SBK'09 is yet another Milestone game that lacks direction, focus, imagination. Good game killed by bad decisions
This is going to be wordy because I'm going to go into detail about things rather than just say something sucks. Let me just say right off that I'm not like those pro reviewers who bash any licensed race title that tries to go after reality instead of being a fantasy racer. I am a long time fan of bike games and a huge fan of Milestones EA Sports SBK 99-01. But as their last few titles have shown Milestone appears to be working in a vacuum that they are either unable or unwilling to come out of. SBK'09 fails on so many levels that it is scary how anyone could have approved it for release. While other companies tend to go forward Milestone continues to go backwards with each release. Basically they've made a couple of small improvements. Ignored a majority of the complaints about SBK'08 and MotoGP 08. But sadly made lots of changes for the worse. You get two new tracks Kyalami & Imola (two of my favorite tracks ever and the reason I got the game), one track that was supposed to be in last year's game but wasn't in Portimao. But still get shorted the Nurburgring again.
Physics / Gameplay:
SBK'09 for the most part retains the physic engine of Milestones SBK'08 and MotoGP 08. For me this is a good thing because it's a bike game that actually feels like a bike game. The bikes have weight and roll on their axis like they are supposed to. SBK'08 was also a very flawed title but the actual physics and control of the bikes in my opinion were great. Milestone took a small step backwards with MGP08 by trying to simplify the game setup but they've practically ruined everything with SBK'09. It took me a bit to figure out why the bikes had a serious case of under steer and this was horrendously noticeable in slow corners. Nothing I did setup wise would get rid of it. The problem turns out to be with the changes to the braking dynamics Milestone has made to the game. Quite simply you steer a street bike with the throttle and the primary stopping force is the front brakes. Milestone has the rear brake as the primary stopping force and the main tool for line adjustments. Why? In a game that lots of people already claim is too hard why would they install a control scheme that is far more difficult to use than using the natural function of motorcycles? Quick simple basic riding lesson 101 for those who don't know: The basic steps when approaching a corner is. Setup you line roll off throttle, get your braking and gear change done. When all that is complete you turn into the corner. Adjustments can be made either with small throttle inputs or trail braking with the front brake. It's a fairly simple process and was pretty well implemented in SBK08/MGP08. With SBK'09 you end up having to tap dance between the throttle and brakes because while the front brake will endo you, it still doesn't actually slow you down, yet at the same time the rear brake doesn't always act in the same manner. Sometimes it locks up immediately other times it doesn't. So simply trying to slow the bike down takes more effort than it should. Once you get the bike slowed instead of using the throttle to adjust your line, you have to tap on the rear to do this. I'm sorry that's just wrong. The fact in their tutorial it states to do this makes me question if anyone at Milestone has ever ridden a motorcycle. Speaking for myself I want my bike games to play like bikes just as I want my car games to drive like cars. This doesn't mean they have to be some kind of ultra difficult sim, just a decent representation of the sport. I mean would you want your rally game to play like a F1 game?
One positive change though is how the bikes react when they leave the track which is a massive improvement. Leaving the track doesn't automatically mean you are going to fall and depending on where and when there is a good chance that you can save it. At the same time the bikes are slowed in a very natural way that should go a long way to prevent people from cutting. The game also does a good job of determining the difference between an honest mistake and someone who is trying to cheat. But overall the changes to the braking make the game seem very lethargic and unexciting. Both SBK08 & MGP08 did a better job of providing a sensation of speed. SBK'09 always seems to feel like you are going in slow motion.
Graphics:
Graphically SBK'09 isn't really any better than SBK'08/MGP08. The bike and riders look good, but the tracks and backgrounds still are a bit flat and just look terrible compared to other titles on the PS3, especially if you compare it to something like F1 Championship Edition. The hyped rider/bike damage isn't anything to write home about and is pretty much the same regardless of how you crash. I would go so far as to say that Tourist Trophy on the PS2 is graphically more impressive. When it comes to the tracks themselves, SBK'09 does a mixed job being detailed. Some tracks like Portimao have the elevation changes done very well. While others Kyalami & Imola feel mostly flat even though they should feature extra elevation changes. Additionally all the tracks feel pool table smooth. No effort at all has been put into making the track surfaces have the individual personally that they have.
