Parents' Guide to MX vs. ATV Legends

For over a decade and a half, the MX vs. ATV franchise brought the two-wheeled acrobatics of motocross bikes and four-wheeled fun of all-terrain vehicles together firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, MX vs. ATV Legends has come rolling in to the series with flat tires and an empty tank of gas. On the upside, the game's playable and there's some fun to be had when racing against friends in online or split-screen matchups. On the downside, just about everything else never even gets off the starting line.

Visually, the game's a mixed bag. While the tracks and environments have some good detail, the same can't be said about the people and vehicles. Worse still, the visuals stutter and break apart when doing something as simple as changing your look at the Locker. From an audio standpoint, the game's licensed soundtrack is wasted since you can barely hear it over the engine and other vehicle sounds. What you're left with instead is an endless stream of white noise. Basic controls like throttle, braking, and steering are easy enough, but using any of the other more advanced moves is a frustrating mess. This is made even worse if you decide to enable the custom camera, which inexplicably uses some of the same buttons as operating your vehicle. As it stands, MX vs. ATV Legends is a mess of a game that either needs more tune-up time in the garage or a trip to the virtual junkyard.