Hmm...doesn't seem too bad. The graphics are pretty decent for a DS game and it runs smooth. I even noticed some light animation in the billboards around the track. It takes at least 1 lap to get used to the controls....it turns slow at first, then fast, which can be a bit disconcerting initially. Like I said though, within 1 lap I had the control down pat. Seems to move a little slow, but I only ran 2 quicky arcade mode races beyond my initial "getting used to the controls" race. I'm sure later ATV's will be faster. So far, I've only seen two types of pickups as you ride; a money pickup and boost pickups. You must be pretty dead-on hitting the pickups to collect them. I think some of the other buttons are used for stunts or something during jumps, but I hate doing stunts in a racing game, so I didn't try it. I don't think they are absolutely necessary from what I could tell, but maybe they become necessary during the World Tour, I don't know.
There are 3 modes of play; World Tour, Arcade and Time Trial. I have no idea how many tracks the games has.
A to accelerate, I assume B is to brake, though I tend to never use brakes if I can avoid it, so I'm not 100% sure on that.
If you push down on the d-pad, the rider will stand up on the ATV, plus it will tilt the ATV back in a jump. Pushing up will tilt the ATV forward during a jump. Hit the L button for speed boost (after collecting them). If there are any other controls for the other buttons, I didn't notice them.....probably for stunts, if there are any. There are no options to set the controls, they just are what they are.
Sound is at least competent with appropriate sounding noises for water and bumps and stuff. Music is generic guitar rock fare.
You can select the color of the rider and ATV from a pre-set amount of colors. In arcade mode, you can select from 3 to 5 laps per race, various tracks. Race types are; Sprint, Endurance and Race Meet A and B. I'm not sure about what the differences between race types are at this point though. In World Tour, laps and race types are all preset. I assume as you progress through World Tour mode that you will also be able to unlock other ATV's because there is a selector for the ATV, though I only have the one to choose from right now. I'll also assume that the money is used for buying/unlocking stuff. Why else would you care about the money pickups otherwise, you know?
I played on the default medium level and I won easily, so I hope the hard difficulty will make it more challenging. 3 difficulties; easy, medium and hard. It didn't seem like the AI was excessively rubber band either as I left them in the dust. But during my "learning the controls" lap, they dusted me and I couldn't quite catch them by the end of the race. The 2 tracks I played had very different graphics, so it doesn't all just look the same every race.
I'll refrain from giving any kind of rating at this point since I haven't played enough of it to tell if it gets faster or more challenging yet, but at least I didn't feel like deleting it instantly like all the previous ATV games I've played on the DS.
Load times seem longer than they should be for such a small game, but nothing too drastic. I think it's tolerable.
If you remember, Sideswiped was a pretty small game too, and that rocked, so don't judge it by the file size. It's certainly the best ATV racer I've played on the DS thus far. If ATV Wild Ride is better than this, then that will be really something.
I'd say this is at least worth a look for DS racing game fans.
And finally, here's a gameplay vid I found on Youtube where the dude is running the first World Tour race, so you can judge for yourself if it's worth your time or not:
[youtube]AC7lSvdvmIg[/youtube]