There is something to be said for a game that allows you to race across four entire World Superbikes seasons. There is also something to be said for a game that, in full simulation mode is really bloody difficult.
World SBK Generations (£29.99), in full simulation mode, is hard. But then, all good games are otherwise what would be the point. In the words of Tommy Hill. "If is was easy, it would be cricket." SBK Generations is a massive thing.
Right at the top end of the game, you have to balance throttle, gears, bar input and rider positioning at a wet Phillip Island, while Troy Bayliss is lapping 15 seconds faster than you, takes some concentration. Mind you, at the wrong end of 30, maybe my manual dexterity isn't as good as it was when I was 12. Or even 20. OK, it is much harder to replicate movement on a bike than it is, say, a car, because the inputs are so variable but developers MileStone have done a good job of capturing them.
If you add into the the setup data you would have if it was real (suspension, gearing, tyres etc), you can get it oh so wrong oh so quickly. Get it right, however, and you get a real sense of achievement when Troy Bayliss is only lapping five seconds faster than you.
If you pick Low Simulation, it all becomes a bit easier and you can follow a season through and get on the podium quite a lot. When you do, you become a bit of a hotter property and move up from the ranks of satellite teams into a factory team - which is where we would all like to be, obviously.
At the other end of the game, you have the free play option, which kind of speaks for itself. You can time attack tracks and really get a feel for how to setup your light cycle before moving onwards and upwards.
The SBK Experience part of the game is kind of a limited challenge thing. The trick here is to get through it all as fast as you can and achieve Legendary status - and the way to do this is to pull lots of wheelies, not crash, be a crowd pleaser.
Most of SBK Generations is good fun. The gameplay isn't in the league of Gran Turismo 5 - but then again what is? It is a game to come back to time and again, rack up your experiences and practice, practice. Not one for post-pub though, you will never get anywhere, I suspect.
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