February 22, 2008 - By
the time the lads at Climax Racing had finished developing the latest
MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury games, they were sick and tired of creating
simulations; they wanted to do something different. After being
purchased by what's now Disney Interactive in 2006, the British company
changed its name to Black Rock Studio and decided to focus on making a
racing game that combined elements of realism with over-the-top antics.

That's all according to Jason Avent, director of Black Rock's latest project, Pure.
We caught up with Avent at GDC this week to take our first look at this
off-road ATV racing game in action. Running on three hours' sleep and
what we can only imagine were copious amounts of coffee, Avent showed
us what sets Pure apart from Black rock's previous off-road efforts.

We saw the game running on an Xbox 360, and despite its polish it was
clearly still a pre-alpha game with months of development ahead. The
game is about 14 months along and the graphics are estimated to be
about 80 percent complete.

"There's still a hell of a lot to do," Avent said.

With that said, what we saw of Pure was impressive: long draw
distances, detailed vegetation, realistic-looking particle effects and
physics, etc. Black Rock's internally developed engine is capable of
drawing between 100,000 and 200,000 blades of grass every frame, which
sounds like a lot but we didn't have time to count.

That's because we were too busy watching Pure riders perform ridiculous
tricks in mid-air while leaping hundreds of virtual feet over cliffs,
mining cabins and the odd body of water. Pure is based on a system that
rewards you for taking chances, grabbing air and building up your
ability to do more of the same though a trick meter.

There are three trick levels, mapped to three of the controller's face
buttons. On the Xbox 360, for example, the lowest-level tricks are
performed by pressing A, and the X and Y-button tricks gradually open
up as you continue to perform tricks and combos – you can see your
progress at a glance on a heads-up-display in the lower right-hand
corner of the screen.

As you race, you'll be balancing your trick meter with your turbo
meter. Boosting makes you go faster, which makes your tricks crazier,
which builds your trick meter faster. But boosting on its own also
depletes your trick meter (as does crashing), so you'll need to make
sure you land your tricks or you'll find you've not only wasted a boost
but caused your trick meter to drop as well.

There are multiple modes of play in Pure, but Black Rock wasn't ready
to share those with us just yet. The goal of the mode we saw was to
simply win the race, but the game was also constantly tracking the
points earned by pulling off tricks, too. The result was an extreme
sports game with sim tendencies, all wrapped up in an arcade-style
racing package.

"Everything is exaggerated reality, except for the stuff that really matters," Avent said.

We watched both male and female riders perform insane mile-high tricks
on two stages: Montana and Italy. The former showed off the game's
dirt-flinging graphics and the latter showcased its ability to create
panoramic vistas. After hitting the turbo to launch high above the
track, we watched riders land tricks like Christ airs, tweak airs, and
signature moves (accessed by filling the trick meter entirely) like the
rockstar and lazygirl.

In the latter, a female character turned backward on her ATV, lay down
with her head coyly in one hand and kicked up her heel, all while
sailing over a cavernous cliff as racers zoomed below. Land a trick
just right and it can take you to a secret route. Land it even better,
and you can jump entire sections of the track.

There's still a lot we don't know about Pure, including how it plays.
It looked good on screen, despite some slowdown and stuttering here and
there, but since we didn't have our hands on the controls, we can't say
whether Pure will jump to the highest heights or crumple into a smoking
heap once it hits its release date.

We do know the game will support 16-player online multiplayer (but no
local multiplayer) and that it will use a licensed soundtrack that the
company is holding out on choosing until the last possible minute to
keep it current.

As far as racer and vehicle licensing goes, Black Rock still isn't
ready to talk about what may or may not be included. The ATVs we saw
had no logos or brand names on them, and there were no ads or sponsor
names to be seen. We're not sure if that means the game is going solo
or if it means licensing deals are still being hammered out.

According to Avent, Pure still has five months of development time to
go and is scheduled for a Fall release. Maybe then he can get some
sleep.