Castrol Honda Superbike Racing

Overview

Get ready for some fast, precision motorcycle racing. From the minds at Electronic Arts comes Castrol Honda Superbike Racing. This racer brings to you a well-put-together, true-to-form simulation-style racing game that can try your patience and reward it equally should you manage to win the circuit.

Gameplay

This game appears to be designed with more of a simulation feel rather than an arcade-racing feel. In fact, if you are looking for an arcade racer, look elsewhere. The physics and handling of the bike feel fairly realistic which, of course, will make the game harder to get the hang of. Fortunately, there is a broad range of skill levels ranging from "I got training wheels" to "Wanna drag race the space shuttle?" and everything in between. There are many available settings including braking assist, steering assist, help arrows (for upcoming turns), tire wear, wheelies, and damage. Although the six pre-defined skill levels automatically set these for you, the lowest five allow you to tweak the settings to set how realistic (or unrealistic) you want the race, physics, and bike handling to be. The sixth (and hardest) setting makes you play a real no-rules bent race complete with penalties and potential disqualification with no adjustable options. The difficulty of your opponents is based on which skill level you choose. I found that the computer controlled riders tend to ride quite well at all difficulty levels so don’t get your heart set on lapping everyone on the easiest skill level. As well as the realism is handled in this game I found that all the riders, including my own, seem to be glued to their seats; even as I hit some walls (and bikes) hard enough to throw the rider, everyone managed to stay on their bikes. Mind you, it is quite possible to dismount, but it seems as if you have to hit something pretty hard before you will. Like many racing games these days, this one also allows you to set up gear ratios and tire settings for your bike. Unlike many racing games, you have the ability to save these settings for all tracks or each individual track, which is handy, assuming you like to do this type of thing.

There are fourteen tracks total to race around in either a training session, practice session, single race, or a complete championship. Again, the game’s "simulation" face comes into play, as this racing game does not show a map on-screen of the track while you’re racing (or anywhere else). It’s entirely up to you to determine the sharpness of the turn and how fast you should take it (assuming you don’t have braking or steering assist enabled). Fortunately, there are help arrows available that can point you in the right direction until you get used to a track. I found the learning curve for each track tended to be longer than other race games as I really had to find a good mix of throttle and braking to keep in the race. As you may have guessed by now, the controls are also not the easiest to get the hang of. This can be quite subjective based on what type of controller you have. For instance, I tried playing this with the original digital controllers and had an incredibly difficult time taking turns and juggling the throttle and brakes efficiently. I then used a dual analog shock controller and WOW, what a difference! With the analog controls, the bike responded exactly as I wanted it to (or as it should if I brake too hard or turn too fast). I particularly liked how the left stick turns the handlebars while the right stick acts as the throttle and brake. EA also did a real good job with the shock coming into play when riding off-road. I would very HIGHLY recommend using an analog controller with this game or you will likely be quite disappointed in the control. In addition to the standard controls, you can also change the viewpoint from several behind-the-bike points to a first-person view. The transmission can be either automatic or manual. An odd thing about this, even if the transmission is set to automatic, you still need to shift from neutral to first. What I found to be even odder is that these bikes have a reverse gear.

The general interface is pretty simple and self-explanatory. I did find it a bit odd, however, that in some places I needed to press X to continue and in other places I needed to press start. Still, following the screen instructions will get you where you want to be.

Graphics

The graphics are quite nice. They are clean, crisp (or as crisp as a television will allow, anyway), and bright. There are lots of items on and around the track, such as trees, buildings, tire skids, and grandstands, which add to the racing excitement. I was particularly impressed by the photo-realistic backgrounds on each track. The lighting is also handled quite well. For instance, if you are riding behind a mountain or in a tunnel, it will be darker than if you’re out in broad daylight. Overall, the graphics are one of the high points in the game and truly add to the fun.

System Features Supported

This game supports both Dual Analog and Shock controllers. (I highly recommend using an analog controller with this game.)

Bottom Line

There is nothing groundbreaking in this game, but what is here is done well and adds to the general gameplay. Overall this is a fun game that takes some time and patience to get the hang of and, when achieved, offers a true sense of accomplishment which is why I give Castrol Honda Superbike a score of 84.

With a kick-ass motorcycle racing game like Moto Racer 2 in its lineup, you gotta wonder why EA bothered with Castrol Honda Superbike Racing. Yeah, it's got some appealing features and gameplay, but the weak graphics and sounds bury this racer in the back of the pack.

Wipes Out

First, the good points. Racers climb aboard the Castrol Honda RC45 bike and dive into single race or season action on 14 tracks. Castrol's impressive range of difficulty settings and braking/steering aids let you take these bikes out in everything from braking-is-for-wusses arcade action to demanding high-end sim battles. That depth of gameplay makes Castrol suitable for any breed of racing fan, and the excellent controls respond well, particularly with a dual-analog controller.

Unfortunately, the two-player split-screen action chugs a little too much, though it's definitely playable. Where Castrol really blows a flat is its graphics and sounds. The bland tracks provide little detail, suffering from a pixelated, muddy look. The racers are animated jerkily, too, artificially twitching through turns and collisions. As for sounds, there's no music or announcer, and while the sound effects of the engine and tires are realistic, they get boring pretty quickly.

Yellow Flag

If you're a huge fan of superbike racing, you may want to check out Castrol to feed your superbike need, but you'd be smart to rent before buying. Everyone else should stick with Moto Racer 2 for solid motorcycle racing.