Second lap
SBK-08 offers two different styles of racing. If you want jump straight into the action you can simple choose automatic gears, forget about tweaking your bike and get straight on with the race, or alternatively, if you want to customize the whole experience and fiddle around with your bike, then the option is there to play it as a simulation.There are a decent set of tuning options for your bike, including adjusting the front and rear suspension, gear ratios, shifting the handlebars to change the turning speed of the bike or even shifting the weight from the front to the back of the vehicle in order to increase traction.
You can tweak performance by using the standard options where you’ll simply move a slider or you can go hardcore and opt for the advanced section. If you’re really into your bikes there’s also a feature called telemetry, where you can assess bike's performance and then make the necessary changes. The amendments to your bike seem to translate well on the track and they’ll certainly come in handy if you wish to gain the advantage when playing online or if you play on the higher difficulty settings.
There are a variety of modes available, including race weekend and the championship.There’s also a challenge section where you'll need to be a number of objectives, such as making your rear tyre skid in a designated section, or doing a wheelie for a certain amount of time. Alternatively, you can jump head first into a new mode called ‘Instant action’ where the computer does the choosing for you and throws you into a random track with a random driver and weather conditions.
Finally, there’s also the option to race online, something which we’ve yet to experience in an SBK game. This is Milestone’s first attempt at creating online functionality for an Xbox 360 game though, so it’s going to be interesting to see how they cope. In this preview version, we’ve only seen the option for a quick race mode with very few options, and we’re still unsure just how many people it will be able to host in race.
Click for larger imageIf you’ve played almost any console game in which you drive a motorbike, then you'll know that there isn't really much to learn when it comes to the control system. It's more about how you navigate those tight corners, dart in and out of the field and of course making sure you brake and accelerate at the appropriate times. SBK-08 is no different with simple controls such as accelerate and brake and the option to glance behind you. Even so, you still need plenty of skill to move around each corner with precision and then apply boosts of acceleration when the time is right.
Overall, the bikes seem to be handling well and the game feels practically ready for launch, with only a few minor bugs, graphical tweaks and audio issues to sort out. It certainly looks the part and on the track you can feel the sense of speed and danger as you hurtle around at break-neck speeds.
SBK 08 was due for release in May, but we believe the launch date has been put back slightly.
