Distributed by
Disney Interactive

Price: £49.99 Players: 1; Online: 2-16 Widescreen: Yes 60Hz: Yes (only) HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live-enabled: Yes Pure is an all-action extreme sports dirtbike arcade racing game. That, plus the game footage captured here, will show you what it's all about, but read on for more textual stimulation. After choosing from a male or female player (and if you're a straight guy, why wouldn't you want to watch Suzi's bum fly up and down over the jumps and sand dunes?), and customising your own ATV (all-terrain vehicle), you're all set to get into the tutorial mode, which is fairly straight-forward and teaches you about "Pre-load", a technique that allows you to pull down the left stick just before a jump and then push it up as you're about to leave the ground and then hold it for maximum air. You can also perform tricks of three different complexities in order to get additional boost for your ride or to pull off the more difficult tricks as those are only available to you as you gain the extra boost (that will make sense when you play it).

Pure on Xbox 360: Race 1 The first main option in Pure is to go through world tours comprising of 10 stages. Complete the events and then you'll get clearance to the further stages, proceeding up the rankings as you go. This is the option I tend to go for this sort of game as it gives you a little more substance to the challenge. There's also a single event option with three subsequent offerings: Race - which does what it says on the tin and has you competing with other riders to finish first; Sprint - the same again but with short technical circuits, and you'll see a combination of the two types in the World Tour section anyway; and then Freestyle - again, using tracks you've seen before but with the nice addition of extra ramps etc. which point you towards score multipliers, special tricks and even more petrol, and the one with the most points at the end wins - but beware that all of the other riders can also snatch those mid-air bonuses too. All of these also have a trial mode option, as well. Pure has well-detailed graphics with attractive environments - that include the ability to come a cropper a number of times - and a hi-energy/rock mixture in the soundtrack, but the gameplay gets frustrating when you just can't pull off a trick that you wanted and end up falling behind - even if it doesn't seem particularly difficult to catch up with the pack.

Pure on Xbox 360: Race 2 Basically, if you want a fun arcade racing game that's great for parties and are into titles like Mario Kart and Motorstorm then this will be right up your street, it's just a little bit empty. The rest of it is a game of two halves - on the plus side, the game does have reasonably short load times between levels and while it's fun for a few hours, I prefer something that feels like I've got more power - and any speed you lose during a race often tends to happen because you've gone over a ramp and hit the next one when you were meant to be going up it, so you're suddenly on zero mph. Fans of the genre will be pleased to learn that the advisor to the development team is Pro rider Wes Miller, founder of H-Bomb Films, best known for showcasing his team's amazing stunts to assure the game adheres to the sport's culture and authenticity but still allows creative liberties. Fans of the 'garage' section of this sort of game will also be at home here as you can customise your ATV to your heart's content, but as that was to happen before any racing could in the World Tour, I was left just flicking through the options - yes, yes, yes, come on, just get me to the race!

Pure on Xbox 360: Race 3 There is also Xbox Live gameplay available for up to 16 players but I only have a silver membership, hence why there's is no comment on that side of it. One other note: Normally, I put game footage in a review having linked my Xbox 360 to my TiVo and then selecting the best bits to upload. However, as the game only runs in 60Hz (which the box doesn't mention) when in standard definition, I couldn't do this so had to go with the next best option - which was the first time I tried this - of getting it onscreen in 1080i high-defintion and pointing a video camera at the screen. Hope it comes out okay.

Pure on Xbox 360: Race 4 In this review, I've uploaded a number of clips including the ones above, with more to come, which are as follows: Pure on Xbox 360: Race 1 Pure on Xbox 360: Race 2 Pure on Xbox 360: Race 3 Pure on Xbox 360: Race 4 Visit my DVDfeverGames Youtube channel.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.