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MotoGP 06 (Xbox 360) artwork

MotoGP 06 (Xbox 360) review


"Chances are, if you're playing MotoGP'06 for the first time, you're gonna crash. A lot. This is thanks mostly to the feeling of the controls when you're driving your bike. It feels awkward at first, and after a few laps, you start to wonder if Climax screwed up. But, if you're willing to stick with the controls for a little bit longer, you'll start to get how things work and why they work that way. And once you're over that, you begin to enjoy the other aspects that make up this title. "

Chances are, if you're playing MotoGP'06 for the first time, you're gonna crash. A lot. This is thanks mostly to the feeling of the controls when you're driving your bike. It feels awkward at first, and after a few laps, you start to wonder if Climax screwed up. But, if you're willing to stick with the controls for a little bit longer, you'll start to get how things work and why they work that way. And once you're over that, you begin to enjoy the other aspects that make up this title.

For me, the thing that really drew me into this game was being able to customize my own bike in Career mode. I ended up messing around with its look for about thirty minutes on my first try. While the customizing selection isn't quite huge, there's plenty of stuff here to make for a cool bike, or the most absurd-looking motorcycle ever seen, if it floats your boat. After picking your helmet, designing the look of your motorcycle, choosing leathers, and coming up with a team name (mine was AwesomeBastards), you then finally start the first season of Grand Prix.

In Grand Prix, you'll compete against other racers for the chance to be the best of the best. Of course, you'll also have to race through a bunch of courses, 17 of them to be exact, from around the world that'll put your skills to the test. Along the way, you'll be listening to a nice mix of tunes, ranging from rock and techno to dance and other unique songs ("DO YOU, DO YOU, DO YOU... DRIVE STICK!") as you navigate the curvaceous tracks. Racing against opponents won't be the only thing you'll be doing in Grand Prix, however. Before the start of each race, you get the option of taking on challenges. One such challenge requires that you follow a rival for one lap. The catch? You have to finish within one second of the racer as he crosses the finish line. Others involve making it to the finish line over a certain speed limit and completing an obstacle before the time runs out. Successfully finishing one of these challenges will give you points that you can add to one of four attributes (cornering, braking, top speed, and acceleration), which in turn will make your motorcycle perform better.

But the Grand Prix won't be the only place you'll get to race in MotoGP'06. Once you complete a season of GP, you'll get the chance to partake in Extreme Racing, where you'll be racing on the streets instead of a normal racing track. Of course, because it takes place off the GP courses, there's a lot of variety in the look of the tracks. I mean, let's face it, there's not a whole lot going on in Grand Prix tracks, just a bunch of dirt and grass, with the occasional bench here and there. In the Extreme tracks, you'll be racing through cities during sunset, on the edges of mountains, around a dam, and even in a town by the sea where shark, turtle, and dolphin statues are positioned around the course. While the Grand Prix isn't bad, it wouldn't be surprising if you end up liking the Extreme mode more because of the variation.

Sounds like a pretty normal racing game, doesn't it? Well, that's because it is. Aside from achievements and probably online racing, there isn't anything in this title that you haven't seen in a lot of racers before it. Hell, the graphics look like they could've been done on the original Xbox (with the exception of some nice lighting effects). Does that make MotoGP'06 a bad game? No. While it doesn't do anything new, I can't really find much wrong with the title. The only things I can think of is that the qualifying race is ten friggin minutes long and the loading times before races take awhile. So, I guess the only reason to really want this game is if you haven't played a motorcycle title in a long time, and want a good one for your Xbox 360. That, and the crashes in MotoGP'06 rock. While I hate crashing, seeing your racer crash into another and watch them both roll around on the ground is probably the most satisfying (as well as painful) thing you can witness in this game.



dementedhut's avatar
Community review by dementedhut (September 25, 2006)

I actually played Rad Mobile in a Japanese arcade as a kid, and the cabinet movement actually made the game more fun than it actually was. Hence, it feeling more like an "interactive" experience than a video game.

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