MAVRIX review evaluates if this is the best downhill mountain biking game
If you have been sinking hundreds of hours into games like Descenders, Riders Republic, or even the lesser known Mountain Bike Adrenaline from the old days, there is a new contender on the block. MAVRIX, developed by Third Kind Games, is an early access mountain biking game featuring a massive 100 square kilometre open world. It promises blistering speeds and dangerous hills, but is it ready for the main stage.
British mountain biker Matt Jones leads the game, who also works as a slopestyler and YouTube star. He serves as the mascot who represents the brand like Tony Hawk does for skating, but players can start the game without knowing his identity. The game is on Early Access status on Steam, xbox and PS5. The game offers players a promising experience, which still requires development to reach its full potential.
MAVRIX achieves its goal by providing players who want to ride technical paths with an accessible and arcadelike experience. The game uses a unique control scheme, which assigns front brakes to left triggers and back brakes to right triggers while players use left analog stick to steer and right stick to shift body weight. The system enables users to maintain control during fast movement and whenever they execute midair maneuvers.
The physics engine functions as intended, but it creates an experience which displays some flaws. The game provides players with a more forgiving experience when compared to the extreme difficulty found in Descenders. Players can touch rocks without crashing, and they can sometimes survive falling off cliffs because it creates a bouncing effect. The system hinders gameplay flow, while players attempt to maintain authentic physics behavior, which the game system strives to emulate.
The game enables players to execute scrubs, flips, whips, and 360s, yet these currently lack the ability to combine for high scores which Tony Hawk games provide. Players can only use the items to achieve special challenge tasks and show off their style.
The official track system provides players with an official track, which they must ride down before using the chairlift to unlock new areas and multiplayer modes. The downhill sections create an exciting experience, which requires players to use bunny hops between platforms and execute complicated jumps.
The exploration system creates the main problem. The chairlifts serve as the only fast travel option across the gigantic map. The momentum of pushbike navigation gets interrupted when traveling at 50km/h on flat or uphill paths. The game restricts you to pedaling only, unlike Riders Republic which lets you switch to a wingsuit. The near lifts can create boredom because the track directs you to an area which requires kilometers of travel.
The game creates its main groove through Matt Jones’s mandatory introduction video, which players need to watch again after every crash before reaching their first save point. The game presents players with a charming experience that brings therapeutic benefits through its therapeutic qualities. The game displays PS4 era visual style, which includes beautiful landscapes that players can see when they move through the game.
The audio creates a Zen experience. The punk rock stations might not hit the mark for everyone, but the radio station featuring blissful, calming tracks perfectly complements a lonely ride down a rocky path.
Moolah (ingame currency) and sponsors serve as the primary components which lead to progress. You can unlock new clothing items and new helmet designs and new bike designs. The game allows you to purchase currency using real money, however, all items you obtain through this method serve only cosmetic purposes, which eliminates the possibility of paytowin advantages. Players can invite friends to join multiplayer matches, while the open world brings random riders, who create a feeling of presence in the gaming environment.
The optimization of MAVRIX shows mixed results at this point in development. The gaming experience on midrange hardware delivers good performance results. The game runs at 30fps in 4K Epic settings on highend rigs which include RTX 4080 and Intel i9. To achieve 80fps performance, we needed to lower our settings to 1440p and Medium settings.
The game currently lacks upscaling technologies, which include DLSS and FSR. The game exists in Early Access state, yet developers have provided updates about suspension physics and new tracks while they still need to overcome optimization problems.
PROS
- Massive 100km open world to explore.
- Satisfying, granular dual-stick control scheme.
- Therapeutic "Zen" gameplay loop with great chill music.
- No pay-to-win mechanics.
- Forgiving physics make it accessible to newcomers.
CONS
- Poor optimization on high-end PCs (No DLSS/FSR).
- Lack of fast travel makes exploration tedious.
- Mandatory, unskippable intro video if you fail early.
- Physics can feel unrealistic/bouncy.
- Graphical fidelity feels dated (PS4 era).
Recommendation: Must-play for mountain bike enthusiasts; "Wait for Sale/Updates/Final Version" for casual fans.
MAVRIX remains unsuitable for most players at this time. The game suffers from two main issues, which include its exploration limitations and its technical performance problems. The game presents players with an exciting extreme sports experience which reveals enjoyable gameplay beneath its rough exterior. The game received a Mostly Positive rating on Steam, which gives Third Kind Games a chance to turn this game into a cult classic.
Pc Version Tested.
Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from Devs
