MotoGP 08

The MotoGP series has seen multiple developers taking a crack at it. This year we have Italian developer Milestone (the team behind the Superbike series) take over from MotoGP 07 developer Climax. Let’s see if this change of developers proves to be a positive one.

Being the official game of the 2008 season, MotoGP 08 features all the official riders, bikes, and tracks from this year’s event, providing fans of the series with the most definitive MotoGP racing experience. The biggest change in this year’s iteration is arguably the addition of 125cc and 250cc bikes to the lineup.

There’s a tutorial to take newbies through the paces and get them up to speed about the nuances of controlling some of the fastest two-wheelers on the planet. Difficulty modes come in the form of Arcade, Advanced, and Simulation, and each setting comes with the option to use manual or automatic transmission. The bikes react more realistically with each successive level of difficulty.

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While most casual gamers would be better off playing at the Arcade level, it’s a tad easy at times with the bike generally sticking to the road and accelerating like a beast. The Advanced level sees the bike slipping and sliding realistically when too much throttle is applied on tight turns. With Simulation the player also needs to control the rider’s position on the bike while taking turns.

Overall, the Advanced and Simulation modes make the bikes feel much twitchier, and as a result the game is more realistic. But this is meant only for experienced folk who know when exactly to brake into a turn, and when to throttle out of it.

The gameplay mechanics have a solid feel but I found the brakes didn’t react the way they’re supposed to. They generally felt very soft and lacking in grip.

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The game is divided into Career, Championship, Quick Race, Time Attack, Challenges and Online. The Career mode is the central part of MotoGP 08. You can race in any of the three classes: 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP, each having the AI difficulty set a notch higher.

As the season progresses, depending on how you fare in the races you’ll earn sponsorship deals and the opportunity to sign up with different teams. You also earn tuning points along the way, which you can use to tune specific areas of your bike, such as acceleration, speed, traction, and braking.

Besides the Career mode there’s the Championship mode, which has you riding your way through 18 races for a full season without the customization or upgrade features of the Career mode, and Quick Race and Time Attack modes. Online mode will require you race other players in quick and ranked matches.

The mode I found most interesting is the Challenge mode, which is a collection of 50 challenges: timed laps, checkpoint races, overtaking scenarios etc. If long races are not your thing, the variety this mode offers comes as a welcome relief. However, your reward for finishing these challenges isn’t much – all you get to do is unlock photographs from the 2008 series!

Graphically, the game looks top-notch, with nicely modeled bikes and riders, and very detailed tracks. The lighting effects look generally impressive, especially in the night races. Strangely, I found the ‘Heat Haze’ effect, a staple of previous iterations, missing. The weather effects deserve a mention though; especially ‘Wet Conditions’, which looks and feels bang-on impressive!

MotoGP 08 is a solidly built racer, offering a robust career mode and adaptable racing mechanics that will help newbies feel at home. Fans of the franchise are assured hours of quality gameplay, but others may not find much to hold them for long.