MX vs. ATV Unleashed

MX vs. ATV Unleashed is a motocross and off-road arcade racer from Rainbow Studios, following up on the MX Unleashed series by adding quad bikes, buggies and other vehicles alongside the classic motocross motorcycles. The player works through a career mode, collects sponsors and upgrades equipment, with the main draw being the sprawling open-air riding areas, where you can freely explore the terrain beyond the tracks, complete side challenges and look for shortcuts - a concept that became characteristic of the series and set it apart from competing motocross arcade games focused solely on closed circuits.

The game places emphasis on the physics of jumps, drifts and battles for position within a race, complemented by a trick system for jumps similar to the sports arcade games of the time. The career mode runs across disciplines from motocross to freestyle and quad races, with the money earned and sponsor points invested into new machines.

The PC version arrived nearly a year after the console releases from spring 2005 and brought extra content that was missing on PS2 and Xbox: a track and terrain editor, allowing players to build their own circuits and edit the landscape's height maps, partly even using external tools like Photoshop to create terrain textures. The graphics ran at a higher resolution than on the consoles of the time, but the controls were primarily adapted for keyboard and mouse or gamepad, while the engine and vehicle physics remained unchanged from the console original.

The delayed PC release was typical for the MX vs. ATV series in later installments too - the computer version arrived almost regularly with a delay of months to years after the console premieres, which became one of the hallmarks of how publisher THQ approached the platform throughout the series' existence. The track editor nevertheless became such a popular tool within the community that hand-built circuits and terrains circulated among players for years after the game's release.

Why play it: For fans of motocross arcade games who want to create their own tracks - the track editor remained popular among players long after release, even though the PC version arrived with the series' usual delay.