FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
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Thu, 1st Nov 2007
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Climax Studios’ MotoGP ’07 is back for another round of authentic simulation-style motorcycle racing. Though relatively unchanged from last year’s entry, the game does feature the vastly improved Xbox Live, new 800cc bikes and the usual tweaks and bits common in an annually released series.

Single player mode certainly offers great value for money, though it is fairly obvious that this is more of a preparation phase to ready yourself for online modes where the bulk of the content lies. Your path to online glory begins with Grand Prix mode, where you customize your rider and build up his stats over the course of the season. It’s fairly simple really; the higher the placing, the more attribute points unlocked. After completing your first season on the Grand Prix circuit, Extreme mode is unlocked.

In Extreme mode winning races is not rewarded with attribute points; instead the prized bounty is cash which can subsequently be used to customize the bike you choose to purchase at the beginning of Extreme mode. With enough cash new bikes can be bought too. Once you’ve tricked out your bike to satisfaction, online mode comes into play.

This year, aside from the standard Grand Prix races, Climax has included pink-slip races, which add a whole new dimension to online racing. For those unfamiliar with the term, pink-slip racing is where the loser has to give the winner their bike, putting hours of work spent building and customising on the line in a short race. In addition to this there are also a wide variety of different tournaments which can get very competitive.

The graphics are excellent bar the cut scenes prior to races spotlighting the crowd, which show the pixelated, broken spectators. The rest however looks fantastic. HDR lighting has been added into the MotoGP ’06 graphics engine and superficial features like the weather are frankly stunning. What really lets the team down however is in the sound department. For the most part it’s great; the vast range of bike sounds, the crowd cheering and the atmosphere is fantastic, but the soundtrack accompanying it is atrocious. The repetitive punk music blasting from the speakers will have you searching for the music volume option within seconds.

Apart from the horrendous soundtrack, MotoGP ’07 puts all of its parts together to form an excellent value for money package. The multiplayer modes will keep players entertained for a long time to come with a single player spectacle equally entertaining, complimented by superb graphics.