MX vs ATV Legends

My first impression of MX vs ATV Legends was that someone had the right idea but shipped it about six months too early. Rainbow Studios throws you into three distinct disciplines - motocross bikes, ATVs, and UTVs - and the difference in quality between them is wide enough to ride a UTV through. The dirt bikes are genuinely the star of the show: nailing a seat-bounce before a big jump, threading berms and ruts, and threading a tight rhythm section at speed delivers a rush that casual players can appreciate and hardcores can grind toward mastering. The handling sits closer to the arcade end of the spectrum rather than a full simulation, which makes it more approachable than something like MXGP. The ATVs are a reasonable middle ground too, stable enough to be forgiving for newcomers. The UTVs, though, feel stiff and clunky, and you will spend a surprising amount of time stuck on environmental geometry wondering what just happened. The career is the main draw and it is a long one, structured across seasons with MX, ATV, and UTV events rotating week by week. You cannot simply focus on the bike class you enjoy most - the game forces you to cycle through all three, which means your fun-factor swings wildly depending on which discipline shows up. There are sponsorship choices and branching paths in the career, which sounds interesting on paper, but the actual narrative wrapper around all of it is forgettable filler. The Trails mode is a genuine highlight though: large outdoor environments with checkpoints, chaotic terrain variety, and a looser feel that works well with friends. If the whole game played like Trails, this conversation would go very differently. The multiplayer situation needs a honest look if you are buying this for couch sessions. Two-player split-screen is supported, which matters for the Saturday night crew, and there is a 16-player online mode with squad-based racing. The online experience at launch was rough, with server issues and multiplayer bugs reported widely, and the AI in single-player events is notorious for rubber-banding that punishes you mid-race after you have done everything right. Four-player split-screen is not on the table, which is a miss for anyone who organises living room racing nights. For two players on the couch, it works. For a full squad, you are looking at online only and your mileage will vary. Visually, the game presents decently from a distance but the texture pop-in is hard to ignore, NPC animations are low-budget, and audio bugs at launch - some loud enough to be described as speaker-damaging static - left a bad taste. Post-release patches have addressed some of these, and the Steam review trajectory has trended positive as updates rolled out, with Season 5 content bringing new tracks and manufacturer vehicle packs as recently as 2026. The DLC model is worth flagging: real-world brands like Kawasaki, Yamaha, KTM, and others arrive as paid packs, so the base game's vehicle roster is lighter than genre veterans might expect. The upgrade and tuning system exists but feels shallow, with limited feedback on what new parts actually do. For the off-road faithful who have been starved of options on PC - and who can find this at a discount - there is enough here to justify an afternoon. The Trails mode, the bike handling at its best, and the arcade-leaning physics mean total newcomers will not be completely lost. Just do not expect split-screen for four, do not expect a polished career mode, and do not expect the UTVs to make you smile. Go in with appropriately managed expectations, maybe wait for a sale, and stick mostly to the dirt bikes.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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