A demo for Disney Interactive Studio’s Pure has gone live on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, allowing players to take a ride in E3 2008’s Best Racing Game award winner, beating out obvious favorite Motorstorm 2. Initial videos for the title were surprisingly good, and the demo gives a pretty good feeling for what the game will be like.

The controls are tight, albeit unrealistic. Pure feels a lot more like Burnout: Paradise than it does like Forza or Gran Turismo, and people who have trained themselves to oversteer or react realistically to different obstacles might need to find a way to get over that hurdle before playing. Hitting the X button will execute a trick, which builds up your boost meter. This can be used like normal to gain speed, but can also be built up to unlock more air tricks. It adds a slightly deeper gameplay mechanic when it comes to a turbo function, leaving to up to the player as to how to handle this shared resource. Crashes aren’t as epic as those in other racing games, but the collision detection is top notch, and the actual racer animations are fantastic.



Graphics, however, are the highlight of the demo. It wouldn’t be crazy to say that Pure is the best looking racer this generation, featuring some of the best lighting of any game yet. Like in Motorstorm and Dirt, mud kicks off the ground and covers your vehicle and character, but the environments are what really bring the game to life. There are often multiple paths to take and they are always well lit and highlighted with the suns rays, making turning into a wall inexcusable. The game is out September 23rd in the USA, so if you have access to Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network I definitely recommend checking out the demo.

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