MotoGP 09/10

Review from AJ - Friday, 21 May 2010 @ 11:47am

MotoGP is a weird sport. Unlike car racing which has the definitive pinnacle format (F1), Motorbike racing has the competing Superbike and MotoGP formats. As an armchair viewer, I couldn’t possibly tell you what the difference is, and frankly I couldn’t care less. That should sum up my impression of the sport as a whole. Having said that, I still tend to downloaded and do a few laps of just about every motorbike racing demo that’s ever come out. They intrigue me, yet they always suffer the same problem: it takes actual skill. I don’t like games where I have to try. I like my character to level up, not me. It’s the same reason I refuse to play Guitar Hero on Expert. If I want to put that much time into achieving that degree of skill, I’d have to time to learn to play a real guitar. Same goes for motorbikes. I want the experience without the effort, that's why I'm a gamer and not a pro-anything.

Brrrrrmmmm brrrrrrrmmmm brrrrmmmmmmm

If first impressions are anything to go by MotoGP 09/10 is most definitely NOT a 9/10. After running through a quick race you immediately notice that the game reeks of a certain 1990’s “charm”. When a bike runs in to the back of you, you’re catapulted forward contrary to the laws of physics and conservation of momentum. When you crash you’re seemingly treated to one of the same 3 animations regardless of how the incident occurs. As your rider slides into your bike (and yes I do mean INTO) and out the other side, the undamaged union of two impossibly linked meshes makes you wonder why they bothered doing the animation at all. The best part for me, however, is being passed by 3 bikes during your Qualifying lap only to find that you’ve somehow managed to snatch pole position! Einstein and Relativity theories be damned! How can someone start the lap behind me, finish in front of me and yet NOT have completed the lap faster?!?!! Whilst these may be mere details to many people, I found the whole thing to be jarring and unpleasant. Fortunately, the harsh non-realism fits perfectly with the harsh non-realism of the rest of the game, leaving you to almost be able to excuse it as being just an “arcade racer”.

Why do I feel like caffeine right now?

If the game were just an arcade racer, however, that would be the end of the review. But fortunately, MotoGP for all its oddities has a lot of redeeming features. Not unlike many other racing games, the Career mode of MotoGP has you start your career in the lowest of low series, the 125cc. You don’t realise just how slow these bikes are until you’re invited up into a 250cc or 500cc race. The contrast in speed is nothing short of amazing. This is seriously teeth gritting stuff. Also like many other racers, MotoGP has you sign up sponsors, customise your livery, and choose your manufacturer. There is nothing amazing about any of that. What is interesting, for me at least, was the ability to hire a team of professionals around you.

Unlike most games where upgrades are just a matter of money, MotoGP has you researching upgrades. Upgrades can take a matter of weeks (game time), and require you to hire engineers to do the research. As your reputation gets higher, you can hire more skilled engineers, which in turn allows you to research better gear for your bike. If you want something in a hurry, you can put on more engineers. Each engineer has a different set of skills meaning you need to ensure you have a well balanced team. The whole thing is a bit light-weight really, and I would've loved more fine grained control over my research, but then I suppose this isn't an RTS. Of course there is a catch. Engineers can be quite expensive, and if you’re hiring the best of the best, you better make sure you’re winning enough money to pay for them.

Money is earned predominately through sponsors, and like research, you need to hire a team to help you get sponsors. You have to hire a promotions team to get good sponsors to earn money to pay for a better promotions team (and engineers). As the sponsors start paying more, the requirements to keep them happy get tougher. Whilst initially finishing in the points is enough to earn you a tidy sum, as time goes on you’ll find yourself needing to be at the pointy end of the field in every race just to keep the sponsors happy. Unhappy sponsors means you’ll pretty quickly find yourself unable to pay your staff, and your team can end up in a downward spiral. All is not lost, however, as winning races will quickly see you back in the riches. The whole system works really well, and adds an extra dimension to an otherwise pretty basic game.

Hire your lackies, but don't forget to pay them... they get pissed!

There is a fine balance between maintaining the best team and being able to afford them. Each time you hire, you’ll need to pay an upfront fee, and this can get pretty damned expensive. If your team is a revolving door with a high staff turnover, you’ll find yourself broke in no time. Similarly, whilst it is always great to get that next best sponsor, it is often better to maintain a longer relationship with a sponsor in order to get higher payment bonuses. The same is true for changing manufacturer. You can get yourself a new bike at any time, but you’ll lose all the research you’ve done on the previous brand’s bike. I found this detail refreshing from many games where changing team and manufacturer often can be done from race to race without consequence.

The fact that the off-track game is more engaging than the racing itself says something about the overall lack of cohesion this game suffers. At times it seems like a pretty decent team simulator, but then other times it comes off feeling like a simple arcade racer. That should be a good thing, but jumping from Gran Turismo to Mario Kart can be a pretty jarring experience.

The weather is one of the biggest highlights. I'm not sure if that is a good thing?

Whilst the game for all intents and purposes is a racing sim, it has some distinctly “arcade” traits. Your rider earns reputation for each practice, qualifying and race session. This reputation is won by fast laps, clean sections, overtaking, and sticking to the racing lines. It is lost from collisions, losing a position, crashes and heading off-road. Strangely, the game also rewards you for “showboating” moves such as wheelies, and shaking your fist at random riders, which sadly just don’t quite fit. In addition to this, the game will also throw challenges at you mid-race. These range from overtaking a certain rider, hitting a predetermined top speed on the next straight, or even being aggressive to other riders. The disappointing thing for these mini-challenges is that they are often a serious distraction and can cause you to lose places or even crash by taking unnecessary risks. This is especially true for top speed and overtake challenges which will often have you hanging on to the accelerator for longer than you really should’ve, leaving you out on to the grass and ruining your chances of a win. Of course, that is half the fun of it I suppose.

MotoGP 09/10 also features your standard quick-race and championship modes if you want to skip all the “interesting” stuff. But to be honest, these other modes only serve to highlight the games weaknesses. The best part of this game is the hard fought progression from the bottom of the heap to the top of the 500cc class. On medium difficulty you will most definitely need your skills to progress through the game. As a whole it’s not overly tough, but you can be sure that any win is hard fought win. Along the way if you fail to properly upgrade your bike, or fail to manage your team the game gets real tough, real quick. You just can’t compete without a well maintained bike, and that desire sets a whole range of fun little side tasks in motion that save what would otherwise be a pretty dull game.

Why don't helmets have wipers?

MotoGP has a lot of problems, many of which I mentioned at the top of the article. Whilst there is no commentary, the in race voiceovers are repetitive and annoying. Not only can you hear the same grabs many times in a race, but you will often here the same encouraging phrase twice in quick succession. When moving through the menus and managing your team, every little change will have the voiceover letting you know that “you have new sponsors” or “you can now hire ”. Even though in most cases there are no new sponsors or staff to hire. It’s annoying and unnecessary. Whilst the game features some pretty nice rain and wet track effects, it's annoying to see reflections not matching the objects they supposedly reflect (e.g. an overhead Red Bull sign is reflected as just a series of boxes). Whilst pretty minor, these issues really highlight a lack of polish.

Pros

Career mode. Team management. The progression from beginner to master through the various levels of MotoGP. The most ominous looking cloud cover in any racing game ever.

Cons

Annoying voice overs. Bizarre qualifying results. Dodgy crash animations. Overall, pretty dull.