MotoGP 14 (4 DVD)
The single-player MotoGP 4 experience is divided into several
different modes. There's the requisite arcade mode and time-trial mode
found in every other racing game, as well as a challenge mode, legends
mode, and season play. There are three different classes to choose from
in the arcade, time trial, and season race modes: 125cc, 250cc, and
MotoGP. As the displacement of the engines increases, the bikes get
heavier and more powerful, making them more difficult to control. As a
result, the 125cc and 250cc classes not only add a bit of variety, but
they also make good training grounds for the MotoGP circuit. The bikes
in each class handle very differently. The 125cc bikes are nimble and
fairly easy to ride, while the MotoGP bikes require much more precise
braking and control to keep on the tarmac.
Season
mode returns with more courses and riders than in the previous MotoGP
games. After you choose your difficulty, lap count, and other settings,
you can choose a rider or create your own and participate in a 16-race
season. Before each race you can run practice laps and qualifying laps,
which are helpful for memorizing each and every turn of a track. You
earn points based on how you place in the actual race, and those points
are tallied over the course of the season, and the rider with the most
points at the end of the season is the champion. You'll get a message
from your mechanic every couple of races telling you that he wants you
to try out some new parts that the team has been working on. At this
point you can attempt a parts test, and if you pass you get to keep the
upgraded parts. The tests are all straightforward, requiring you to
reach a certain speed in a short distance, come to a stop within a
specified zone, complete a slalom course as quickly as possible, and so
on. If you fail the test, you don't get the parts. But don't worry,
because you'll get a chance at several tests throughout each season, and
while the upgraded parts are helpful, they aren't absolutely necessary.
Even though you can earn new parts, the actual tuning of the bikes in
career mode is limited to adjusting a handful of sliders for general
attributes like braking and acceleration.
The
challenges return in MotoGP 4. There are 125 challenges in all, and
while some are self-contained events that require you to meet certain
objectives as quickly as possible, others are related to your
performance in other game modes. When you complete a challenge you're
awarded a bronze, silver, or gold medal depending on your performance.
You might have to take first on a certain track, beat one of the
top-ranked riders, or win a championship in each of the three classes.
The specific focus of each challenge makes it a bit more interesting
than your average race, and if nothing else, they add plenty of replay
value to the game, since it will take you a lot of time and skill to
collect each of the three medals for all of the challenges. Doing so
will earn you GP points, which can be spent to unlock new riders, bikes,
and tracks
The different modes offer a few different
ways to play the game, but for further flexibility you can fully
customize the controls and handling characteristics of the motorcycles.
Not only can you assign commands as you see fit, but you can also toggle
settings that drastically change the way the motorcycles handle on the
track. You can turn on brake assist, which will automatically slow you
down to keep you on the track. You can essentially hold the accelerator
down the entire time when you use this feature, and as long as you turn
at the right time you'll never crash or even leave the track. It isn't
quite as useful as it sounds, because the brake assist tends to play it
very safe, which means that in most races you'll have a hard time taking
first using brake assist. Conversely, you can turn on sim mode, which
puts everything in your control and makes for a much more difficult, but
finely tuned racing experience. Sim mode requires you to use your
brakes individually, shift your weight appropriately, and use a
feather-touch on the throttle. These control features make it a very
customizable game that you can play as a simple arcade-style racer or a
very technical motorcycle racing sim. The choice is yours.
While the motorcycle controls are flexible, the artificial
intelligence in the game is anything but. Computer-controlled characters
aren't very forgiving, and they provide a decent challenge even on the
easiest difficulty setting. If you race poorly, your opponents won't
slow down to let you catch up, which means that if you make even a
slight mistake, you'll have to fight hard to regain your position. But
even though the AI provides a challenge, it just feels very rigid, as
your opponents keep the same line throughout the entire race. You'll
rarely see an opponent stray from that line, even if it means riding
right into your rear tire. When you do make contact with another rider,
you'll usually just bounce off like a bumper car.
The most important new addition to the MotoGP series this year is online
play, which allows for eight-player races on any of the tracks in any
of the three classes. Finding a game is relatively easy, as you're just
plunked down in a lobby where you can browse available sessions and
choose one to your liking. Unfortunately there's no matchmaking
features, which makes choosing a match something of a crap shoot. If you
want to play it safe you can create your own session and set the track,
number of laps, bike class, collisions, bots, and whether or not you
want to allow tuned bikes. In our experience the online play was smooth
and lag-free, and the greatest shortcoming of what is otherwise a very
welcome addition to the series is the fact that races are limited to
eight riders. Racing against seven riders just doesn't quite measure up
when you're used to going up against a pack of 20 in a season race.
The presentation in MotoGP 4 is functional, but it feels dated. The
interface is dull and gray, the music is muted and generic, and the
tracks, while authentic, don't look especially eye-catching. The
backgrounds are grainy and flat, and if you look closely you'll see some
unsightly seams and flickering textures on the track surfaces. The
riders and bikes look and sound good for the most part, especially
during the races. From certain angles, though, you'll notice that the
bike tires aren't anywhere close to round. You also don't get much of a
sense of speed from the game. Part of the reason for that is that most
of the tracks don't provide a lot of room for you to really open up the
throttle. But even when you do reach speeds of 200 miles per hour or
more it doesn't feel especially exciting. For the most part you wouldn't
even know you were going any faster than usual if it weren't for the
high-pitched whine of the engine. At least the frame rate is able to
keep pace though, and it remains solid throughout the game.
MotoGP 4 is a late entry into a very crowded field of racing games for
the PlayStation 2. The core gameplay is still as fun and flexible as
ever, and the addition of online play is a welcome, if very tardy, one.
Despite being slightly out-of-date, MotoGP 4 is still a good way to get
your racing fix.