Hands-on with Pure

The gameplay – at least in the mode we tried – is focused on tricks. Landing tricks successfully will fill your boost bar a little. To begin with, at the start of each race, tricks are only accessible through the X button (that's A on 360), combined with a direction. Normal tricks like this can be tweaked with L1 to get you more score and boost. Do a few of these and your boost bar will start to fill up.

Above: Fill the boost bar to unlock different tricks as you race

Of course, you can use this boost to gain speed and take a few places, but if you save it, you'll unlock the next trick button: circle. These tricks take a little longer and are less forgiving to land, but they look better and reward you with more boost if you pull them off. Triangle tricks come next, before special tricks are unlocked with a full boost bar. These involve pressing both shoulder buttons together with a direction and are where the biggest rewards are.

The game becomes not only a test of your reflexes, but your patience too. Are you greedy and hold your tricks for too long? A snatched tweak at the last moment can result in a nasty fall. Fortunately, the game is currently very forgiving, with swift bike resets after falls. This is particularly useful when racing near rivals, as most impacts between quads will end in you falling off. Sometimes this happens without warning as another racer takes a different line and slams into you, but we suppose it's unavoidable.

Above: Better than MotorStorm? It's certainly more forgiving and the tracks are less haphazard