TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge – Review
Follow Genre: Race
Developer: Kylotonn
Publisher; Bigben Interactive
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Tested on: Xbox One

TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge – Review

Site Score
4.0
Good: You can drive a new two-stroke bike
Bad: Gameplay isn’t fun, sound and graphics are mediocre for a full priced title
User Score
2.0
(3 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 2.0/10 (3 votes cast)

The Isle of Man is a little island somewhere in the Irish Sea, some might never heard of it before. What makes this place so special is that its streets are being used as a racing location for years because of the small sharp curvy street roads. This makes it the world’s most deadly championship. Each year there are multiple casualties from the fast street racing that happens on the 60km long track. When we heard about a game coming out especially for this track we wondered this could be made interesting as it’s only about one event.

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Story

Just like in most racing games you start out as an aspiring driver wanting to make a name for yourself. The career mode starts with you creating a character that is customizable by details and rider gear. You have a hefty amount of cash in the bank for your first bike but choice is limited to a few motorcycles. Not to worry, the game doesn’t have that many to select from anyway. As you get more famous you will receive more invites to show what you are made of, but be sure to keep the cash flowing since you also manage repairs and other costs and bankruptcy will end your career for good.

It will take you a while to finally reach the top, to get that much sought trophy. Story progression can feel slowly because of the races that do take a while to complete. This is done in a way that it feels like you have been training for ages to finally meet the biggest mountain of your career and be able to climb it as well.

Graphics

It figures that a game that takes place on a beautiful island will have this special atmosphere to it, while in real life this is true but the game fails at bringing this. TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge is set during summer but the scenery feels far from warm. You will notice the sun shining bright on the streets however when looking at the skies it is very gray and reminds you of the cold and wet Britain climate.

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Sometimes compensations are there to be made and some developers will skim on surroundings in order to have all the small details worked out in the vehicles and characters. This is something that happened before in other titles, but in this game the developers have skimped on everything. The bikes all look and feel the same, while brands and models do differ, the cockpits and fairings seen from behind the wheel are almost identical to one another. Also everything is just so flat, no real textures are present and the few that are there are so overdone that it becomes comical.

Sound

Racing games can really draw the crowd with the many special sounds a tuned engine makes. While bikes do have some differentiating tones between the inline, V and two-stroke, in their own categories they are hard to tell apart. What could have made this game feel more inviting is a nice fast soundtrack, it is understandable that in a simulator this normally would be absent, but TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge could have made use of some more natural sounds such as spectators cheering or an announcer giving information.

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Gameplay

TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge is a racing game about winning the most legendary race of humankind, the Isle of Man. For those who are wondering what ‘TT’ means in this review, it stands for Tourist Trophy. This is the goal that is set for you throughout the campaign. You must work your way up from racing small fictional tracks to prepare for a 60km endurance race. Not only is such a long run very exhausting, because it is set on the many winding roads of the island’s streets you must have complete control over your ride in order to finish. In real life this race takes lives each year and although bikes might become safer with better brakes and suspensions, the bigger speeds they can reach also means greater risk for injuries. What differentiates this game from others is its mainly street settings with its tracks, this means dodging curbs, tight turns and flying through roundabouts on your way there. Others places in the game give you a more circuit like feeling with longer stretches and fewer corners so the game has something for everyone to enjoy.

In the options menu you have many difficulty settings and driving aides. Playing on easy gives you the best control but if you like it more realistic try turning every assist off. In a decent scripted game this is where all the fun begins, you are allowed full control over your vehicle and you may use this as your skills can provide. Sadly thanks to the sketchy way the bikes feel, it takes a big chunk off its value. In comparison to other games where you can feel your bike starting to lose control, here it is just hit or miss, well mostly miss. Riding feels more like work than just enjoying and well that’s not good in a driving simulator.

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A game that has the concept about the world’s annually biggest bike race event will need some powerful tricks up its sleeve to pull a price tag that is equivalent to other AAA games. Now sadly there are not many things that will keep your attention for long. First there are not many tracks, there are some small differences and most of them look the same. Secondly two classes of vehicles are represented: 600cc SuperSport and 1000cc Superbike. There are some small differences noticeable between them, but it is not really that impressing. Only a handful of manufacturers are in the game with only another two to three of models so if you like diversity the only interesting here is that each bike has unique stats because of the teams racing with them.

The A.I. in this game also has some strange habits. At some moments they may remember you of those teenagers crashing scooters in your street, but at other moments these are all true world champions. What makes it all that much harder is on easy the A.I. seems to let you go but a strong feeling of rubberbanding is present, same with more difficult setting. It seems like you are gaining ground but in reality they will fly off many times quicker than yourself.

Conclusion

If this was a budget title we would have recommend it for the experience for the fans, but how this game turned out it feels more like a cash grab on the name. Gameplay feels sketchy at simulator settings but is playable on easy. The audio/visual aspect isn’t that great either with some missed opportunities along the way. There will be a market that likes this game, that’s why Sniper Ghost Warrior still manages to sell games year after year. If you truly want to enjoy the Isle of Man circuit maybe check out Ride 2 that came out last year.

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Rating: 2.0/10 (3 votes cast)
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TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge – Review, 2.0 out of 10 based on 3 ratings
MC_JP


Never give up on a dream. It might be a long nightmare, but one day it will change into a beautiful reality - MC_JP 2014

3 Comments

  1. […] Isle of Man, a game we’d rather forget, as our review wasn’t all that positive about its overall quality, is getting ported over to the Switch. While […]

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  2. […] 2018 we reviewed TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge and it did not go that well. Now another year, another chance, you […]

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  3. […] to make a game that brings the legendary Tourist Trophy Isle of Man to your living room. The first game was bad, the second game saw some slight improvement(s) and this time around it feels like the […]

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