It has become something of a tradition to try and squeeze a big name console franchise onto Sony’s portable machine and the results have been mixed, often because games that get ported just aren’t suitable for a handheld experience. Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, which was developed in conjunction with a PS2 version, is the latest stab at trying to get the balance right.

Pop in the UMD (or download if you’ve got a fancy PSP Go) and you’re greeted with a familiar pumping soundtrack and a ridiculous intro. So far, so good.

The bulk of the racing is done within the ‘Festival’ mode, which is in essence the game’s career mode. Here you’re presented with a spiral grid of 100 events, which are split into different ranks. Progression through the races by getting placed in the top three allows you to move up in rank and work your way to the top of the grid.

Controls are intuitive and work surprisingly well. The right shoulder button is used to accelerate, the left is for braking and X gives you the all-important nitrous boost. Unusually for a PSP game I managed to work with the analogue nub rather then automatically going for the D-pad. Other then Ridge Racer this is the only racer I’ve been able to feel completely comfortable with on a handheld.

Without a doubt my favourite thing about Motorstorm has always been the incredible track design, and this PSP outing is no exception. There are 12 tracks on offer, which may not sound a great deal, but when you consider the many different routes available to you in one race the game's replay value truly shows. The snow-covered environments are diverse and look great with sharp turns and steep hills to fight. There are also a number of environmental set pieces throughout the races including sheer drops and avalanches, which can sometimes seem a little unfair but at least it helps keep things interesting.

If you need a bit of practice there is the ‘Wreckreation’ mode (see what they did there?) which lets you take part in time-trials and practice with any vehicle you have unlocked in the main game on any of the tracks. There is also of course the Multi-player. This gives up to 8 players the opportunity to smash into each other either in Ad-Hoc mode or online and includes online leaderboards. As with the PS3 this is probably where the most fun is to be had, especially during some of the more frantic races.

Cramming the essence of PS3 Motorstorm onto the PSP must have been a challenge for Bigbig Studios but they have done it with style. The game is a little rough around the edges, particularly with regards to the physics and car visuals but when it plays this well you can’t really complain.