If Resistance: Fall Of Man was the Playstation 3 launch title that got most people interested on day one, Motorstorm can't have been that far behind, certainly if the sales figures are anything to be believed.

An arcade-esque racing game, with all the action taking place off-road, the first thing you'll notice about it is that it's a visual feast. Especially when hooked up to a high-definition display, the game not only looks superb, but it holds a high frame rate and is a compelling argument in favour of the PS3's sheer technical potential. But more than that, it's really good fun to play too, albeit only in the short to medium term.

The idea is simple. Set around the fictional MotorStorm Festival, which brings together a variety of off-roading vehicles to race across some brutal terrains, the scene is set for a collection of testing, fast-moving and decidedly nasty races, where the, ahem, 'competitive spirit' of the AI opposition is as much a test as it is to take first place.

Individual races have small route choices you need to make throughout: for instance, if you have a smaller, more mobile vehicle you'd be wise to not drive or ride it through the boggiest elements of a particular course. And each of the different vehicles you're offered - which range from cars, mud buggies, 4x4s, bikes and more - has pros and cons and there's a real, sometimes frustrating challenge to getting the measure of them all.

The developers also make much noise about the fact that the many other vehicles that inhabit a course worry little about churning it up and making it harder for those who follow them, and truthfully, it does add a small extra challenge to the action. But the 20-plus courses alone offer enough of a test for most people.

When MotorStorm hits its proverbial top gear, it's exciting, wildly entertaining and as much fun as you can currently get on the PlayStation 3. But it's nonetheless a limited dish. There's not much in the way of breadth to the game and the limited single player mode fails to mix things up. So while the main MotorStorm event is good fun and will keep you busy for some time, there's very much a limit to how much entertainment and, subsequently, value for money the game offers.

Should you buy it? If you're looking for a showcase for your new console and you like arcade racing games, then it's a fairly sound buy. But for everyone else, caution is advised: it looks great, it plays well, but it's not likely to last as long as you'd like.

A multimedia and technological feast, and a good racing game too. But it lacks long term staying power.