At just over 800mb, the MotoGP 06 demo will take you while to download but it’s more than worth the wait. Fans of the previous games of the series will feel right at home here in almost every way. The menus are near identical to the slick presentation of the Xbox originals, not just visually, but in there straightforward layout too. As with all demos your options are limited but all the controls are fully customizable. My preferred layout sets accelerate and brake onto the triggers while the X and A buttons handle the front and rear brake respectively. Leaning your rider, important to reduce/increase wind resistance to alter the speed of your bike for cornering or long straights, is controlled by the left analog stick while changing gears is left to the remaining face buttons. Of course, that’s just all personal preference as some may prefer analog stick accelerating with the independent brakes on the triggers, it’s completely up to you.
It's hard to fault the superb bike models.
The demo provides you with two very different tracks. The first is the Italian Mugello MotoGP circuit, one that all previous MotoGP players should know inside out, while the other is a Tokyo street based event. While street racing was introduced in MotoGP 3, it handled a little too similar to the MotoGP races to really offer something different. However, it feels far more different to the standard racing here. The speed is a little slower but swinging your bike around tight bends is far easier, which is how it should be really. Both offer full 16 player races but it’s impossible to tell of any improvements made regarding the opposition AI as there is only the easiest setting available to play on.
Having raced round Mugello countless times in MotoGP 1, 2 & 3 it didn’t take long before I was setting some decent lap times. The controls feel familiar but subtly different from what they did in MotoGP 3. Your bodyweight plays a bigger part then ever before now so I initially found myself under-steering frequently, but you soon adjust to the different feel. Of course, only having the one rider to choose from in the demo could just mean that any differences in handling could just be down to me using a bike that is different to what I was using in the previous games so we’ll have to wait for the full version to discover the degree of change made to the handling. But as it stands it more than matches the benchmark for bike games that the Xbox games set.
They really should be looking where they're going.
As well as a single player race the demo also offers Xbox Live play for up to 15 other players. Given the limited amount of tracks it’s not something you could spend a great deal of time playing but it does give you a good feel of the wonder that is MotoGP online. The netcode seems commendably smooth as always, while the excellent lobby setup means it’s still up there with the best in terms of ease of use.
Graphically it’s rather clear that it’s not quite finished yet. While it runs at 60fps it’s not as stable as I’m sure it will be. AA and AF also seem to be lacking, so things are a little jaggy and the track looks a little bit messy as you look into the distance, but overall it’s a big improvement on the last Xbox title. The soft, slightly dull look those games had have been replaced with crispness and stronger colours making Mugello look better than ever. Of course it’s the bike and rider models that impress the most, packing more detail than ever before in terms of both actual detail and animation.
Look out for our full PALGN review in a couple of months.
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