RE: Game on

Mazz — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:25:52 GMT

Sorry, one thing I forgot to add to that review is the weather effects.

Yeah, rain is crap on the game, slipping and sliding all over the place, but I can't get over the way the rain is simulated. Water droplets are splattered on the screen, making harder to judge corners and speed. also, this distorts your vision too, again adding to realism and providing ample opportunities to screw up and apex or two!

Your reflextion is visable on the track too, as is a little ripple of water as you pass others, or they pass you. If you play the game, look on the trackin the wet and try and spot the wake coming from the front wheel, very effective.

Best of all though, when slipstreaming, you get tons of water spray all over the screen, making it all but impossible to see anything!

On the otherside of the spectrum is intense heat. You have the South African track to race on and there is severe heat haze ahead of you, again it makes it hard to judge distances. This however makes your eyes go weird and I get a headache looking at it for too long.

Game on

roadhoover — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:42:28 GMT

MOTOGP 2: Racing Technology

Brief Overview

What Moto GP 2 Is About:
The fastest, most advanced form of motorcycle racing is back and better than ever in MOTOGP 2. Race against the top twenty riders in the world at speeds of 180mph around turns and corners with your knee inches from the ground...

Platform: PC Games

Moto GP 2 Is Also Available On:
PlayStation 2 Xbox

Genre: Racing

ESRB Rating:
"Moto GP 2" is rated Everyone, for Suitable for Persons Ages Six and Older

Moto GP 2 Special Features:

• Fully licensed professional riders, tracks, and bikes
• 6 different single player game modes: Stunt, GP, time trial, training challenges, tag and single race
• 20 riders compete in each of the 16 tracks
• Impressive visual and particle effects system at 60 frames per second
• Ultra realistic replay mode, from a variety of dynamic camera viewpoints
• Unlock tracks, riders, bikes, and cheats as you develop your own rider’s attributes in GP and training modes.

Credits:
• Developer: Climax Group
• Publisher: THQ, Inc.

The game was created in 2003, so you have the old bikes and riders to race against. Rossi, Capirossi, Barros, Nakano, Gibernau and Biaggi are names you’re probably all aware of, but you also have Kato, Ukawa, Kenny Roberts Senior, Aoki and Vandergoorbergh. For all of you who remember the 2002 season it’ll be a blast from the past.

How else are you going to be able to skim by the rear wheel of Rossi? Beat Sete Gibernau off the mark? Or be less than 0.02sec in front going into the last lap? Well, this game has tried and, in fairness, succeeded quite well. Given the fact it was made in 2003, and without much in the way of Motorbike games to fall back on, THQ and Climax have done a decent job.

So, to the game. It’s easier to just to talk you through my experiences with it, rather than generalising on key points. (I have the PC version so all info and opinions are taken from the PC version only)

Firstly, input is through the keyboard only. I don’t have a gaming controller so everything is done through my keyboard. If you have a PC I’d suggest getting a game controller, NOT a joystick as this can get cumbersome.

Setting up your character is fun, too much fun in fact. I spent so much time creating and designing the bike and leathers that I forgot to play the game! Firstly, name your player and team you race for. These are two input fields so type in what ever, then choose your bike. There is a bit of choice, no Ducati’s in there though. The Honda NSR 500 is currently my favourite, but you have Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Aprilia and even Proton. All of whom have a choice between 500cc and 990cc machines.

Once your bike is chosen you can set up the colour scheme. Lots of different variations in colour are possible. You are asked to choose 3 different colours; Body, Graphics and Details. Once done you can match our leathers to the bike or try to recreate your Alpinestars. One very annoying factor is that the bikes all have predetermined graphics that can’t be changed. The NSR for example has ‘flames’ coming round the fairing. It’s something you have to live with, but don’t be pulled into going for a bike just because it looks good. Then choose a number.

To start with I’d recommend a 500 simply because your rider can handle it. The 990’s are too powerful and you’ll find yourself sliding the rear wheel out and falling off quite a lot. Once your attributes are up you can then look at getting a higher spec bike. During the season you can change at anytime to which ever bike you want. You will notice small differences with the bikes, but nothing that really sticks out.

