We forget that games are supposed to be fun for the sake of being fun. When I picked up Motorstorm today, I played it for a while, started sizing up the visuals, the features, the online service. I tried to rank it, tried to figure where it fit in, what exclusive racing features did it have to offer? Isn't that we all ask?

I played for an hour or two, fiddled around with the motion controls, crashed a lot, was impressed by the visuals, got bored and turned it off.

Then I came back later and decided to give it a more earnest try. After a lot of effort I managed to win my first race. From that point I realized that I was having fun... a lot of fun. I set myself to first person view, held the accelerator down and went crazy, struggling with the stick to keep myself on the path, usually succeeding, sometimes spectacularly failing. It was the most fun I had playing a racing game since I played the original Mariokart. I felt like a little kid again with my sister on the Super Nintendo.

After a few hours break I came back again to play, and I had such an adrenaline rush, when I was finished I had to stand up and pace back and forth.

I don't care anymore if this game moves consoles, if it sells well or if some idiot professional reviewers think it's a 7.5. It's fun to play and that's the only review that should matter to any of you gamers.

All the dumb reviewers said that the only reason to get this game is online, but the offline is spectacular. It's got the only mode that matters, race. I don't need anything fancy besides that. Splitscreen would be nice and it's lack is why I'm giving it a 9 instead of a 10. Any other racing game I'd take 2 points off for that, but I'll explain why I only docked 1 here.

The sound and visuals are spectacular. I'm not going to say I can't tell the difference between the game and a video of a real race, but the visuals in this game are spectacular, putting pre-rendered sequences of lesser games to shame. The sound is perfect, the sounds are great, bringing back memories of when I used to listen to all those songs. Mostly I'd say that the gameplay, the visuals and audio make me feel like I'm really behind the wheel. This is why I only dock them 1 point for no splitscreen... because a splitscreen game could not replicate that feeling of really being behind the wheel like those pc games free download versions. The online mode is lag free, so I let that be my multiplayer and friends can take turns.