MotorStorm RC: Pro-Am And Carnival DLC Review (PS Vita)

Since the release of their brilliant MotorStorm RC racing game at the end of Feb 2012 as part of the PS Vita launch line-up, Evolutions Studios have been beavering away on not one, but two downloadable content packs to add more racing fun.

Pro-Am:

First off we have the Pro-Am pack which costs £2.39 and adds 4 new tracks, 16 new events, 8 new vehicles and 4 new trophies to both the PS3 and Vita releases.

The Pro-Am tracks take their inspiration from skate parks. The Shred Space and Shove It circuits both feature a giant, banked hairpin turn which is frequently the scene of utter chaos during the race events as 10 cars all try to occupy the same piece of track. I lost count of the number of times I must have spun my car trying to get round that damn corner. Thankfully, it’s still really easy and quick to restart a race.

Evolution Studios have continued to add lots of little details to the tracks from creaks and groans given off by sections of track as your vehicle drives over them to all the bollards, forklift trucks etc that litter the track surrounds. It all adds to the racing atmosphere.

The new Super Cars really put your nimbleness with the RC controls to the test. These are RC cars on steroids, which drive ridiculously fast. I ended up driving all over the place, sometimes even on the racing line to avoid smashing into the barriers. I can see why the new circuits were made a bit wider. You need all of the track with these monsters.

Carnival DLC:

The most recent DLC released is called the Carnival pack. Also going for £2.39 you get 6 new tracks, 24 new events and 8 new vehicles. Set in a theme park, this pack features some of the best tracks in the whole of the MotorStorm RC experience.

The Splash Down track is brilliant fun to drive. It’s easily now my favourite MotorStorm RC track. Imaging racing around a track where the corners are sections from those awesome water slides. Now, instead of slowing down/sliding around corners you hurtle around them like a motorised bob-sleigh. Get your entry speed and angle right and you are rewarded with warp speed cornering. So. Much. Fun.

The Fun House and Side Show tracks are great fun too, both featuring this really cool corkscrew section that feels like it goes on forever. If you’ve mastered drifting in your car, you can generate some monstrous points in the drifting events on both these tracks.

At the other end of the spectrum of fun is the Bite Size track. I hate all its frustrating bumps on the start-finish straight that randomly hurl your car all over the place before a series of annoyingly fiddly 180-degree corners. The track has no sense of flow, unlike the other circuits in the pack. As you can tell, I dreaded every single event on Bite Size.

Despite that one track, both Carnival and Pro Am deliver tons of racing fun, on some beautifully designed tracks which are even better than the ones in MotorStorm RC. The Carnival pack is worth buying for the Splash Down track alone. MotorStorm RC fans will love each of these DLC packs.

MotorStorm RC is out now for PS Vita and PlayStation 3. Both the Pro-Am and Carnival expansion packs cost £2.39