There are multiple vehicles and different environments to race around in Rainbow Studios Locomotive Games and THQ Nordic's MX vs ATV Legends. This new racing game has MX, ATV, and UTV career modes, as well as local or online multiplayer and outdoor environments to openly explore. There are also some customization options and other collectibles to find, but, unfortunately, there are also a lot of performance issues.
At the start of the game, the only career mode available is MX, but it doesn't take long to unlock the ATV and UTV careers. Regardless of the career mode, each race will earn the driver more fans, which will eventually be needed to unlock new events. Placing in one of the top spots for each race makes it easier to progress and access the later portions of career mode that are locked behind a required fanbase.
The basics of steering and driving are intuitive and easy to learn, but jumping is controlled by using multiple inputs to precisely indicate how the vehicle hits a jump and how high it goes. However, this mechanic also causes some issues with direction control after hitting a jump, and it's very easy to go off-track. The MX and UTV vehicles have a lot of control issues in general that make it hard to race around narrow tracks or properly hit sharp turns. ATVs are better for precision races, but they still feel a bit too clunky in career mode.
Career mode for each vehicle type has a linear progression that eventually leads to repeating tracks in the exact same order. Multiplayer mode in MX vs ATV Legends can help to break up some of the repetitiveness in career mode, but the available tracks are the same. There are some point-to-point races and others that have two or three laps to complete. Additionally, there are several different types of races, including narrow tracks with a lot of tight turns and open areas with opportunities to perform tricks following high jumps. Environments range from dirt track arenas to snowy mountains or open canyons. With each race that's completed in career mode, regardless of what place the driver comes in, more fans and money will be earned.
While progressing in career mode, new sponsorships will be offered, and different customization options will be unlocked. The Garage is used to change a vehicle's cosmetics and performance stats using parts that can be purchased after earning money from races. However, all of the vehicles start with the exact same stats and have the same parts available, so buying more vehicles to customize and upgrade is pointless. The Locker is also available to customize the appearance of the driver, but the options are somewhat limited as far as color and style.
There are a lot of performance issues on PlayStation 5 that really ruin any positive experience to be had in MX vs. ATV Legends. Along with frequent crashing, there are pieces of certain tracks that may disappear, as well as problems with freezing, input lag, and clunky animations throughout. The issues are too abundant to ignore and can be incredibly frustrating when they lead to attempting the same race multiple times. Unfortunately, most of the fun the game offers is eclipsed by the many performance issues that are extremely frequent, at least on PlayStation 5.
With the existence of massive performance issues, MX vs ATV Legends just can't compete with any of the top racing games. The best part of the game is driving around in free mode and exploring open areas with a good soundtrack playing in the background. However, actually racing is a struggle, and it's hard to enjoy coming in first place after repeating a race due to glitches. Overall, MX vs ATV Legends has frustrating, repetitive content that lacks any significantly rewarding experience.
MX vs ATV Legends is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. Screen Rant was provided a digital PlayStation 5 download code for the purpose of this review.