Sadistic fun!
Then the game shows its ugly face. Well I guess it depends the kind of gamer you are. Some people love an almost impossible challenge. If you do, this game is for you. To enjoy this you have to be borderline masochist to be honest.
The AI in MS does not want to win the race. No sir. The AI in this game just wants to kill you, destroy you, annihilate you and break your soul. This is the most brutal, unforgiving, unfair game I have ever played on any genre. Everything is against you. You cant get away from the AI. You see, its called rubberband. They´re always there. You can race a perfect race, don't crash, take the best route and... still lose. You cannot shake the AI vehicles. They will always catch up to you no matter what. Not only that but they will do whatever they can to take you out. Its as aggressive as a racing AI gets. If you´re fighting for first place against another car they will throw themselves off a cliff just to take you out too. Everything is against you. Sometimes your vehicle will crash for no apparent reason after a jump or a turn because there was some small rock or something on the track. The vehicle in front of you will make anything to stop you and delay you while the other AI vehicles pass him without trouble. You´re the star of this show. Its like you killed the AI´s dog, had sex with his sister and foreclosed on his mortgage and left him homeless. That´s how much they hate you. You cannot chose what vehicle to use on the races from the game´s main mode, "The Festival". You´re usually give a choice between two classes and usually the AI will be in either stronger or faster vehicles than you. The house always wins! Most of the races end up being about luck more than skill. The best strategy is to take the first lap, without any rush, then by the middle of the second lap try to get up to the top four, while saving your boost and at the end of the race using that boost to pass the others and win the race. All while trying to escape the AI´s attempts to crush you. There´s just no point in trying to get ahead too soon, because the rubberband AI will always be there, right behind you. When you look online for help in a racing game and the main strategy given by "the experts" is to drive slow without boost, because then the AI will also be slower, well then something is very wrong with that racing game.
It hurts me to say this because I desperately wanted to love MPR but when I win a race in some of the later stages of the festival I feel more that ive been lucky than that i´ve raced well, and that´s a fatal flaw in any game. After a while frustration takes over fun and that´s why i´ll probably never play another Motorstorm game. They´re just not for me. If this flaw doesn't bother you though, then this is an exciting, beautiful game and you should totally get it. Its worth it if you just love that extra challenge. Me? Sayonara. This lunatic is out!