Ok, so Reflex isnt exactly a bike, but i picked up a copy for ps3 on friday, havent left the playstation since.. ha ha... figured i'd do a review on it, given that as far as games go, this is as close as you get...
THQ has done a brilliant job on this one... perhaps a little too good, as i lost count of the number of times i through the controller with disgust at how friggin tricky the bike is to control!! ha ha
Graphics during gameplay are great, not quite as impressive during replays, but good nonetheless... it aint COD Modern Warfare 2, but it's clean and i didnt experience any blockiness...
What both impressed me and confused me at the same time, was the new dynamic controls for the bike and rider... as far as mx simulators go, this is the most accurate and realistic one to date....
you can now move independently (within reason) of the bike... you can turn and lean the bike to the left, for example, but you can lean the rider to the right... so basically now you can weight the outside peg for flat turns, weight the outside peg and rear wheel to keep the front light over rough ground on an off-camber corner... ha ha.. it's pretty tricky... it's also ****in hard to get a grasp on, but once you do, it's amazing what you can do with the bikes...
I found it odd that there isnt a ''simpler'' control method as an option, as to be honest, it can be bloody tricky for PS or X-box noobs to get control of, but that's just tough titties...
The nationals (mx) and sx tracks are great fun, and challenging to say the least... i cant say i'm a fan of the freestyle sections and the free ride stuff, i'm not that dextrous and the buttons confuse me... ha ha.. must be getting old.. But the tracks, particularly the sx ones, offer a huge choice in lines and jump sections... all the "rules" that apply in real life when it comes to bikes and how you can actually ride them, apply to Reflex.. The track surfaces themselves chew up quickly, and get rutted out in the corners and on jump faces... the surface itself seems a little "sandy" to me, and chews out very quickly, changing from lap to lap, but then they've tried to make it realistic, and succeeded...
There are however, a couple of bad points... i've found that the AI riders are nothing but a pain in the ass... i'm not overly convinced there is any "intelligence" there at all, as they just seem to want to T bone you if they can, and as soon as one gets near you, you fall off... if you go near one of them, you fall off... if you touch one, you fall off... if they touch you, you fall off... if the sky is blue... you fall off... getting the picture?? once you get touched up, it's a real battle to get clear of the pack and back out in front.. you spend the entire race waiting for the bike and rider to pick itself up, so you can get knocked off again...
Put it this way, with all the block passing, shutting out in corners, take outs on jumps that goes on, if it was real life, there would be punch ups on every section of the tracks... makes reedy look like a clean gentlemanly rider... ha ha ha..
The other bad point is, that i'm not convinced anyone from THQ has actually ridden a fourfif before.. last time i rode mine, it didnt flip as soon as i touched the throttle, it didnt endo if you backed off in the air, and it didnt spend the entire lap in swappers and tank slappers... ha ha ha... the open class bikes defiantely take a lot of practise before you can fire em in anger succesfully... as for the quads, they suck just as much on PS3 as they do in real life, and spend all their time sideways or tilted...
the buggies and trucks, dunno yet, havent tried it...
We ride MX here, not sport trucks...
As per usual there are a couple of copyrighted riders and bikes, with KTM and a few famous riders showing up for parade... naturally, there are some very faithful knockoffs, which are plainly obvious for what they are, but have funny sounding names.... you also have the option of modding your bike, your rider etc etc... i've managed to find enough gear on there to copy my own helmet, goggles, riding gear and boots...
Also managed to build a YZM500 replica graphics kitted YZF 450.... there are a few sweet looking set ups on there, but sorry homos, i didnt see any Cockstar or Munster graphics kits... ha ha ha... or metal mulisha... ha ha...
Overall, i give this game a 8/10... gameplay is brilliant as are the riding dynamics, but those AI competitors really shit me to tears... repeatedly... ha ha ha.
Now if they had Yellow Hurricane YZF graphics kits, i'd have given it a 9.5/10... ha ha..
THQ has done a brilliant job on this one... perhaps a little too good, as i lost count of the number of times i through the controller with disgust at how friggin tricky the bike is to control!! ha ha
Graphics during gameplay are great, not quite as impressive during replays, but good nonetheless... it aint COD Modern Warfare 2, but it's clean and i didnt experience any blockiness...
What both impressed me and confused me at the same time, was the new dynamic controls for the bike and rider... as far as mx simulators go, this is the most accurate and realistic one to date....
you can now move independently (within reason) of the bike... you can turn and lean the bike to the left, for example, but you can lean the rider to the right... so basically now you can weight the outside peg for flat turns, weight the outside peg and rear wheel to keep the front light over rough ground on an off-camber corner... ha ha.. it's pretty tricky... it's also ****in hard to get a grasp on, but once you do, it's amazing what you can do with the bikes...
I found it odd that there isnt a ''simpler'' control method as an option, as to be honest, it can be bloody tricky for PS or X-box noobs to get control of, but that's just tough titties...
The nationals (mx) and sx tracks are great fun, and challenging to say the least... i cant say i'm a fan of the freestyle sections and the free ride stuff, i'm not that dextrous and the buttons confuse me... ha ha.. must be getting old.. But the tracks, particularly the sx ones, offer a huge choice in lines and jump sections... all the "rules" that apply in real life when it comes to bikes and how you can actually ride them, apply to Reflex.. The track surfaces themselves chew up quickly, and get rutted out in the corners and on jump faces... the surface itself seems a little "sandy" to me, and chews out very quickly, changing from lap to lap, but then they've tried to make it realistic, and succeeded...
There are however, a couple of bad points... i've found that the AI riders are nothing but a pain in the ass... i'm not overly convinced there is any "intelligence" there at all, as they just seem to want to T bone you if they can, and as soon as one gets near you, you fall off... if you go near one of them, you fall off... if you touch one, you fall off... if they touch you, you fall off... if the sky is blue... you fall off... getting the picture?? once you get touched up, it's a real battle to get clear of the pack and back out in front.. you spend the entire race waiting for the bike and rider to pick itself up, so you can get knocked off again...
Put it this way, with all the block passing, shutting out in corners, take outs on jumps that goes on, if it was real life, there would be punch ups on every section of the tracks... makes reedy look like a clean gentlemanly rider... ha ha ha..
The other bad point is, that i'm not convinced anyone from THQ has actually ridden a fourfif before.. last time i rode mine, it didnt flip as soon as i touched the throttle, it didnt endo if you backed off in the air, and it didnt spend the entire lap in swappers and tank slappers... ha ha ha... the open class bikes defiantely take a lot of practise before you can fire em in anger succesfully... as for the quads, they suck just as much on PS3 as they do in real life, and spend all their time sideways or tilted...
the buggies and trucks, dunno yet, havent tried it...
We ride MX here, not sport trucks...
As per usual there are a couple of copyrighted riders and bikes, with KTM and a few famous riders showing up for parade... naturally, there are some very faithful knockoffs, which are plainly obvious for what they are, but have funny sounding names.... you also have the option of modding your bike, your rider etc etc... i've managed to find enough gear on there to copy my own helmet, goggles, riding gear and boots...
Also managed to build a YZM500 replica graphics kitted YZF 450.... there are a few sweet looking set ups on there, but sorry homos, i didnt see any Cockstar or Munster graphics kits... ha ha ha... or metal mulisha... ha ha...
Overall, i give this game a 8/10... gameplay is brilliant as are the riding dynamics, but those AI competitors really shit me to tears... repeatedly... ha ha ha.
Now if they had Yellow Hurricane YZF graphics kits, i'd have given it a 9.5/10... ha ha..
Last edited:
