“Land impossible, gravity-defying tricks as you soar over breathtaking landscapes and race your way to victory.”

Pure initially appears somewhat derivative and shallow. Another offroad, out-of-control racing game? But that’s hardly a consideration when you’re soaring through the air above a gorgeous vista, flinging a bulky ATV around like its a hula hoop, busting as many tricks as possible before the wheels touch ground, whereupon you deploy the boost earned by your aerial daredevilry to get even more air on the next jump. And it’s not really a true impression, either, once you start settling into its distinct rhythms.

With buttery controls and exhilarating presentation, this penultimate game from Black Rock Studio (formerly Climax Racing, and thus intimately familiar with extreme sports racing games) is all about the pedal-to-the-metal thrill, with courses and animations tailored to its arcade-styled, trick-centric gameplay. I’m no racing game aficionado, but my general observation is that racing games tend to feel a little samey after a while, a little ho-hum. Not so with Pure, where efficient racing isn’t a matter of drafting and drifting and downshifting just so, but of stringing together an endless series of reckless tricks, boosting at the most advantageous moments, and identifying the quickest route through the branching tracks.

In order to pull off the eye-popping stunts that will net you the most nitrous, you need to rattle off a few smaller ones to build up your reserves first. However, the tricks and the boost pull from the same source, resulting in an endless balancing act that must be conducted on the fly. It’s this element that gives Pure is a distinct edge in a crowded genre. Tricks and light combat have both been combined with racing before, but Black Rock Studio manages to bring them together into a slick, intuitive, eminently enjoyable package.

At first you’ll find yourself losing even though you thought you did alright. Then you’ll find yourself eating dirt as you try to up your game. Finally, hopefully, you’ll be improbably squeezing in monster stunts off tiny bumps in the track or ramping at the perfect angle to cling to hidden ridgeline shortcuts. You’ll be euphorically zipping around while your competitors, no longer capable of besting you, and their quad-bikes, no longer connected to their riders, rain down around you like cats and dogs.

If it has a flaw, it’s that the adrenaline rush isn’t constant. There are more conventional races to be won, a bunch of meaningless customization, and so on. But when it’s firing on all cylinders, Pure is a blast.