Developer: Milestone S.r.l., Namco, Atlus, Microïds, Genki
Publisher: Milestone S.r.l., Capcom, Namco, Atlus, 1C Company
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
Tested on: PS4
MotoGP 19 – Review
There are a few things that return every year; summer, Christmas, your aunty, and MotoGP. We have reviewed various games of this series over the years and just like the other titles, MotoGP 19 seems to build upon the foundation of the previous installments, without changing too much. As always, there are some new features but will they be worth it to get the new game right away? Let us review and compare.
Story
MotoGP is known for its typical “work your way up to the top” career mode and in the ’19 edition, you get the select one of four divisions to start your career. You can start low with the Red Bull Rookies Cup or jump in from Moto 3, Moto 2 or even at the highest level: MotoGP. The Rookie Cup is shorter than the other categories, so you won’t have that much time to prove your worth. Overall career progression is slow as there is much realism put in place to make things go down like they would in real life. You can do many test runs and qualifications or instantly jump into races to make the overall experience shorter.
When you get bored with the career mode and want to try out something else, you might find the eSport Championship or Historical Challenges interesting. Historical challenges take you back to the many great events that happened in the MotoGP timeline and the eSports mode is an online championship where you must battle the best around the world.
Graphics
When it comes to quality, MotoGP has always been decent. Overall, the game looks colorful with some well-polished graphics. The HUD and race track are very clear to see and you will be informed about what goes on all the time thanks to the simple overlay. The main menu is easy to navigate through and with the addition of customization, you will notice that these elements are brought very nicely. While there is good attention to detail, some things might feel off, i.e. some parts are not that intricate and yet they do blend in smoothly. This is hard to explain but if you pay close attention to some details, you might find a thing or two that are missed. In addition, animations look quite stiff, unlike in the Ride franchise where riders look and react very realistically when driving.
Sound
The game sounds as good as it looks. Taking into consideration that the graphics were very decent, it means that the sound is also pretty good. The bikes sound very realistic but since there isn’t much variation, it sometimes feels that many rides sound the same. In the menus, there is a very basic song playing, nothing worth remembering and in races there is only the sound of engines (unless you are driving an electric one, then it’s very silent).
Gameplay
MotoGP 19 is a racing game in which you must master your bike to come up on top. This franchise has become a very good simulator game over the last few years and while you still can edit many difficulty options, it might remain a bit hard to master. When entering the game, you will have a wide range of modes to choose from. There is a career mode that will let you start in one of the four divisions, in either standard or pro mode. Standard will allow the user to adjust all the difficulty settings on the go, creating a fully customized experience for them. Pro mode locks the game on the hardest difficulty with almost no freedom of choice. Next to the career, there are quick modes (your normal single player stuff), historical challenges (four divisions with a total of 60 events), online multiplayer, MotoGP eSport Championship (online ranked) and customization options. The latter is a fully loaded graphics editor where you can customize stickers and rider gear to character customization that allows the player to equip all kinds of gear.
The game itself is very realistic as you would expect from a simulator. This means that each little element takes into account how well your bike will run and corner. You will notice that having a beginning driver with not that much-developed technology will have a greater setback than a champion. When starting the career mode, finishing last will be mandatory the first few times, but after a while, you develop greater skills and will slowly creep to the podium. When switching over to an existing champion, you will notice the game being fairer and how it should normally play. Controls are very responsive and it’s very easy to navigate through the game.
Conclusion
MotoGP 19 is, just like its previous installments, a decent racing simulator. As the graphics and sound are fine and the gameplay is tight, it is overall a decent game to buy. Yet, due to it being not really innovating and slightly stagnant towards previous iterations, it isn’t a game worth paying full price. There are a few cool new features but only if it’s something that deeply interests you, they will make it worth forking over the full price. As the other titles all received positive yet similar reviews over the years, we can conclude that although 2019 might be a nice year for MotoGP, it isn’t that impressive altogether.
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