MX vs ATV Legends is a fine game. It’s fine. It does the job that Rainbow Studios promised it would, and does it well. However, as this MX vs ATV Legends review will attest, it’s not a flawless experience. In fact, ‘rough around the edges’ would be putting it mildly.
Despite it’s name, MX vs ATV Legends actually offers three types of vehicles for players to drive. MX dirt bikes, ATVs and UTVs. This collection has become a tradition, though it’s far less of a variety than in the classic MX vs ATV Unleashed. Furthermore, there appears to be very little difference – if any at all – in the performance between vehicles as you upgrade. This may well be an error, as at the time of writing this MX vs ATV Legends review, the stats bars for every vehicle and upgrade part were identical.

Unlike the Supercross series, MX vs ATV has often taken a more approachable angle to dirt bike racing. MX vs ATV Legends doesn’t stray too far from this path. The tutorial teaches you the finer points of acceleration and braking, as would be expected, but also leaning using the right analogue stick. However, while this may improve your lap times you can often ignore it (or turn it off altogether) in favour of more traditional braking to slow you entry and accelerating out of corners.
None of this should suggest that MX vs ATV Legends is an easy game however. Far from it. Whether you’re racing MX, ATV or UTV, you’ll often find that one misjudged landing can put you right to the back of the pack. Closing the distance isn’t just about speed; it’s about the precision cornering and your position on the vehicle as you go in and out of every bump and jump on the course. Of which, there are many.
The track design is one of the best elements of MX vs ATV Legends. To begin with you’ll be racing around the usual assortment of circuits with bumps and jumps. Very familiar. However, not too long into the game you’ll find point-to-point races, snowy hillclimbs, and tight, winding caverns ahead of you.

From a technical standpoint, MX vs ATV Legends is somewhat of a disappointment. While the game doesn’t look too bad, there are significant texture loading delays. This is most prevalent during the menus for customisation and vehicle purchase, where it arguably matters most. Furthermore, the loading between races and your compound is painfully long (tested on Xbox Series X).
The flaws may be minor, but they stack up into a rather large pile. This brings down the attractiveness of the game significantly. What is a very enjoyable racing experience is marred by a series of avoidable errors. There may well be room for Rainbow Studios to fix the numerous issues in post-launch patches, but nearly two years into the current-generation we should be expecting more. Ultimately, MX vs ATV Legends is a good MX game, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of room for improvement.
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