it does not exist). The variety of vehicles, tests and scenarios, the generous base content and the split screen modes continue as its biggest and most pleasant surprise (more so now that only two joy-con are needed). The same as in 2018. We have no doubt that the most staunch fans of the motor world, and specifically of the one that surrounds MX (motocross), ATV (quads) and UTV (buggies) vehicles, can get to enjoy it and have fun with him for a few days. It is accessible and direct. After all, if Rainbow Studios has been doing this for over twenty years, it’s for a reason. But even the acolytes of the franchise will soon tire and see that there are better options on the market and better deliveries in the series.
CONCLUSION
MX vs. ATV All Out has achieved its own three-peat. It did not measure up in 2018, it repeated failure in 2019 and is shipwrecked again in 2020 with a port that no one asked for and no one deserves. We are facing the worst installment of the saga, and ironically, the one that has had the most reissues and the one that is the most expensive. With all its downloadable content, the only ones that encourage you to raise your hand a bit, the game costs about 200 euros on Nintendo Switch, when on PS4 and Xbox One it includes everything for just 20 euros. A ridiculous and even offensive strategy with the Nintendo user, who sees some options cut short (the online goes from 16 to 8 players, for example) and also receives the worst version at a graphic and technical level (when it seemed impossible, since the title already It was frankly outdated back in 2018). Maybe it is time to turn the page and assimilate that you are looking, no, that this installment did not go well and it is better to get another one. That what is dead CAN die again and that where there is none, it cannot be taken. MX vs. ATV All Out is only recommended for those who eat mud and breathe gasoline, for the most ardent and ardent fans of the genre, those who have already tried the rest of the alternatives … most of them better.
THE BEST
- Split screen mode.
- The variety of vehicles (MX, ATV and UTV) and their level of customization.
- The BSO and the amount of base content.
WORST
- Does not include Anniversary Edition DLC. On Switch you have to pay € 200 to play the same as on PS4 and Xbox One costs € 20.
- The graphic cuts in a game already very outdated in its day; the new online limitations.
- It keeps all the playable problems that have been attributed to it for more than two years. It is a title full of contradictions and errors.
- Loading times.
- The framerate.
Mediocre
It could be but it has not been and after spending a few minutes with it it will be filed on the shelf so that it will never be played again.