Ok, the bike is ready, now you have to set your attributes. 4 categories for you to choose from; Cornering, Braking, Top Speed and Acceleration. All of these have an effect on the riders performance on track. Needless to say, the more cornering ability you have, the quicker you can flick it through a chicane (you can guess the other ones for yourself I think).

You’re ready to race.

Four modes of play are available. Career, Single Race, Time Trial and Stunt. The first 3 are fairly self explanatory but stunt…? Huh? I thought this was a MotoGP game, not a Motocross one! Alas, you have the correct game don’t worry. This game mode is rather peculiar, the idea being you pull off stunts to accumulate points and unlock new riders. Wheelies, Endos, Powerslides and actually knocking others off will gain you more points.

Career mode is the one I’ll concentrate on, the other two are easy to understand. Training first and this is a good idea. It is skipable if you want to get into

the gritty stuff though I’d recommend it. Once a task is complete you gain an attribute point to put towards your rider abilities.

To progress in the championship you must complete the race. Simple as that, it doesn’t matter what position you finish. The first track is Suzuka, Japan and racing is fun, very fun! This is the first Bike racing game I’ve owned so I was excited, but with nothing to compare it to this could sound a little ‘off’. Sitting on the start line, waiting for the red light to go off for the first time… try wiping the smile off your face! Engines revving, horns going off in the crowd, and then… you’re off. Screaming off the startline on a little 500, flying past some of the slower riders and setting yourself up for turn one. By the time turn two has come up, one of two things will have happened. Either you’ve crashed due to inexperience (like me) and left the braking way to late OR You’ve got them all before the second corner… I mean everyone.

The difficulty settings leave a lot to be desired. Great if you just starting but if you’re like me and competitive then you’ll want a close race. Forget it, especially if you’ve selected Rookie. The other bikes might not even be on the track, they’re so far behind. I grinned and bared it. If you win a race, you win more attribute points for your rider, very valuable for later stages.

As I said before, I have a keyboard so my input into control is limited. Unlike an analogue control, I’m digital. Either my throttle is fully on, or off. Analogue gives an advantage for holding speed in the corners and using varying amounts of lean angle to get the corner perfect. My keyboard goes to the extremes every time I hit the button. Don’t get me wrong, you can still compete very well with the Keyboard, but an analogue controller will allow to hone your skills quicker, and get better lap times (which incidentally will unlock the track you’re racing on in mirrored or reversed or both!) The weather is variable, only you don’t know what the weather will be (Luckily your tyres change with the weather though.) again, the analogue controller comes into it’s own in the wet. You can apply progressive amounts of throttle to get a good start, on a keyboard the wheel spins and your far behind the rest before the you get any grip at all.

It’s not just the bike you need to control either, you need to put the rider in the correct position. You’ve seen them on TV, head down kissing the tank in a straight line and fully upright when approaching a corner. The game does this well and it does make a difference too. Braking is good, you can use either front or rear braking. Be warned though, slamming the front brake on mid turn will cause you to lowside, likewise with the rear brake, but this’ll send you sky rocketing.

In single race mode you can race as any rider from the season. Baring in mind though you need to unlock them in the stunt mode first. Rossi, Checa, Biaggi, Ukawa and others are locked to begin with.

Once you’ve gotten the gist of the game you can start to play with a few bike settings, suspension, wheelbase, tyre compound and gear ratios are the only things that are changeable but do have an impact on handling and speed. Manual gears can be selected here too (automatic is the default setting), amount of laps from 1 up to the realistic amount for that track.

In conclusion then it is a good game. It’s one that you will keep coming back too once you’ve watched a race and it’s a great way of passing the time. Just trying to beat your lap time on Estoril or Sepang keeps me amused. Up to 16 players online can race at any one time but I’m yet to find a forum with like minded games who want a race. If you want a race, give me a shout!

Mazz005

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RE: Game on

Game on