Tour de France 2020 is a game that is best suited to cycling fanatics and fans of the series. For a casual player, the cost probably isn't worth it when there are games out there worth less money and easily worth more of your time.
First of all a run-down of the game. 2020 features the entirety of the 2020 race and rights to all the teams except the names and pictures of DQT and aTour de France 2020 is a game that is best suited to cycling fanatics and fans of the series. For a casual player, the cost probably isn't worth it when there are games out there worth less money and easily worth more of your time.
First of all a run-down of the game. 2020 features the entirety of the 2020 race and rights to all the teams except the names and pictures of DQT and a couple of teams that don't participate in the tour. There are two 'career' modes - Pro Team sees you build a team over the course of many seasons, and Pro Leader does so as well, however the focus is on developing your rider. Alongside the Tour de France there are several other races including the Dauphine and Paris Nice as well as 3 of the 5 monuments, with LBL the latest addition. You can also create your own tours with 'My Tour', take part in shorter more casual modes in challenge mode where you try to achieve the best downhill time and win sprints, as well as offering a database which you can customize.
Tour de France 2019, was quite unsuccessful, Nacon and Cyanide have made several improvements upon release of the 2020 game. The AI has been tweaked, and is now more aggressive and realistic (in some ways, more about that later.) The greatest additions to this years edition come in the form of reworked Time Trials, Liege Bastogne Liege and the addition of a new immersive first person view. Cyanide have also cleaned up a few interfaces like the Pro Leader and Pro Team calendars, and added a replacement to the stage profile displaying corners ahead on the route on descents and at key points like intermediate sprints and areas exposed to crosswinds.
Unfortunately like 2019 there are quite a few bugs in the game. While most are not game breaking, there are several issues such as incorrect form peaks in Pro Leader and Pro Team and the biggest of all a bug in which riders get crammed into a corner and get stuck piling into each-other like so massive accident on a motorway. However, unlike last year Cyanide and Nacon have become much more interactive with the community and thankfully most bugs are on the verge of being fixed, in time for the real Grande Boucle.
The Positives:
-The new time trials add much more depth to the gameplay and are a massive improvement from the versions in more recent times.
-The addition of a first person view can be quite thrilling in high speed sprints and on descents where you get a true feeling of speed.
-The more aggressive AI makes racing more exciting although it also has its downsides (more on that)
-The addition of a sustained effort makes holding off a chasing group much more realistic as you aren't constantly out of the saddle to get away. It also makes tempo setting much better.
The negatives:
-One of the biggest things that disgruntles me and many other players is the AI. Firstly, AI corner well on descents however they massively over shoot bends pushing you into the side barriers sometimes even causing crashes. They also don't slow in a large group freewheeling into the corner before coming out the other side after turning.
-There are a few issues with collisions. Sometimes there are large spaces that your rider should fit through but cannot, and other times your rider gets sent flying back when going into the back of another rider and vice versa.
-Returning back to AI, sprints are highly unrealistic as you end up with a flat surface at the front with the sprint and lead-out trains taking up the entire roads, with GCs and other getting in the way of sprinters and all over the place ruining the lead outs. Also on mountain stages the AI doesn't pace itself very well, with riders blowing up trying to hold onto a group they obviously can't, rather than using a pacing strategy etc.
-There are many bugs and issues that have occurred, and while they are being fixed they are a constant nuisance. Things like crowded groups stuck in a bend leading to massive time gaps are not common but when they happen they ruin the entire race, and riders give up randomly sometimes when they have a good chance at getting back on the peloton after being dropped.
-Finally, I take greatest issue with the graphics. Once the game makes it onto next generation consoles it will no doubt get a re-face but at the moment we have a 1 face - thats right every rider has the same indistinguishable face, making it impossible to tell who they are besides team and skin tone.
In conclusion this game gets a review of 8/10 from me because it has potential. The game is growing with an increasing market, the developers are interacting more with the community and big and welcome changes have been made. However, this is still too slow of a process and much of the community for now is left crying out for change. Tour de France 2020 is definitely worth the money if your a cycling enthusiast but you may be better off waiting for the PS5 editions of the game, likely to appear between 2021-2023.… Expand
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