Pure

(Disney Interactive for PS3 and Xbox 360)
By Mike Delano

Pure is the surprise hit of 2008. From out of nowhere comes the news that Disney Interactive (who?) is developing an arcade-style ATV racer, and the finished product outdoes every ATV title ever made and nearly every arcade racer. As an off-road hybrid of the speed-obsessed Burnout series and the trick-mania of the Tony Hawk and SSX titles, Pure finds a way to satisfy fans of those games while never bowing to either end of the spectrum. Race fiends get an incredibly loud, fast, and intense single-player career mode and fully-featured 16-player online races on courses so vast and gorgeous that they put their closest competition, Motorstorm, to shame. Trick fans get a variety of over-the-top tricks that build in complexity as you race well; they feed a meter that enables either nastier tricks or boost for improving your position. A freestyle mode forces players to hit as many big-time tricks as possible while capturing power-ups littering the courses, and the online freeride mode strips away all objectives and time limits, allowing a group of racers to outdo each other with the fastest times and craziest tricks. With sterling presentation throughout and an adrenalized experience with every session, Pure easily stands with Burnout Paradise as the best racing game of the year.
(http://disney.go.com/disneyinteractivestudios)