We’ve all seen the cartoons whereby an illustriously sassy female character moves hand drawn curves onto the screen, and the main male characters tongue seems to unravel down to the floor, only to rather ostentatiously flick back up and slap him in the face, bringing him back into a state of consciousness. It is this sort of recursive cliché that will keep coming back to you the more screenshots you see of Moto GP 2006. Ok so maybe my metaphor surrounding Jessica Rabbit is a little worrying, but this game is straight up hot.
Developed by Climax, of whom have already made a name for themselves with the last trio of high octane Moto GP titles, this edition sets to promote even further what the past titles have been recognised for: it’s graphics. From what has already been shown, Moto GP 2006 appears to be a real step up in terms of graphical prowess. According to Climax there will be a wide range of different lighting effects that have never been seen before in video games, for example, the pavement will reflect any light and according to the direction of the source will bend, deform or decay it in order to give it that photo realistic feel. Not only this but only light coming through the clouds will bloom, which could result in your view being hindered, a problem which would occur in real driving conditions.
Couple the new lighting effects with enhanced animation touches to the way that the rider tilts his bike, breaks and accelerates and you will find this game to be extraordinary in terms of its graphical prowess.
However, we all know (or we all should know) by now that gaming is just about the pretty colours that a developer is putting on our screen, but we must also go into how the game plays. Previous Moto GP games have been well recognised for their tight handling and their real sense of speed, something of which Climax has promised to better in the latest version of the title.
On hand will be an enormous number of new riders, tracks and features, including a newly designed season mode, whereby you must take your rider to the top of his field, a new XBOX Live mode allowing for more simultaneous racers playing at once. Also included will be an upgrade on the “Extreme Mode” that was in Moto GP 3. Extreme Mode allowed you to take a bike onto a number of fictional tracks, and then through winning races you earned money in order to give your bike further enhancements. This style of play is very much becoming customary in the racing game field at the moment with Need For Speed at the forefront, but it is a welcome and successful game play mechanic.
The launch of Moto GP 2006 is expected obviously next year, however there has been no official word from Climax or THQ as of when we can expect the game. 360monster.com will keep you updated.
