Moto GP 15 - Maxi-Geek Review

For all the time I game, I have never really given much stock to racing games based on real world competitions, not for any particular reasons, just I never thought to which made my time with Moto GP 15 all the sweeter, even with the odd sour patch.

After the game played a very nice intro video, I jumped into the tutorial, simply because I needed to learn how to ride the bikes. You can play with a variety of settings, for those like me starting out, the casual is perfect, for the more advanced players. At first, I started racing around in quick race mode, simply because I wanted to feel the need for speed, but it seems that I was quick to think of myself as a rider, as I came last and then again in the next race and the ones after that. 

It seems that while Moto GP 15 is open to new players, it's not as forgiving as you might hope, in fact it took me quite a few races, but I eventually started learning the ropes and was able to move away from last to almost last. Once I had the basics mastered, I decided it was time to try my luck in the Moto GP itself. When I selected it, I was shown a great video, footage from races over the years, the riders in them and it lead up to the hype that is Moto GP, it was pretty cool and from there I was able to create my own rider, select my number and country and then it was time to ride. 

Before every track, in the career and the single races, a nice video shows off the city that track is set in, the problem with this is that each time you load up a track you see the same video for that track, even worse is that the music is the same for each video and it's not the greatest of music. Thankfully they can be skipped, which brings you one step closer to the race itself. Before you start the race, you have the options to modify the bike to settings better for the track and the conditions, you can also interact with the engineer and once your pre-race preparations are taken care of, the race can begin.

When you are on the track, with the variety of options at your disposal, you will get a different racing experience, but for me the fun was in trying to learn how to deal with the breaking system. As bikes are different to cars the breaks need to be applied gently, but also on the bike they can be applied on their own, meaning that slamming the front break down will cause the bike to lurch forward, which is something that I discovered early on. It is with this breaking system and the balance of the bike that will challenge new comers the most, but the tracks will also challenge you.

Through my time in the career mode, I enjoyed the racing, learning the track and working out how close to the corner I needed to be before I applied the brakes or how fast I could go around the corner, how close I could be to the edge. Each track I went to had me repeating this learning process, but race after race I found myself getting better and better. I never achieved a first place, but I did squeak in a third once, which had me smiling like I had won. While I am not a great racer, the game does not punish me for that, it is very forgiving on the easier difficulties and the harder ones less so, but it does not work like Mario Kart, if you make it to first, you need to fight for your position.

The one area that looked strange was the visuals, it's clear when you get close ups of the digital form that Milestone know bikes and gear really well, but not faces, they are generally flat with odd looks to them. While not the most annoying thing, it does break the feeling of the game when everything else is pretty spot on. The other visual blemish is that some textures are really slow to load, which is saying something when the load times are as long as they are.

The tracks are well detailed and when the weather changes and the rain starts to come down, they really do look great, the bikes themselves also shine when in the rain, literally. Trees and stands look good enough when you are going slow, but as the game is meant to be played at speed, this is not a really issue. The music is minimal, which is nice as the sound of the bikes is the star in the audio department, they sound great and with a good sound system or headphones. The voice work is a little wonky, but still acceptable and the previously mentioned intro music is nice the first time, but grates after a few listens.

Moto GP 15 is a game for fans of the sport and while there is a nice easy mode for newcomers, in order to get the most from the game, you will need to know what you are doing. The load times are long, but even the simplest of races will take a while to complete, so they even out. Moto GP 15 is worthy of your time, if you like racing games.