Pros: for the most part, realistic physics, cool effects, music, online play
Cons: unrealistic physics like drifting sideways while turning
The bottom line: If only I had Live, Moto GP 2 would be an even stronger title.
I‘m not really a big fan of racing, nor am I a big fan of racing games. This rings true for sports games also, though every year, I end up with at least one sports title in my hand (usually the new Madden). Though odd as it may seem, I still end up playing different racing games, one of my favorites being Gran Turismo 3. At least for simulation racers, I get bored pretty fast, as the “extras” that are added to them aren’t really something that interest me. But after some pretty positive reviews, and after being fed up with the lack of good Xbox games to come out, I decided to check out Moto GP 2, a motorcycle racer.

Everything in Moto GP 2 is rather simple, especially when getting started. There are three kinds of game modes you can enter - Single Player, Multiplayer offline, and of course Multiplayer online. In single player, there’s a career mode that has many tracks to race on, and also various seasons that you can “race” through. When beginning your career, you start out with a bare bones racer, literally. Well, maybe not literally, but his skill points suck. No need to worry though, the game is nice enough to get you started with 18 credit points, where you can use to improve Cornering, Braking, Top Speed, and Acceleration. Or in other words, what you’ll need to place first place in the later races, when the opponents get hard.

Before you get into racing, there’s a training course that serves its purpose by explaining the controls and how to play the game a little bit. For completing different training “missions”, you’ll be rewarded with credit points that are used to improve Cornering, Braking, Top Speed, and Acceleration. So before you even get into beginning a race, you can already have a nice head start on the performance of your motorcycle. There are different areas of the world which will have each track that you race in, and you can either try to qualify for a better starting position that’s closer up front or just enter the race like a real man and move up the positions by skill. I think that the qualify is absolutely pointless, it’s a lot more fun to start in the back and make your way up to the front by pure skill (not that I’m a master at racing, anybody can master a racing game...well, maybe...).

As you win races, the next track in the circuit will unlock, and you’ll receive more credits to distribute throughout your rider’s four stats. Also, as you win more races, the maximum amount of points each skill can have also rises, since when you first start the maximum is only 20.

All of the tracks in the game are from real world locations, and there are about 15 or so riders total after some of them being unlocked. For the most part, the racing physics in Moto GP 2 seem pretty true to how they are in real life, though turning is definitely not realistic. Although it doesn’t take long to learn how to use the left trigger to use your back brakes before going into turns, or the B button even, which serves as both a front and back break. When you turn, the bikes slide too much, way more than they’re going to do in real life. I have rode dirt bikes before, and even though the surfaces are much different, they’re not different enough when it comes to turning, where they actually share similar traits. The handling sucks. Let me get that point across before we go on any further, handling and turning is definitely NOT realistic. As far as turning goes, in real life, going into a turn is not going to include a drift of the bike going sideways. Now maybe if it were in the snow and you were trying to take a turn at 40-50 MPH, but on a black top surface on a sunny (no clouds) day - I don’t think so.

Racing is pretty intense, and once making your way to the later tracks, the computer controlled racers get pretty damn start, and so you’ll either have to start re-thinking your racing plan, or go back and redo your bikes attributes. But then again, there are other times where the opponent AI are so atrociously STUPID at times, like when they just run right into you when you’re turning. In a real freaking Motocross race like this, they’re not going to just ride right into someone without trying to get out of the way or at least slowing down a little bit. Really, you’d think that as much stuff that THQ put in Moto GP 2, they’d have been able to create some much better AI. The AI aren’t the only hazards to you finishing a lap as fast as you can, but to encourage people to practice staying on the track, every second that you’re off the track is added up, and at the end of the race will be added on to your total time, which would then equal your total, total time. This feature is very interesting, and is a big motive to stay on the track. After a while though, you’ll be so good, you won’t have to worry about the grass...well, at least, yeah.

Other than the physics, the rest of Moto GP 2 is great, and will please any simulation racer fan. But single player can only go so far, and so the multiplayer is what really shines in Moto GP 2. Whether you’re racing against people online through Xbox Live, or racing the person next to you - multiplayer is definitely what Moto GP 2 is all about. While I don’t have Xbox Live up and running at the moment due to stupid credit card problems, I have played it over at another friend’s house, and it’s really fun. Though, if you thought you were like a “master” at the game, just wait until you take your skills online and get them shoved into your face like they were nothing. I’m not joking or exaggerating in anyway, their are people in Moto GP 2 online that are absolutely amazing. Like, some of them were so good that they looked like the computer controlled racers in single player, only with brains. If you’ve got Live, you’ll be prompted at the beginning of the game to choose whether you want to make an offline or online profile, and once it’s been made, even if you’re not racing online and are just racing single player or something, your best times and such will be recorded and ranked in an online database for all to see. Those without Xbox Live needn’t worry much, as the rankings aren’t really THAT big of a deal (...well, maybe for some people...), but those with Xbox Live have a real pretty penny to look forward to when they log on to Xbox Live. Hell, you might log on one day to find your fastest lap for Le Mans as number one - who knows?

But for those without Xbox Live, can still enjoy multiplayer with another friend in different modes. You can choose to do a quick race, race for the championship, race the grand prix, trick attack (stunt, whatever), or my personal multiplayer favorite - Tag Mode. Other than Tag Mode, the other modes are pretty self-explanatory, so I’m just going to explain tag mode. To my dismay, Tag Mode WASN’T where you knock the other person off his or her bike, but is instead a kind of skills test. Each track is broken up into different “segments”, and who ever goes the fastest and is the most agile, will get a point for that segment. On turns, you have to pretty much take them perfectly, yes even the 90 degree turns. If anyone’s played any multiplayer in the Tony Hawk games, Tag Mode is exactly like Graffiti mode in Tony Hawk, only with motor cycles instead of skate boards.

I never played the first Moto GP when it came out close to the Xbox Live release, so I can’t compare the two titles. Whether I played the first or not though, Moto GP 2 sports some purdy visual effects. There isn’t really much of a variation between tracks, as they all basically look the same aside from the design the track is in. The riders though do look good (“goooooooood”), and the bikes have a smooth look to them, and actually look realistic. From what I could tell, the frame rate stayed at a constant rate. I don’t know why there would be any slow down though, about the only thing fast on the screen is you. Even when in a big group going into a turn, or you crash and are watching the crashing animation, the frame rate stays at a constant rate.

There are little detailed touches in the game that really help the looks of the game, such as smoke that forms after peeling out. Another little detail is when another rider bumps your rider, and he’ll flip them off. Actually, he might just be shaking his fist at them, but I like to think that he’s flipping them off, for a little comedy relief.

The sound in Moto GP 2 sounds just like a motor cycle racer should, at least as far as sound effects go. The motor cycle engines roar (or squeal, I consider them squealing), the tires squeal, and you get the nice “bam, bing, boom” whenever you wipe out. The music is a nice addition, as there are some nice rock titles to listen to, which fit the game pretty well.

Overall
Though I’m not a race fan, nor do I really like the games all that much, Moto GP 2 had enough entertainment in it to keep me busy through and through. I really wish that I have Xbox Live access right now, but since I don’t, I have to live with the single player and addicting multiplayer. Of course, I’m sure that multiplayer would be even more addicting once I got the game online, and the online might have been enough to bump up the score.

happy gaming