Another item that I find really annoying is the player views. SBK'09 basically has two views 3rd and 1st person, with 3 to 4 variants of each. The problem I have with the 3rd person view is that when you select the ones that are close up the camera is placed to low so you really can't see anything but the back of your rider. While the camera placement in the far view is better but then everything looks too small. I was very pleased that the on bike view finally had the camera placement as if it were on the riders head, so the earth doesn't tilt when you corner, but as with the 3rd person view the camera placement is questionable so your field of view is often obscured by something. I don't know I just think a couple of useful views is a better than a bunch of ones that aren't. Or having the option to move the camera to the height that you'd like would be nice.
Sound:
While it's easy to distinguish the different bikes by their sounds, over all they are fairly poorly done and sterile. While it doesn't really matter, once again the soundtrack from the game doesn't feel appropriate and seems like the songs were chosen simply because they are indy and most likely were free.
Online/Multiplayer:
Milesotne's previous two titles were criticized heavily for their online modes and sadly it still isn't really much better here with SBK'09. In addition to the returning Quick Race mode you have Championship and Team Championship options. But the old problems still remain. You can't set your bike up the way that you want and it's up to the host to decide how you play the game. For example, if the host selects the option to Not force Manual Transmission the other players still won't have the option select Manual even if they want to. Additionally the game modes are as confusing as ever and the gamers have no options to select which features they want. The game doesn't import your local settings, so if you play in Sim mode but don't turn on Traction control or braking aids, the online game will turn them on and not give you the option to turn them off. Leader boards are present this time around, but they don't track times. They track points. Very strange indeed. You still far too much time waiting around in lobbies as you can't view or even view an existing race. But the worse part of all this is that the actual racing to me felt slower than when playing off line.
Presentation:
Here is where in my opinion all of Milestones recent titles have failed and it's more of the same with SBK'09. The game layout is still horrendous and is made worse by the extremely long loading screens. There generally aren't any global menu options so if you are in a mode and want to make a simple change you have to back out of it (and wait on the loading screens) to get to another menu (with more loading screens) before you get to the menu you are trying to get to. Since the PC version of the game's loading times was much shorter, I don't understand why there isn't an option to install the game and run it from the HD of the PS3? In addition to the menu layout being a mess, the general game modes and configurations are as well. I think there are too many difficulty modes and it should be simplified so that it's easier for players to progress from one to the other. Options sometimes double up or don't actually do anything. It's just a big confusing mess.
SBK'09 like its 08 predecessors does a terrible job of immersing the gamer into the action. There are no player profiles or stats. You still can't even enter your name when you set a lap record. It's the same with bike setups. Why can't you enter your own detail for your setup? The replay feature is pretty boring (as with the pictures and vids you get for doing the challenges) and it's just as well you can't save and share them. The game still doesn't have the much requested Supersport class. Nor can you create your own team and work through any kind of career. The tutorials are still poorly executed and actually don't teach anything and the challenges are pretty much the same lame ones as last year. Simply put there is a lack of effort and imagination throughout the entire game. Even where Milestone tried to be creative with the race engineer it is executed so poorly that's its really kind of useless. Where the game gets really frustrating is that Milestone doesn't know if it wants the game to be a sim or an arcade game. It goes out of the way to try and be accessible for novices but then will do something like not allow you to choose the weather in any mode outside of quick race. It's a bunch of things like this that just kills SBK'09
I was able to get past most of the major flaws of SBK08/MGP08 because the actual racing of the game was fun. That isn't the case here. The racing never really has any excitement, no commentaries, just nothing really to get you pumped up about the racing or riding. The newly added podium celebration is half done, boring and just another reason for the game to provide another loading screen. Even going head to head online is anticlimactic. I am the type of gamer that can play a racer for years and years just going after lap times but nothing about SBK'09 inspires me to do so because the game feel more like a chore than fun, it doesn't feel natural in any form. There is nothing here to build a community off of and for me at least it has already gone back on my shelf of games past.
I don't understand what is going on with Milestone. They know how to make a good game and the team responsible for their EA Sports SBK games are still working on their latest games. As was the case with SBK'08 & MotoGP'08, SBK'09 is a title that easily could have been the best of its genre, but is let down by bad decisions, direction and effort. Quick simply it lacks the features that have been common to race games for years and also the newer features that have been standard over the past couple of years. I purchased the game mainly for the 3 new tracks and but because of the changes to the steering/braking I can't even enjoy me. SBK'09 would have been a far better game if they would have if nothing else left the things that worked alone and just updated the rosters and the tracks. What Milestone needs is some competition to a light a fire under their ass, until then they are just going to continue to turn out uninspired, boring games like SBK'09. SBK'09 even for diehard motorcycle game fans like myself is something you definitely should rent before you buy. But I bet after just a few laps you'll end up looking to get your bike game fix elsewhere.