The first thing that happens when you pop in motorstorm is an opening cutscene. Now I remember the scene from the original so I hunker down and wait for my breath to be taken away. I was not dissapointed. The amazing visuals literally melted my eyeballs. So after the initial oooing and ahhhing (I'm a sucker for water graphics) my buddy and I got ready for some split screen action. The first thing I noticed was the astounding number of tracks right from the get go. There are over a dozen tracks and neat thing is that each track, depending on what vehicle you drive, actually becomes 3 - 4 different tracks because there are more byways and shortcuts then you can imagine. Each track has its own unique flavor and it never seems repetive. The thing that most impressed me was the feel of the game. The entire time you are playing you have the feeling of flying by the seat of your pants. The audio tracks are enough to keep me entertained but don't really get you "pumped" like burnout paradise. All in all I have to say this is an amazing game and is a must play for any racing fan.

So I was gonna buy this game, but rented it instead and I'm glad I did. The visuals and audio in this game are great. The sun bouncing of the water in some of the courses is breath taking and shows off the PS3's muscle. I felt the controls are tighter than the first Motorstorm and the vehicles seem to handle a bit better as well.

But...this is still Motorstorm and gets very difficult later on in the game. It's one of those games that might have you breaking a lot of controllers and at $50 a pop, that can get pricey.

The action is intense and if you have the ability and patience for a game like this, it's right up your alley. To me it's not really that different from the first game, some new vehicles and new tracks are about it. The racing gets repetitive after a while to. There could have also been some more variety in race types.