Demo Review: Moto GP 360

I downloaded Moto GP for the 360 last night and gave it a whirl. I must say I liked what I saw.

First things first, I’ve never played a motorcycle racing game before on a console. Well, that’s not true, I’m sure I play some arcade game or game for the NES that raced motorcycles. So, let me rephrase, I’ve never played a motorcycle game on the previous two generation of game concoles.

At any rate, having never played a motorcycle game before, I didn’t really know what to expect. I know I wanted real racing. I know I wanted good speed. I know I wanted photorealistic visuals. Basically, I wanted everything Project Gotham and Need for Speed couldn’t give me on the 360.

I was pleasantly surprised. Moto GP looks like it’s probably a pretty solid racing game, and maybe enough to tide me over until the new Forza comes out. At first, I couldn’t make it more than a few hundred meters before flying off my bike. I crashed, a lot, at first. Then again, motorcycles handle a lot different than cars do, so it took some getting used to. You can’t break hard, hit the turn, and then accelerate out of the turn after you hit the apex like you do in a car. Well, actually you can, but you have to do it differently on a bike, you need a little more finesse.

The demo only has on track and one driver available, but it does support demo play over XBOX Live, which is neat. I haven’t messed with the Live stuff yet, but I’ll be sure to check it out this week.

I’d give the Moto GP demo a 8 out of 10. I can’t say the game will score this high, since I was only playing a small part and for all I know, the rest of the game sucks, but so far it seems like it could be a winner in the racing categories.

-Steve