Five different types of race are available. The Tournament mode comprises of 40 events in all. Indeed, you'd better get used to them as certain sections of the Tournament mode requires a plentiful supply of stunts. They're simple enough to put into effect by holding down A and pulling the left stick in any direction. These stunts provide further boost power and besides being fun to implement, can be vital to gaining enough speed to win a race.

There's further arcade moments in the game's pre-occupation with performing stunts.

These boosts make you quickly realise that Mad Riders owes more to something like Mario Kart than a 'serious' off-road sim. Learning to powerslide is a skill that will take racing fans no time at all to master, hold down the brake as you turn a corner, thus taking the corner tighter, faster and invoking an increase to the boost meter. Controls are quite straight forward with accelerating down to pressing RT and boost requiring a tap of X. The Proving Grounds provides the first set of races in the Tournament mode and gradually ups the difficulty thus easing the player in. Sure, it's a relatively minor flaw in the grand scheme of things but first impressions count and this was the spelling equivalent of burping while on a date.įortunately, Mad Riders redeems itself swiftly with a comprehensive tutorial. Then I noticed that tapping LT would cause me to 'break'. The first loading screen provided me with the basic instructions for controlling my quad bike. As a writer and general fan of correct spelling and grammar, Mad Riders didn't get off to a great start with me.