MX vs ATV Untamed

At this stage in game development, Untamed is best suited as a next-gen racer. It rocked the house on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 but didn't pack the same punch on PS2 or PSP. With an excessive amount of power needed to fuel the game, Untamed couldn't be ported to phones – even the ultra-expensive models – in its original form. Hence the 2D mobile edition: it's smaller and shorter but retains some of the features of the console iterations.

Driving Miss Side-Scroller

Untamed is like an old-school platformer. Your driver will cruise from left to right in each of the 12 stages. There are small dirt hills to slow you down, medium hills to throw your bike, and large hills to leap into the air and perform stunts. The stunt system takes a hint from SSX by linking speed boosts to your performance. Land a well-executed stunt and a star will appear over your driver's head, indicating that a successful move has been pulled off. The boost kicks in automatically, giving skilled players the opportunity to increase their lead while offering anyone else a fighting chance.

Acceleration is automatic. Brake by pushing the down arrow key. Bike and ATV balance is adjusted with the left (lean back) and right (lean forward) arrow keys. Like most mobile games, if your phone doesn't have arrow keys, Untamed can also be played with number keys.

Championship, Time Attack and Freestyle modes offer three ways to play, but only two of them feel significantly different. In Championship mode, one player races against one opponent across 12 courses. Since these are one-on-one matches, getting second place won't do. You'll need to cross the finish line first if you expect to earn a point. Only one point is awarded for each win.

Four challenges are contained within each of the modes: MX 250, MX 500, ATV 250, and ATV 500. The difference between 250 and 500 is nonexistent. The courses and difficulty setting are the same, and the speed doesn't seem to increase either. There is a slight difference between using an MX or ATV, and you'll need sensitive thumbs to tell them apart. MX bikes are loose while ATVs are tight.

This boils down to essentially one game that you'll play through four times to clear the Championship mode. If you take on the Time Attack stages, you'll experience these courses yet again. With 2D gameplay and NES graphics on hand, Untamed doesn't have much to work with. Thus, most of the courses feel very similar. The developers add variety with different sized hills (XL and XXL in addition to the others), which is cool the first time you experience it. But you can finish any of the CCs in under 15 minutes. Inevitably, the next 15 minutes are not as thrilling as the first. The next minutes after that are even less exciting.

Ye Old Trickster

In the console versions, Freestyle Mode didn't work too well. Not surprisingly, the mobile edition suffers from one of the same issues. Rarely do you feel like you have enough time to perform the necessary number of stunts before landing. Also, there aren't very many stunts to perform. You have a back flip, forward flip, Superman and Cordova.

Because of the 2D design, you can't see what's up ahead. To land any trick, you'll have to memorize each course and map out every move ahead of time. "Large hill, two flips. Medium hill, one flip. Oh no I'm wrong, that was a small hill! Too low to land, trick failed, ugh!"

Needs Taming

If you play through just one of the CC challenges, MX Vs. ATV Untamed is a better-than-average mobile racer. It sure beats the garbage that passed as racing games in the days of the NES. Since mobile phones rarely exceed the quality of NES gaming, that is somewhat of an improvement. But it needs a lot more flavor to equal the taste Untamed fans are likely craving.