In 2002 Xbox launched their take on modern day motorcycle racing in the form MotoGP. This game was hailed as the most accurate and exhilarating re-creation of the sport to date, and so when I heard that they were porting this game to the N-Gage platform I was genuinely thrilled.
The N-Gage version still hosts a varied selection of riders, motorcycles and international tracks but I’m afraid to say that it hosts all of these very badly indeed.
The game starts with an impressive intro sequence that could almost trick you into thinking that the game you are about to play is actually really good. Worryingly this sequence is by far the best thing about MotoGP and it’s such a shame considering the potential that we know this game has.
The game itself features just two tracks and a handful of riders to choose from. Additional riders and tracks do become available as and when you unlock them by competing and winning in races.
The game features a number of race modes including:
- A single race: This is one lap against computer generated opponents.
- Grand prix mode: where you must compete to win against computer generated opponents in a series of Grand Prix tournaments to unlock further tracks and riders.
- Time trials: This mode is just you against the clock, with no computer generated opponents to get in your way.
The act of racing itself leaves a lot to be desired. The controls are very unresponsive, clunky and combined with a very poor sense of speed makes this game virtually unplayable and very undesirable. The sense of speed is a real issue here, whether you are bombing along at 200mph or grinding to a halt at 2mph you will find it nearly impossible to tell any difference. This fact says it all really, how can you have a motorcycle game with no sense of speed. I would go as far as to say that the game-play is poorer then the majority of old-school arcade racing games.
The graphics of MotoGP are also very undesirable. The backgrounds are extremely flat and blocky and portray no sense of depth at all. This means that the only indication of a corner that you will have is the small unclear map of the track in the bottom left hand side of the screen.
The games developers have obviously taken the time to model many of the sports main players and bikes but this is all in vain because all you can see are blocks of pixilated colour with the odd bit of shading and there is certainly no definition between any riders or bikes.
Think it can’t get any worse? Think again because you haven’t heard the sound effects or lack of them yet. The only real sound effect in play is the noise of the bikes engine and it makes no effort in recreating any realism what so ever. There is no difference between any engine sounds and so all you can hear is one constant ‘tinny’ growl of ear splitting noise. On a brighter note though; the in-game soundtrack is not too bad and it features a pleasant selection of live but low quality music.
MotoGP does contain plenty of features like a Bluetooth multiplayer mode which is an essential part of any racing game on the N-Gage device. A well thought out track editor where you can create your own race tracks and also a rather in-depth replay mode where you can replay your race from the perspective of all riders and from up to three different camera angles. Sadly these nice little features can’t help but be overshadowed and masked by the games terrible game-play.
My final opinion is that MotoGP is a complete failure as a racing game in any shape or form. Poor blotchy graphics, un-responsive controls, No sense of speed and terrible sound effects don’t make for a good racing game in my experience. If you are a fan of MotoGP games or just racing games in general avoid this at all costs. They say that if you fall off your bike you have to get back on it straight away. My advice is to get off and stay off…
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