I’ve never really been much of a Motorsport fan as I’ve never really understood the fascination of watching V8’s, F1’s or even Super trucks go around the same track time and time again. But hey, if that’s what tickles your fancy, I’m not one to judge.

That said, I don’t mind playing motorsport/racing games, but more the arcade style racer. Games such as Mario Kart on the SNES, Need for Speed on the PlayStation or Midnight club and Forza Horizon were always my go-to rather than the sim-type racing games like Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport. So, when I was offered MotoGP 19, I said I’d give it a crack and by god; I wasn’t ready for this! So, let’s get into it shall we?

CAREER

Starting out my career in MotoGP 19, I’m greeted by a rider creation screen. Here is where I had my first gleeful moment thinking, “oh yeah! Time to make a character to rival any other creation I’ve made on countless other games”. Alas! This was not to be the case. I soon realised that I only had a few chosen presets to choose from. Surely there’s a pro out there with some facial hair… a few extra choices would of been nice to help with immersing myself in to the experience.

Once done, I was ready to tackle the world of MotoGP and become the greatest rider the world has ever seen! I was then given a choice of a Standard Career or a Pro Career. The difference between them was straightforward. In standard mode, you can set your riding aids and match options to your choosing for your own personal experience whilst Pro on the other hand, is for the MotoGP racing elites with options that are set at the most realistic level possible. No restarting timed sessions or races here.

For me, the choice was simple. As the professional gamer I am *cough*, I chose Pro! Next up I needed to select which series I wished to debut in. You have several choices such as Red Bull rookies cup, Moto3, Moto2 or MotoGP (Rookies cup). Starting out my first weekend event surprisingly had a lot of riding with three free practice events, one qualifying event, a warm-up event & then the actual race.

Luckily, I reviewed this on my days off while I had free time. Free practice time events can last up to 45 minutes while qualifying events are roughly 15 mins & warm up events are a 20-minute timed session. I then realised after my first Free Practice that you do have an option to skip all events up to the race. While I preferred to skip however, die-hard fans will most likely prefer to run through the events.

Free practice is highly recommended for new players especially. Here you can ride some laps to familiarize yourself with the track and learn how your bike handles. It took me quite a bit to get a feel for my bike. Steering, speed and control are key. I found the 1st-person view helped improve my riding over the traditional 3rd-person or “following” view that most prefer. I’m glad to announce that out of 26 riders, I came in at 26th place!

Backing out of Pro career & starting a standard career had the same result for me, but I’m learning the motivation is there to improve. The HUB screen before and during events contains your career progress, including a contract status. YES, perform poorly enough times like any job you risk being fired. This hasn’t happened yet to me, but I sense it’s on the horizon. Winning races & performing well will grant you development points which you can then spend on research & development on your current bike. Unfortunately, I never made it to that point, coming 26th place in races doesn’t have a lot of perks. Funny that!

QUICK MODE

This mode is self-explanatory. if you don’t have the time to do a full cup race or you risk getting fired from performance issues, jump on an choose from a Grand Prix, Championship or try to better a lap time in time trials. For me though, it didn’t seem to matter what I did, even setting it up on easy, I still only managed to increase my finish place from 26th to 24th.

MULTIPLAYER

I tried this mode quite a few times however, I struggled to find a match. When I did find a match, it only had 2-3 other players to race with. With a good internet connection, I managed to up my finish place from 24th to sometimes 3rd or 4th, depending on the skill of fellow players. Creating a lobby seemed to herd more players in, which was a bonus for playing the game, but also affected my finishing position.

MotoGP eSport CHAMPIONSHIP

MotoGP eSport Championship returns for its third season in MotoGP 19. This is where players challenge players and compete for the title against two-time winner, Trastevere73. There is a link to a website to sign up with Qualifying Tests to even be able to enter the online challenges. Now I’m known at MKAU as being quite he “trash talker”! Always willing to face or challenge anyone, especially the boss, but I draw the line at attempting this and bringing shame to me or the gaming family. But hey, if you’ve got the kahunas, by all means, go get ‘em!

HISTORICAL CHALLENGES

There are 60 challenges spread out over four sections to compete against the greats of the sport. fans of MotoGP and the MotoGP franchise will surely love these challenges by re-living some of the greatest moments in the sports history.

GRAPHICS EDITOR

This area allows you to create share and use custom helmets, numbers and stickers for your bike & rider. I spent a bit of time here creating my own small MKAU brand then saving and sharing them with the online with the community, while also downloading other peoples’ creations. Sadly, mine looked like a chimp with a paintbrush had made them.

RIDER CUSTOMISATION

The stickers, helmet and numbers you create can be added to your custom rider here, although I couldn’t seem to get them to stay. My rider does look quite fetching in green I must say. And with the added choice of gloves, boots, suit and riding style to choose from, my guy did look bad-ass even if he does lose 99.9% of the time. My time will come!

CONCLUSION

If you’re a fan of MotoGP, there’s a good chance you’ll love this game. It looks and feels amazing, it’s visually appealing & the bikes sound like bikes should. The menu music is on a loop which can get monotonous after a while, but not enough to notice once you make your choices. Realism takes a back seat to playability when smash into a barricade at 260+ k’s an hour, this results in you getting up and back on your bike like nothing had happened. I think it would be a nice option (or maybe morbid one) if say you hit the barricade at 260+ in a race or qualifier & having the game end for that little but of added realism.

Although I haven’t yet won a race, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with MotoGP even if just for the visuals and locations alone. So, with that, I’ll let you get to it. If you come first on pro career be sure to take a screenshot and tag us on twitter.

Written by: Anarchy Risen