Gaming Target - Xbox: MotoGP 2

Written by Adam Woolcott on April 22, 2003

First Impressions: Here's to hoping Climax allows us to carry shotguns online, so we can knock off the backwards riding tools.

Last year, THQ and Climax graphics snuck one of the more underrated Xbox games onto the market, the motorcycle simulation Moto GP. While the game received heaps of praise (including from this site), it didn't translate into big sales, as the game lagged and for a while wasn't even being produced, seemingly creating a collectors item for those who got the game before it vanished.

However, Moto GP got a second chance, in the most surprising of ways Ц thanks to Microsoft and the launch of Xbox Live, an online demo of Moto GP was included on the Starter Kits, allowing for 16 player, lag-free motorcycle racing over the new XBL service Ц and became one of the key titles for Microsoft's Live strategy. Finally, Moto GP got the respect it deserved, and people began to hunt for the game, en masse, simply to play through the game, as the combination of the full game and online demo completely unlocked the potential of this title.

Now, with Xbox Live in full swing, Climax went back to the drawing board, and this year will unveil the now-anticipated sequel, Moto GP 2. Bringing all the things that made the original great, along with numerous improvements, and built-in online play, Moto GP looks to crush the original in terms of quality, and bring Xbox owners yet another great racing game to flesh out their Xbox Live experience Ц and give motorcycle fans in general another installment of one of the best motorcycle sims ever.

For the most part, Moto GP 2 emphasizes improvements, instead of overhauls. It really can't be faulted though, as the original was extremely polished, only lacking in easily-improvable categories. Naturally, the biggest improvement is the online play, which is playable straight out of the box. The online activity itself will be basically the same as the original's online expansion; 16 racers at a time maximum, at 60 frames per second, for the best online racing experience possible. It's also been discussed that Climax is working on figuring out ways to curb troublemakers Ц as in the folks who think it's amusing to turn their bike around and crash into the leaders. It was amusing, for like a day Ц but it's on the whole not tolerated. This could simply be fixed by forcing an auto-reset on the bike, similar to a rally game that resets your car when you go way off track. Hopefully Climax will implement this and solve that problem.

If you don't have Xbox Live or don't want to play the game entirely online, Moto GP 2 will do you well also, thanks to a split screen multiplayer (system link seems to have been eliminated), and improvements on a solid career mode. The Career mode is even more fleshed out than previously Ц as all 16 Moto GP tracks (from the real-life series) are included. That's the original 10 from Moto GP, and 6 brand new ones to dig into. The customization is also going to be greatly expanded, allowing for you to create just the exact rider you want, down to the color of your bike & uniform (without selecting a pre-set configuration).

The main hope for the offline game is how improved the computer AI is Ц in the original Moto GP, the computer intelligence was challenging, but not necessarily realistic. Instead of feeling like you're racing against realistic riders, it felt like you were racing against a whole bunch of ghosts that really don't pay attention (unless you ride them close and then they would scream and make gestures, and not about where to go for dinner that night) to you and ride in their programmed patch with little deviating from the formula. If this is fixed, the offline career could be incredibly captivating and even take a little hype away from the online play.

It will be interesting to see just how much Climax can improve the other assets of this title. The graphics of the original Moto GP were breathtaking, with incredible uses of the Xbox hardware tricks, creating a very realistic game. How could Moto GP 2 possibly be better? I'd assume more touch-ups and enhancements to the already existing engine, instead of overhauling what already was great. The audio really doesn't need much improvement either, as Moto GP was nearly perfect, as the engine sounds were great, and the custom soundtrack feature, the music is only as good as the user makes it. As such, Moto GP 2 could easily be considered an upgrade in the vein of many other sports games Ц but in this case, it features almost every improvement asked for by the Moto GP die-hards. No one can really say that Climax doesn't listen to the fans, that's for sure.