Moto GP re packaged for the 2nd time with no effort to improve it except a lame bolt on mode.
First the Graphics, yes they are generally better and on the whole this is a good looking game. it does not hold up to the clean look of Toca 3 or Forza however and often looks strangely dirty and bitty, especially the bikes in the selection menus. When painting ur own bike i hope u dont like yellow cos for sum reason it comes out as a murkey browny colour ( as do some of the other colours ). The tracks look nice and the new locations are appealing but again lack the polish of the latest car sims.
Gameplay is the area that frustrated me more than any other area of MotoGP 3. It is 90% identical to the previous 2 games. The bikes handle a little easier at high speed but this is a game that has actually been called realistic! Being a bike rider myself and a long term follower of MotoGP i can say pretty certainly that this is not how a bike handles, u cannot slam the rear brake on through corners and if u apply the throttle fully out of a corner a 250bhp bike will highside and throw its rider. While upping the realism level to 100% helps with the braking issues it still wont model crashing accurately at all. The only crash the game wants to handle is simply swiping the bike sideways, a move that the AI performs on u all too readily which brings me to my next point.
The AI in the game is EXACTLY the same as in the previous 2. By this i refer to the way in which AI riders have absolutely no awareness of u at all and will happily smash into u through corners unless u take steps to avoid them, difficult since if they r behind u then u wont see them till its too late. the AI and the actual physics of the bike were the 2 things that i was looking forward to seeing improved but niether has advanced at all. AI is totally dumbstruck, and the mechanics of actually riding a bike seem totally lost on the games developers.
A feature of the game that all reviews rate highly is the new extream mode. basically this is an even more arcady version of the GP. the locations are sometimes nicely done with pretty effects and texturing but the realism problems are even more apparent. furthermore the bikes are jst appaling. cheap reconstructions of real life machines beg the question y couldnt the developers pay for the proper liscenses? the bikes and brand names along with the insanely basic upgrade system make the mode feel cheesy and rushed.
A week ago a rented Tourist Trophy to use on a mates PS2 and immediatly thought that THIS is how it should be done. it wasnt perfect but it made u think about how to actually control the bike and showed attention to how bikes handle under power and braking and by the way is also damn satisfying when u get it right. I urge u, dont let THQ get away with re painting their original game again, i'll bet anything that MotoGP 06 will be the same story, better graphics, same game. Im a big fan of the xbox but in this case find a PS2 and get Tourist Trophy instead.