MotoGP 24 Review

Player(s): 1-12
Extra Features: Local (2-2) and Online Multiplayer (2-12), Leaderboards

Aside from the Monster Energy Supercross series, my knowledge of motorcycle racing is very thin. From what I have played of motorcycle racing games, they have definite learning curves for their overall controls, especially turning, but once I’m adjusted, they are quite good. MotoGP 24 is the second professional motorcycle game that I have reviewed and it’s the best one I have played so far. Everything about it is smooth and I can tell a lot of time went into its creation.

The controls to this game are fantastic. Just like all racers (especially motorcycle), the controls take a while to get adjusted to, but once I learned them, this game turned into the best controlling motorcycle game that I have played. The controls are all about maintaining balance and keeping the rider from touching the asphalt when making a turn. Turns have to be made ahead of time (at times) to accomplish this. After I realized that, everything just sort of fell into place and I started to greatly enjoy the game. If you have your controller rumble activated, the game will help you out by rumbling in the direction that you need to adjust your turn while making a turn.

The game seems to help you out with the controls by default (sort of like an auto-correct when moving). It’s a really nice addition for beginning players such as myself. There are also guide lines that you can follow that will help you out in making better turns and staying on the course. You must stay along tracks and not try for shortcuts or the game will be very quick to penalize you. For PlayStation controllers, there is a gyroscope option for motion controls. This game is quite in-depth when it comes to controls. There are options for different calibrations of acceleration, brakes, etc.

The turns in the game feel quite smooth. Turns are overall slow, even when holding the accelerator, which seems realistic. One of the hardest parts about turning is dealing with other racers while doing so. It is so very easy to hit other racers during turns in this game.

There are altogether five different views while racing. You have two third person view (close and further away) and three different first-person views. Two first person views are from behind the windshield (close and further away) and there is one where you view the windshield as if you are looking through the rider helmet. The helmet view sort of feels thrown in to me and rather useless. I’m a fan of third person, so I never really came out of third person views much. At any time, you can click on the right thumbstick to look behind you or use the right thumbstick to quickly look to the right or left of you. The views that are around you really help out during races.

After starting a single player mode, you’ll be able to create your own rider. Riders don’t have much customization when it comes to the actual look below the helmet, but there is quite a bit of equipment to deck your rider out in, such as different helmets, gloves, protections, boots and overall suit. You can also change some aspects of your bike such as number decals and stickers. There is a riding style that can be changed that seems to help out in turning. I honestly didn’t experiment much with riding style.

Besides Career mode, the game has a Grand Prix, Championship and Time Trial mode of course the multiplayer mode. One problem that I found with most of the single player modes is that they nearly all feel the same (except for Time Trial). Career mode is easily the best mode to play since it has more differences such as objectives to meet and a few other differences here and there (rivals, experience gaining, rewards, etc.). Most modes take place over several days and you have practice days, qualifying days and finally the big race day. You can end the session of the practice and qualifying days (simulate) any time that you want to in order to get to the racing days quicker. Once you’re familiar with the course, the practice days start to feel useless. In their defense, however, this game’s tracks start to get way harder as you progress, so practice days are definitely needed for later courses. Later course’s overall turns can get quite hard to master. The game keeps track of your current progress in each mode, so you can dive in and out whenever you feel like it.

MotoGP 24 has adaptive AI, so it will respond to how well you do. If you’re not doing so well, the AI riders will become easier to pass. If you’re doing too well, they will start to perform better. There is also a rewind feature that allows you to rewind in order to fix mistakes such as crashes or missed turns. The game never really felt too hard or too easy. The difficulty felt just right the majority of the time. I’ve played other racers with insane AI opponents that made races feel annoying all too often, so this game’s adaptive AI opponents are very much welcome to me. The hardest part about this game is mainly learning the ins and outs of the courses.

Tracks where it is raining are some of my favorite tracks to race on. The overall rain effects (rain on the screen, wet streets) are nice to look at and the sound effects are so relaxing. It’s easily some of the best rain effects I have seen for a racing game. The weather and time of day changes from track to track - sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, sometimes rainy, sometimes night time. There is a good bit of variety in tracks. When out on the course, this game’s graphics are top notch. I was playing on a PC in between the recommended and required settings and it looks amazing.

Overall MotoGP 24 is a really good motorcycle racing game. I don’t know how it compares to the rest of the series, but I hear many other gamers commending it. Just like all racers, it has a learning curve, so you’ll be crashing a lot at the start, but once you get over that hurdle, the game is quite satisfying. It’s often hard to find a racer that controls just as good as it looks, but MotoGP 24 is definitely one of them.

The Good:
+ The controls take some getting used to, but they feel really good once adjusted
+ Beautiful environmental effects for courses
+ The overall weather and time of day is displayed so greatly with this game’s graphics

The Bad:
- Character models could look better
- A lot of the single player modes feel nearly the same