Motorsiege (PS2) - 10. Ultimate Challenge [Professional]
0If you are a regular visitor to my channel, you might be familiar with the fact that I enjoy the quirky world of budget PlayStation 2 titles, and I am not even referring specifically to well known examples, like D3’s Simple Series or Sega AGES 2500, but the ones that sat on random store shelves here in the United Kingdom, often released by giants like Midas Interactive Entertainment, 505 Gamestreet, and Wanadoo Edition.
Motorsiege: Warriors of Primetime is a fine example of one of these European-only budget releases, although unlike some of the others, it has never been given any appropriate amount of attention by me. In truth, when this hit shops circa. 2003-2005, there were already many more fantastic PlayStation 2 releases that could have been bought cheaply, and easily, had I ever made the trip to any Asda, CO-OP or Tesco at the time. Why pick up a naff looking Twisted Metal clone when you could just as easily pick up Twisted Metal Black for less than £20? It was a no brainer back then, much as it would be now.
And, putting it politely, Motorsiege really is a Twisted Metal clone. Not that there is a problem with that, quite the contrary, car combat games are still a rarity in the year 2023. However, when Twisted Metal Black did car combat so triumphantly on PlayStation 2, there is some cause for comparing Motorsiege to it. Thing is, Motorsiege is shockingly well made for the game’s asking price: It performs with very bright and colourful visuals, at 50FPS, only dipping when things get hectic. The controls are quick and responsive, the weapons have feedback and feel fun to use too. I like that aside from the standard deathmatch and survival game modes, you also have a capture the flag style mode called “Siege”, and that can be quite nerve wracking to play, especially when attempting to complete the bonus objectives such as “Safety” (i.e. surviving the game without dying).
The only reason Motorsiege falters, at all, is that it does feel a little insubstantive after a couple of hours of play. In truth, the numerous tournaments that you complete in Motorsiege can take upwards of ten hours in all, supposing you want to 100% the whole thing. Boss fights in particular carry a lot of challenge, maybe as they should, and will demand multiple retries if you want to get them perfect. The motivation is in actually wanting to do all this because Motorsiege does get rather samey, even by the third or fourth tournaments that you complete in. Some variety might not have hurt the experience but you have to remind yourself this, for a budget game, it is genuinely better than maybe it has any right to be.
What is really surprising to see are the WWE promo style introductions and epilogues to each boss character which are, at the very least, kind of cute and entertaining in their own way. Top-marks to the development studio who went out of their way to animate those characters in FMV, with voice-overs no less, giving them a lot of personality as a result of this. The presentation is understandably a little so-so otherwise though, some of the menu and UI choices are spotty, and can be confusing to access at times too. The music likewise feels generic, going for a familiar drum & bass vibe to Sony’s Wipeout Fusion but lacking the licenced clout to carry names like FSOL.
And that is all I have to say about Motorsiege. I am happy to have finally got around to giving it a chance, some twenty years after it really mattered. You do have to appreciate what Lightspeed Games little release was trying to do for less than £20 R.R.P, at a time when stretching what you could get for £20 really did mean something.
(I do miss cheap Supermarket Games).
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A LEGAL NOTICE:
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Any copyrighted footage I use is covered under fair use laws, or more specifically those listed under Section 30(1) of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989 and under section 107 of US Copyright Act 1976. This video exists purely for the purpose of research and criticism. I do not make a profit from any uploaded content, nor do I intend to. Thank you for watching.