There is something cool and fascinating about motorbikes; maybe it’s the leather outfits if you are that way inclined or perhaps the general look of the rider with a helmet covering the face like some battle visor. Or more importantly maybe it’s the fact that these mechanized two wheeled beasts can travel extremely fast and accelerate quicker than most 4 wheeled vehicles. MotoGP 3 allows players the chance to enter the highly competitive field of international motorcycle racing utilizing a wide variety of bikes of different engine sizes and power outputs; so its time to strap on the leathers put on a helmet and prepare to stay on the bike let alone race it!

Gameplay:

Game play consists of the usual modes that you will find in pretty much every racing game. Single player modes are Quick race, which allows players the chance to pick a class, rider, bike, track, difficulty, laps and then simply get stuck into a no nonsense race. Career mode follows the career path of your chosen rider from his humble beginnings in the lower classes right up to the top of his game in the upper bike classes. Time Trials which offers a chance to drive laps around any circuit to try and get the fastest time and finally a tutorial mode to help learn the nuances of 2 wheeled racing. The Multiplayer modes are for the competitive gamer who likes to compete against friends via split screen, system link or compete against other gamers across the globe via Xbox Live (more about that later).

Returning to the single player portion of the game and more specifically the career mode it is here where once a profile has been created players can then get into the game proper and start to unlock more tracks, bikes and additional content. The process of creating a profile can be as quick or as long as you wish and for those looking for a little more involvement then never fear as you can pretty much mess around with all aspects of your biker’s and bikes appearance. Things like helmet design, leathers, logo designs, bike colours and then some more personal stuff such as nationality etc. The actual bike design tools are pretty in depth if you want them to be and will allow gamers the chance to express their artistic talents as well; of course some patience is required here to get the most from it.

Once you are happy with the look of your rider and his bike you can then move onto adding points onto four main stats that govern your rider’s skill. These are braking, cornering, Top Speed and acceleration; more points can be added to these stats when you complete races. This means that each rider can be unique to the player and also means that you will need to invest the time building up the stats of you rider to get the most from him.

Starting the game in the career mode you have limited resources and even fewer choices until you start getting on the track and competing in some races. There are four main bike classes to test your skills which are Grand Prix, Extreme 600, Extreme 1000 and then Extreme 1200. Starting at the bottom in the Grand Prix level you are seeded 100 and by winning races will slowly rise up the ranks. Before starting a championship which takes place over the 16 international tracks you can also choose the level of difficulty (rookie, pro, champion and then Legend which needs to be unlocked first). The higher your seeding the more options will become available to you. At the beginning of the game there are not many bikes to choose from and as I stated earlier it is down to the player to unlock these or move up the classes and purchase newer bikes with funds gained by winning. Players can also tune their bikes and spend points on upgrading features of their favorite machine although in all honesty this is not really a necessity at the lower levels of the game; but it is neat to have the options there just in case you are a player that likes to get a little technical.

The international tracks are quite varied and will see you visit a wide variety of countries across the globe including UK, France, Italy, Australia, Japan to name but a few locations. Most of the tracks are littered with trackside detail which is fitting to the country that you are in. Players can practice a circuit first and then attempt to qualify to get a better starting position on the grid before finally opting to race. What is good here is the fact that the weather is different depending on what you are doing so although the sky might be clear during practice it might actually be raining during the race. The tracks themselves are actually very challenging and although there are 19 other riders to contend with during the Grand Prix Championships (9 opponents for the other classes) your biking skills will be tested to the max as you encounter hairpin turns, chicanes, tight corners and of course the other riders.

Riding the bikes is something players not used to two wheeled racing might find a little difficult at first and whilst it might appear to be easy to hit the gas on a straight there is an actual technique in how you tackle the many corners and turns that you will encounter on every circuit. Things like shifting weight, front and rear breaking, positioning all factor in how well you take any particular corner, and in this game if you digress from the track then the grass or sand will really slow you down, even worse make you fall off the bike! What is more, it is very easy for your rider to fall off the bike or be knocked off the bike by hitting or being hit by an opponent, which means you can’t simply charge through a pack of riders and assume that you will be invincible. Therefore you have to take into consideration the positions of the other riders when tackling a corner and perhaps hold off from charging through at times; especially as when you do fall off it usually means being thrust to the back of the pack by the time you recover. The tutorial gives players the chance to get to grips with the basic techniques for racing and I think most players would do well to make the tutorial a first port of call.

