Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

The people at Polyphony are famous for the Gran Turismo series.  In fact, if you talk to the President of Polyphony Digital, Kazunori Yamauchi, about cars you see the excitement in his eyes and the passion in his voice.  He is one of the most diehard car enthusiasts one can ever meet.  Now the people behind Gran Turismo have brought a new racing experience to the PS2 with Tourist Trophy.  Polyphony has taken their expertise they have learned in the Gran Turismo series and developed a motorcycle racing game.  Does this bring an entirely new experience to the PS2, or does it feel like Gran Turismo meets MotoGP?

Tourist Trophy is one of the few titles that support 1080i on the PS2.  Playing in that mode makes the game look incredible.  While playing the game, you almost feel like you are watching a motorcycle racing broadcast on Speed Channel.  The riders lean forward, lean to the side and extend their knees, and shake depending on the balance of the bike.  You swear you can feel the wind rushing by you as you ride, especially in the first-person mode.  The sense of speed is more prominent than racing inside a car.

The different motorcycles are rendered accurately.  The crotch rockets have a different look to them than the less powerful motorcycles.  The differences in headlights, tags, and wheel rims give each class a unique field.  Unfortunately, you’ll be hard pressed to determine the difference between different cycles in the same class other than the paint jobs that differentiate them.

You’ll also be able to choose your own threads that you wear while racing.  You get a nice selection at the start, but you can unlock more.  The designs aren’t all that interesting though, with a simple look to them.

Since you have a greater sense of speed while riding on two wheels, you feel the crashes even rougher than crashing a car.  Your driver separates from the bike and eats gravel.  Yet, the rider doesn’t flail around as much as he should.  A little Havok physics would have been a major improvement.  Crashing the cycle doesn’t cause any scratches to the bike either.  A little touch like that could have made the game feel more alive.

The background and tracks really shine.  You can see that the developers took a lot of care into recreating the tracks.  Yet the tracks feel as if you took a camera to the track because there is a static feeling to them.  There aren’t any crowds around to watch you, and any obstacles hit don’t fly around with the velocity you’d expect if they are hit.

The motorcycles are the main focus of the game, and they all sound great.  You’ll hear a low hum in the lower gears, while a high-pitched squeal increases for the higher gears.  There is no mistaking the type of bike you are on for each section.  These are definitely the high points of the game.

The background music is just there.  You won’t hear any memorable tunes, and it really doesn’t feel like it adds anything to the experience.  Most of the time you won’t hear the music because of the sound of the engines, but a little music for the game could have added to the intensity of going at high speeds with a leather jacket and a helmet between you and the pavement.  The soundtrack songs have wonderful titles like, “I Against A Speed,” “Discommunication,” and “Who I Am?”

If you are looking for any type of announcer in the game, you’ll be disappointed as there isn’t one.  You don’t even get someone to give you the timing of your last lap.  It makes the game seem a bit cold and unfriendly, sucking the immersion from the game.

You won’t find the controls much different from other racing games, but there are some differences because you are on a motorcycle.  Steering is handled with the analog stick, while acceleration can either be handled with the right analog stick or hitting X to accelerate and Square to brake.  Shifting up and down uses the R1 and L1 buttons, respectively.  Tucking under the windshield is done with the L2 button.  R2 activates your rear brake.  If you want to look back, hit Circle, and if you find yourself needing to reverse, use the Triangle button.

The controls are very sensitive.  Leaning the right way on the bike to make a turn is tricky.  It’s very easy to find yourself leaning too far and digging into the dirt. There also isn’t a way to adjust the sensitivity of the controller, so it takes a lot of practice to get the feel for the bikes.

At the main menu, you have an arcade mode that allows you to get into the game quickly, but you are only allowed to use the motorcycles you have already unlocked in the Tourist Trophy Mode.  Tourist Trophy mode is the career mode of the game where you spend most of the time in.  A replay theater is available to see all your saved run-throughs.  The music theater lets you play the music in the game and create a soundtrack for slideshows and replays.

Arcade mode has a 1-on-1 mode which lets you race against another opponent using street bikes, a four-person race using race-modified models, and a time trial to get the best lap on different courses.  You can also play a two-player race with a friend.  While there are few modes, there’s plenty to do in this area.

The Tourist Trophy Mode is where most of the action is.  Fans of Gran Turismo are going to be instantly familiar with the License School.  Here you learn how to handle the motorcycle through different training exercises.  There are four levels: Novice, Junior, Expert, and Super.  The higher your license, the more bikes you unlock.  While these are helpful to get a feeling for the game, they aren’t as intuitive as they could be because they don’t show the controls being used to make a perfect run for the exercise.

In the Challenge mode, you get a challenge to complete.  If you complete the challenge successfully, you earn the selected bike for the challenge.  Challenges are something like passing everyone in the race and keeping the lead for ten seconds.  To unlock some of the more powerful bikes, you need to complete the higher level licenses.  Time Trials let you practice a course or increase your skills.  These can be played alone or with a computer AI.  Racing events are completed using the bikes you have already run.  You can earn more bikes and riding gear by winning these events.

You can change the settings of your bike to a large extent.  This includes the suspension, brake balance, tires, exhaust, gear ratio, and roller weight.  You can also change your riding form on the bike, such as your head positions, arm angle, body lean, and leg angle.  If you aren’t comfortable with making too many changes to these, there are some preset forms for you to use.

A photo mode lets you take pictures during the replays and put them into a photo album.  These are great for showing off your skill and they look fairly photorealistic.  Taking pictures at times can be tricky, but you’ll get a nice picture more often than not.  You can even transfer these pictures to a USB thumb drive and print pictures to a USB printer.

There is a lot to like about the game, but there are some issues with the game that really drag the score down.  First of all, if you are familiar with Gran Turismo 4, all of the tracks will feel familiar.  Some motorcycle racing tracks would have been nice.

Secondly, TT is difficult, as in “tougher than Ninja Gaiden” difficult.  TT has an incredibly steep learning curve.  The reason for this is that the Licenses aren’t a good substitute for a real tutorial.  I have a feeling that a lot of people who enjoy Gran Turismo 4 will see that TT was made by the same people and make this their first foray into motorcycle racing.  Motorcycle racing can be counter-intuitive to car racing.

If you are a fan of racing games and have an idea of how to handle different cycles, then you can add another ten to twenty points to the score.  Otherwise, be prepared for what you are getting into with this game.

By completing challenges, you get new gear and bikes.  While the new gear is nice, some of it is nothing more than cosmetic changes to your character.  However, if you want to complete the entire game, you will get your money’s worth out of TT, as unlocking everything will take you a while.

The only multiplayer in TT is a two-player split-screen.  Racing games have had online play for quite some time now, and while TT using the Gran Turismo 4 engine, not having any multi-player for TT is inexcusable and drops the replay value of the game significantly.

Polyphony Digital has taken great care to fashion Tourist Trophy into a hardcore racing simulation.  However, with the steep learning curve, lack of a true tutorial, and difficulty of racing motorcycles, Tourist Trophy is a game that is meant for the simulation crowd.  Those looking for an arcade-style game should look elsewhere.  Those who are up for a challenge and don’t throw their controller in frustration easily are going to have a good time with Tourist Trophy.

Gaming Trend Score

75

1. Graphics: 82
2. Audio: 72
3. Controls: 84
4. Gameplay: 72
5. Value/Replay: 65
6. OVERALL:75