Developer Milestone continues to innovate its bread and butter MotoGP franchise with MotoGP 22. The motorbike simulation based on the MotoGP series continues to introduce new realism aspects that inevitably ends up getting implemented into other games. Tyre and brake temperatures were introduced in recent years, and aspects like this end up being the driving force of innovation for racing games. With MotoGP 22, Milestone has thought outside the box to deliver on what hopefully gets implemented into other racing franchises along with an improved approach for new racers. The complete package for MotoGP 22 offers just that for fans of the series.
MotoGP 22 will offers all the riders across all the MotoGP leagues along with all the tracks on the calendar. While the legendary tracks and riders take a back seat this year (but are still in the game), what was added is astonishing. Milestone has introduced an interactive documentary that’s done so well that it’s the perfect change to incorporate into the series. Nine Season 2009 is a mode that includes the story of the 2009 MotoGP season where four championship contenders (Rossi, Pedrosa, Stoner, Lorenzo) battled it out until the very end.
In Nine Season 2009, you will take part in short lap spurts involving storylines from each individual race of that season. There’s the occasional other storyline not tied into the championship contenders as well. There are two goals to meet for each race as completing these will unlock liveries and items. There’s dialogue included from Mark Neale, director of some of the best MotoGP documentaries out there. This outweighs any type of narrative mode that has been added to other racing games and hopefully we see more things like this in the future. This will teach you about some of the history of the sport as the bikes and riders are specifically tied to the 2009 season.
Taking a cue from another racing series, Milestone has included what is equivalent to the Circuit Experience in Gran Turismo with the MotoGP Academy. This will have you racing against time for medals through separate segments of each circuit on the game. The idea is to get racers to learn each circuit, which is a nice addition to add playtime outside of the main modes. Milestone has also upgraded its Tutorial to allow some deeper explanation of braking points, apex approaches and other advanced maneuvers to bring new riders along to competitive levels.
Milestone has also added an Adaptive Difficulty System to help guide new users to find their perfect way to compete and succeed. While I believe there could be a deeper explanation of how braking works (rear versus front) and the proper way to accelerate without gunning the throttle, what’s here for teaching new users is much improved. With the Neural AI A.N.N.A. advancing even more this year, this allows for players to keep up and have some great racing against the AI. There are still issues with the opponents knowing where you are on the track. I’ve seen riders take the wrong racing line or overshoot a corner due to being under pressure, but I’ve also had riders run into full speed into the back of me. Their lap times and pacing are accurate and seeing how they flow and race is nice, but the biggest issue still sits with their surroundings awareness.
The racing feels more realistic than in the past and there’s a great focus on tyre wear. The tyre model has been updated with a much more noticeable drop in grip when degrading. Players on the PlayStation 5 can also use the DualSense Motion to mimic the bike handling and the Adaptive Triggers work better than before. This includes feeling the brakes actually lock up or the tyres break loose. Braking does seem inconsistent, but this can be tied into the wear of the parts and the temperature. You need to brake early going into corners and while the racing line assistant is explained in the tutorial, it’s still off when knowing where to brake. Racing surfaces have also been updated to allow for a smoother riding experience and suspension has been retooled to focus on curbs. These are more than subtle upgrades to the bike handling, but they aren’t completely overhauling the model. This does allow for more confident racing than in the past.
These changes play a substantial part to separating this version in comparison to the past. What else is here is left over from last year, though. While the Managerial Career remains one of the deepest single player modes in racing games, there are no major changes this year. You can start a team or join a team in any MotoGP league, build the brand, and start in Winter Testing to see what package to deploy for the season. You will develop the bike with R&D throughout the season and an issue still remains where I don’t know what engineer I’m assigning to a technology is being pulled from. The game doesn’t tell you what engineers are available and which aren’t. Racing calendars can be customized this year, but ultimately this is the exact same mode.
Other modes that carry over for 2022 are a single championship, grand prix and time trial. For online multiplayer, there remains a lobby system and nothing deeper than this. There are still no online championships or anything that keeps the online aspect engaged. Milestone has added cross play this year, so this should add to the number of players out there. Splitscreen has also been added for local multiplayer racing, but this also goes no deeper than that.
What else is starting to age are the visual and the aesthetics. Milestone has added new 3D animations to faces to allow more emotions be shown during cutscenes. This doesn’t translate to the bikes or the tracks, though. The player models feel dated and while the bikes and rider gear do stand out thanks to the lighting and reflections, there are plenty of old assets that can be seen around the track. There’s 3D grass in areas, but others look can look plain ugly. While touches have been made to make it run at a higher resolution and 60 FPS, nothing pushes the bar on what feels like an ancient engine. At times, this game can look good and others can have it crashing back to earth. The soundtrack remains dramatic and fantastic with varying music playing in different areas. The voiceovers that are in the game are solid. While each bike sounds different, it feels that this is another aspect that needs to be updated. The bikes sound solid enough, but with a game like RiMS showing just how well sound can be done, the bike sounds are getting outdated.
Closing Comments:
MotoGP 22 is the best game in the series to date, but is hampered by its aging core design. Nine Season 2009 is a revolution in racing games as it’s one thing to include legendary riders or drivers and tracks, but another to do a documentary featuring the entire season. The racing is what’s most important and this is the most accessible and fun the racing has been to date all while managing to the up the realism with the tyre and suspension models in the game. The visual and audio design is beginning to feel dated, although certain aspects have been increased for the current generation of consoles, but none of this changes or improves from last year. Then again, the game is only $50, but maybe an overhaul of the visuals and audio would justify a higher price when factoring in the innovative content that Milestone continues to provide year-over-year.
