Review: MotoGP 15

With our Racing Editor away, I’ve strapped on my motorcycle helmet and decided to hit the road once again, this time with MotoGP 15. It’s actually rather fitting, as my last racing review was also a motorcycle game, RIDE, made by MotoGP 15’s same development team, Milestone S.r.l.

In my RIDE review, I called it Milestone’s equivalent of a motorcycle-based Forza Horizon, and MotoGP the more technical Forza Motorsport. That all remains true with MotoGP 15, giving you access to the teams, riders and bikes of Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP itself. Also included is a motorsport-minded 2014 Events mods which will let you recreate races like Rossi and Marquez at Qatar.

Straight up, MotoGP 15 is the better game of the pair. It takes the physics from RIDE and the already-polished elements of the MotoGP franchise. The result is a motorcycle racing game accessible by downright n00bs (read: me) or genre fans (read: our aforementioned Racing Editor). Difficulty and assist sliders make short work of any experience-based scenario, and I found myself somewhere in the middle of the sliders by the time I was done racing.

Turning assists to low, or off, means you’ll really have to work. Brake too hard in the front and you’ll start wobbling out of control. Take a ridiculously aggressive line on a corner, and you’ll most likely be rewarded as AI racers throttle back to stay out of your crazy way… that is, unless you push it too hard and end up on your ass. Physics are first and foremost, meaning those of us used to cars will hit a rather large learning curve as you start to progress.

You’ll most likely spend most of your time in the game’s Career mode, starting off in Moto3 with a relatively crappy bike. You’re tasked to build sponsors by hitting performance targets, and can upgrade your current motorcycle with Data Package tokens. In career mode, it’s always a fine line between being competitive or overzealous; spend too many Data Packages on one bike and you might find it’s unstoppable for a bit… until you go up a grade and look like a snail, broke and having to fight your way back up the ranks.

Visually, the game looks on par with RIDE, but doesn’t seem to head into obscurity – or uncanny valley – as often. Things look less sterile, and thankfully, more realistic. Of course, it appears that most of the design work has gone into the bikes themselves, from their look and feel to, of course, the way they’ll fly down the track.

In the end, motorcycle fans already know the MotoGP franchise is pretty much unmatched, and MotoGP 15 is an improvement over both the more casual RIDE and last year’s MotoGP iteration itself. If that’s enough for you, pick it up. If you’re not really a motorcycle fan but looking for a great racing experience, I’d suggest something a little more mainstream.

MotoGP 15 was reviewed using a promotional disc on PS4, as provided by the publisher.

Review: MotoGP 15

The good A better experience compared to RIDE. Difficulty and assist sliders keep it accessible.	The bad With assists off, physics will kick your ass if you’re not prepared.

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