MotoGP

"Finnaly a decent Moto sim with great multiplayer."

Gameplay 8/10: First of all the controls are solid. L for rear brake, R for front and X for emergency, make precise maneuvering relatively easy to get a grip of. The pressure sensitive buttons add to the realism by allowing you to control your accelerator and brake to better maneuver those curves. You have the option to go Grand Prix, Arcade, Quick Race and a training mode within Grand Prix. Here you can build up your experience points for your bike to make those 5 lap races a little easier. With this feature come my blessings and my gripes. There is no way to customize parts. The system works but on such a good sim, customizing parts would have been a great addition.

The AI can be very weak! They are not very smart at all and can become quite annoying. Most races, if you stop and watch the riders even on the harder difficulties, you will see them following each other in a straight line one behind the other. Still it puts up a decent challenge for you.

The Arcade mode has you competing not only against other players on the track, but also against Top Scores. You are rewarded with points for things like Power Sliding, Burnouts, Jumps, wheelie's, Endos, etc. This with the addition to the unlockables (Witch would be spoilers if I said anything) gives the game a distinct coin-op feel.

The training mode is extremely hard. It will require a lot of patience to master but will be worth it in the end, especially if you have XBox Live.

Customizable characters are the best characters possible in the game. After winning Grand Prix races in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th you are treated to experience points. This will go to either acceleration, braking, cornering or top speed. This with the ability to customize the look of your rider and bike makes those online experiences much better.

The tracks are very accurate models of their real life counter parts.

Sound 6/10: Bike and track effects are very accurate. I would have preferred an announcer of some sort to move along the gameplay but the SFX worked fine for the game.

Music on the other hand is very repetitive. Thank god for custom tracks. That's when the game can really be appreciated: To your own personal style of rockin' and Driving.

Graphics 8/10: The tracks are very accurate models of their real life counter parts. They are pretty, but not incredible. A high polygon count went into the making of the bikes and riders but unfortunately not into the tracks themselves. Most levels are very bland and monotonous making it seem more boring than it actually is.

On the other hand, the weather affects are very nice. With near perfect reflections in the rain, water mist being kicked up at you from other riders and all the spring/summer weather patters that you would expect are simply stunning.

XBLive 9/10: If you have XBox Live then you most likely have the online demo. This is a perfect combination. Here is where your custom character comes into play. You can get all of your exploits and unlocked items from the single player game (minus the videos) for your Online Demo, and if your bike is bad enough, you can show it off to all your XBox Live Friends.

Bandwidth is hardly ever a problem. Most of the races that you have will be as smooth as if you were playing by yourself. The fact that you can only talk to players in the lobby or directly in front or behind of you makes it easier for your XBox to keep up with bandwidth.

All the usual XBox live features are there so expect the same quality that you've seen before.

Overall 8/10: All in all this game is a solid buy or rental, depending on your tastes. If you like multiplayer, rent it, beat it, play all the tracks online. If you loved the game keep it, it won't collect dust.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/03, Updated 05/06/03