The rider AI seems pretty reasonable although in terms of grouping there seems to always be a few riders up front and then a larger pack at the rear. I also found that when it came to collisions the AI seemed to be favored a lot more than your rider even if it meant you were the one being shunted. On occasion I would be minding my own business and then on approach to a tight corner I would suddenly be hit from behind. Now you might say fair enough the AI couldn’t brake in time, but when the results are your rider falling off the bike and the culprit whizzing past, you sometimes wish you could actually give the middle finger in the game!

Graphics:

Graphics are reasonable here and vary quite a lot; with some circuits looking pleasing on the eye where as others appearing quite dull and bland. The lighting is generally very good especially when seeing the sunlight reflecting off the tarmac and also the haze effect which is most noticeable at the start of races. The sense of speed is actually very good and when you start reaching the upper limits some cool visual effects come in to play to heighten the experience. The models for the bikes are no doubt accurate representations of the actual bikes and the character models for the riders look and animate extremely well; especially when you are knocked off the bike and can be seen tumbling across the ground. One thing that did annoy me and this must seem really petty was the woman who accompanies the rider at the start of a race (usually holding an umbrella). I found the level of detail here to be rather lackluster and something that should have been omitted. With plenty of riders on screen during the Grand Prix levels at least I did not notice any slow down and the draw distance remained high at most times although with such a speedy game is really is hard to actually focus on this when concentrating on racing. Unlike other games, look away from the screen or lose concentration for a second can mean falling off the bike.

Sound:

Sound is also very good and with the roar of multiple bike engines at the start of a race sounds very authentic indeed. Other than the sound of the motorbikes there really isn’t much noise that you are going to notice except the in game music (which I’m sure purists will actually turn off). The music featured is a heady mixture of rock, drum and bass and dance beats so if you like these styles, great if not then players can opt to use their own custom soundtracks, which is always a welcome addition and adds even more of a personal flavour to proceedings.

Longevity:

The way in which players can compete in the championships as many times as they like and take the game at a pace suitable for them means that MotoGP 3 will last as long as it takes you to get bored and even then with the whole host of customization options means that there is plenty to mess around with when not racing. The fact that prior to racing you can set the number of laps to as little or as many as in real life racing means that to do a full championship could take quite some time for those who persevere or be over very quickly for those who lack patience.

The Multiplayer modes add even more life into the game and with 4 player split screen available, system link and Xbox Live then there is certainly a lot of choice to be had here. The modes available are standard racing, championships, stunt mode, tag mode and more. Also during the single player game; players can compete against the rest of the world in terms of their lap times etc which adds that little bit of extra pressure when racing offline (as long as you are signed into Live at the time). The online nature of the game is very fun and seems a little more personal than car racing which I think is due to the fact that a) you can see the riders and b) collisions can result in messy pile ups which are always fun. For the serious competitor then there are things to worry about such as rankings, which means avoiding the jackass players who want to do the circuits the wrong way or those who deliberately are out to knock you off the bike rather than win. Either way this is the nature of Xbox Live gamers so getting a good friends list is important here if stats mean a lot to you.

Overall:

MotoGP 3 is a great racing title that offers a different playing experience compared to the four wheeled variety which most gamers are probably used to. Although the game certainly nods towards the simulation aspect of the sport, I think with half an hour worth of practice most gamers will find no trouble getting to grips with the handling of a bike. The difficulty settings are there for a reason and with the almost RPG nature of the game means that you can start off easy and if you find that it is too easy then simply start again at a higher difficulty whilst still keeping all of your stats etc.

There are moments of frustration to be had especially when it comes to collisions with other riders or if you seemingly clip a fence and go flying but I guess this is part of the sport. Players should perhaps be thankful that the game does not feature injuries! Overall Moto GP 3 offers some real fun entertainment for bike and non biking fans; then some more for the technical and artistic among us. The multiplayer options simply add to an already exciting game and therefore you should do well to get the game if you are serious about racing. Anyone else who is unsure should rent the game and either get converted or be left in the grass scratching your head (probably after falling off the bike for the 100th time).