The PlayStation Vita getting its own MotorStorm should have been awesome but when I first found out about MotorStorm: RC I was not happy. This wasn’t MotorStorm at all. This was a top down, RC vehicle racing game and it was going to be a much smaller game. To top things off it was going to be a digital only release too, horrible, but at least the price was going to be very low. The Vita was always in need of games and it had the power to deliver a MotorStorm experience on the go but we were getting this instead. I waited for a sale before buying, even though it was very cheap, and I had some fun but didn’t think much of it. Coming back to it recently, probably with a more open mind, I found it to be really good and really damn fun. It actually is a kind of nice way to send off the MotorStorm series too and a little game like this is probably the only way Evolution was going to be able to make one last title in the series.

I don’t know if I was just in the right mood or what but I really clicked with this very quick to pick up and play racing game. MotorStorm: RC is so fast and so bite sized that it makes perfect sense for the Vita. It is so immediate. When the game loads up you are dropped straight into the tutorial the first time and then straight into the playground every other time after. This means that you can just start driving right away and if you want to jump into a race you just tap a button for the menu to pop up. The races load so quickly and are quick to replay as well. The events are also very short ranging from time trials as quick as 10 seconds to races just over a minute long. So you can see how much fun and gameplay could be crammed into ten or so minute bursts you might have to pull out your Vita. I loved these little races and found it really addictive.

This game was also a cross buy and cross save game so as soon as you got home you could pick up where you left off by jumping onto your PS3. I originally completed this on the Vita back when I first played it so this time I tried it on both but ended up sticking to the PS3. It is just a bit better there and easier too. Faster load times, much bigger screen and the PS3 sticks and triggers are better for control. But MotorStorm: RC is still great whichever you choose and it was designed with the convenience of handheld play in mind. The cross save worked seamlessly for me and interestingly the game has two separate trophy lists, so when jumping between the two, trophies would pop straight away for things completed on the other device. This game did make good use of the features available and was designed well for a handheld experience and the Vita’s limitations. This reminds me of something that has been on my mind recently, even if MotorStorm: RC isn’t the absolute perfect example, and I’m going to use this space to go on a little tangent about handheld gaming.

I think some people may have forgotten what was so great and so important about handheld gaming. Handheld gaming provided a space for lower budget and more experimental games to thrive. It provided a place for risk taking and innovation without the massive budgets and development times. We had so many fantastic, innovative and fun games come out here; Pokémon Red/Blue, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Nintendogs, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, The World Ends With You, Lumines, Tearaway and Gravity Rush just to name a fraction of them. Handheld gaming was also a place for genres that were maybe never that popular like visual novels and was a place for genres that had fallen out of favour with the mainstream like JRPGs did for a while. The final thing it provided was a space for re-releases of old titles and this allowed for many great older games to be put in front of newer audiences. Handheld gaming enabled all this and with a potential audience of millions as well because of how incredibly successful many handheld gaming devices were. Unfortunately handheld gaming is dead now. I know some people might be thinking about the resurgence of gaming on the go and devices like the Switch and Steam Deck. But these are not handheld gaming they are portable consoles and portable PCs. They are not like the handheld gaming we had in the past where each device had its own unique limitations, unique features and unique libraries of games that provided a breeding ground for creativity and innovation. So yes, handheld gaming is dead and I miss it.

Getting back to MotorStorm: RC, I love how this plays. The way the little vehicles look, sound, handle and accelerate is so great. They have really captured the RC look and feel. A lot of the vehicles pick up speed so quickly but then stop quickly too and they feel great to slide around. Each of the vehicle types available do feel different and will require small adjustments in your approach. The tracks are designed well for this type of racing game even if they can be a little too visually busy at times, not that it will take long to learn them to get past this problem though. The controls and top down perspective do take a little getting used to. But there are two control options and multiple camera choices and it won’t take very long to start ripping around competently. This game is about precision and perfecting very short laps. It was surprising that even getting a couple of turns just right could shave a few seconds off your overall time. The events are so short but so re-playable because of this. The game really encourages it too with a heavy focus on leader boards, beating friend’s times and sharing times on social media. There are also trophies for completing a series of events in under a total time that was satisfying to get. I was enjoying MotorStorm: RC so much that after all these years I went and bought the DLC for more content, which is a massive compliment, but that also brings me to MotorStorm: RC’s biggest issues.

This is such a small game. The main festival mode might only be like 50 to 90 minutes, depending on skill level and if you want all medals. There is a playground which is a free roam area to mess around in. There is free play to make your own races and there is a time attack. It does all take place across a decent number of tracks, with an okay number of vehicles to pick from, but you could binge this in an afternoon, even with the DLC added. As I said though it is highly re-playable but then that all depends on how much you care and want to do better. You probably do need to care about pushing yourself and maybe going for better times because the game doesn’t provide much challenge on its own. Most events are pretty easy to earn all medals in despite a good gradual incline in difficulty. The real challenge comes near the end when you unlock supercars because they are so fast that they can be tricky to handle on these tiny tracks. But even they still don’t take long to get the hang of.

There is a whole lot more content if you pay for it. There are two more sets of events with new tracks and there are a lot of vehicles. It really sucks that more than a third of the game is behind another pay wall and its one of those times when you can’t help but think that they deliberately sold this game incomplete and then asked for more for the rest of it. Combine this with the fact that there was no physical release, unless you count a code in a box for some regions which does not count, and you’re left with something that can put a pretty shitty taste in your mouth. On the other hand it is super cheap and so is the DLC. You also get a copy on both devices, so if you bought it on Vita then you can go download it on PS3 too.

I really like the way this game celebrates MotorStorm. Each set of events and the tracks within them are styled on previous MotorStorm games. So there is Monument Valley, Pacific Rift, Arctic Edge and Apocaypse sets of events with little mini RC tracks that are themed like each previous game in the series. They do a similar thing with the vehicles too, so the whole game is like a little trip through MotorStorm history and it is a nice little farewell. MotorStorm: RC is just fun, super cheap, well made and will be really re-playable for some people. I can’t really get too mad at it for not being a full MotorStorm experience or for any of its faults or how it was released. Especially when, if it was more content rich it would be in the running for best RC game ever and best top down racer ever. MotorStorm: RC is a very brief but good time, I recommend it.

7.7/10

I still have Driveclub up next to finish my play through of games from Evolution Studios but this brings me to the end of MotorStorm. It is interesting that the MotorStorm series doesn’t have a strong consistent experience throughout. Instead each game feels like its own thing but with a style and spirit and some similarities that carries through them all. The first MotorStorm is still the best and most cohesive. It is the one that feels like a storm of different motor vehicles fighting it out on tracks with multiple paths. That takes place within an off road racing festival and it has the most enjoyable and grounded physics and handling. MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is simpler but is a more over the top, off road, arcade racer with a wealth of variety and content. MotorStorm: Arctic Edge attempts to give a Pacific Rift experience but on the go and set in the arctic. While the PSP limitations hold it back from achieving that it is still a good, fun, portable arcade racing game. MotorStorm: Apocalypse goes all spectacle and so over the top and is impressive but this is also to its detriment and it ends up falling short of the first two PS3 titles. Then finally there is MotorStorm: RC which is even less MotorStorm like than Apocalypse but it succeeds at being a fun, bite sized, top down, RC racing game. Despite them all being different I miss this series, it has been so fun to revisit. I wish Sony hadn’t forgotten about it. I miss games like these in general.