So near, yet so far. That's my initial impressions of a week with TT - Ride on the edge. As a massive motorcycle and TT fan, i have been really looking forward to finally playing this game. However, the initial excitement has rapidly turned into disappointment. There are some amazing aspects of the game and equally, there are some massively obvious omissions.
First let's look at the goodSo near, yet so far. That's my initial impressions of a week with TT - Ride on the edge. As a massive motorcycle and TT fan, i have been really looking forward to finally playing this game. However, the initial excitement has rapidly turned into disappointment. There are some amazing aspects of the game and equally, there are some massively obvious omissions.
First let's look at the good bits:-
The 37 mile Snaefell course is replicated in all it's incredible glory. Everything is there. Every bend, every bump, every piece of road furniture and flying along the track at speed is an incredible experience. The sense of speed (especially in first person views) is second to none. It really does give the player an idea of the lunacy that is the IOM TT and the skill and bravery of the riders who take it on.
Framerate and rendering is acceptable although sometimes at certains parts of the track at certain times of the day it can get very dark and difficult to see where you are going (probably like the real thing i guess)
The Bikes and riders are rendered well and add to the realism.
The sounds. Bikes sound realistic and the wind noise as the bike gains speed is reflective of riding a motorcycle for real.
from here on it starts to get a bit more negative though
Although there are several other tracks (9), they are fictional and not that inspiring. The game could have been amazing if other popular road racing circuits had been included. North West 200, Ulster GP, Macau for example. As it is, you find yourself ignoring the other tracks in favour of the Snaefell circuit.
Number of classes - Superbike and supersport. That's it. no lightweights, no sidecars (coming in a future update apparently), No Superstock, No Zero TT (electric bikes, this would have been really different) This really limits the games longevity
Number of bikes - No yamahas, No Suzukis!! None...At all!! What would have been great would have been to add some classic TT machinery (along with riders) Hislop on the RC30, Joey Dunlop on various machines, Foggy, David Jeffries, Hailwood, Agostini etc. Which also brings me on to riders...
Some notable omissions - Guy Martin, Dan Kneen, Josh Brookes and of course a very long list of possible riders from History. How can you have a TT game without Joey? Why go to the trouble of recreating the course and then only utiiise it for a few current riders and bikes? for me this is a big miss and could have really driven the games appeal.
Career mode - This feels like an afterthought. Simply buy a bike, race around the 9 tracks plus parts of the Snaefell track. win money, buy new bike, repeat. No sponsorship (that i've found), no performance parts, nothing to make career mode more interesting. It would have been great to start as an amateur running their bike from the back of a van and using any winnings to upgrade parts on their bike until faster and better bikes could be bought but there is nothing like this. The bike you buy is the bike you race.
Lack of any performance enhancing facility. Either by way of adding performance parts or by way of tuning ride and handling characteristics. Even a simple interface to alter braking and turning would help.
No structured tutorial or race school. You're shown left, right, stop and go and then thrust into the game
But the most frustrating aspect - Handling and gameplay
With very little in way of tutorials, you are thrust into trying to race around some pretty unforgiving tracks.
Trying to control a motorcycle with a joypad is difficult but other games (Ride 2 I'm looking at you) make it feel much more rewarding and realistic whilst being a little more forgiving.
I accept that riding the TT at speed is never going to be easy, ad that's part of the point but i dont accept that the way the bikes handle is representative of real life and this really lessens the enjoyment of the game. The worst handling gremlin is the bikes tendency to oversteer uncontrollably if you do not straighten up after a turn in time. The bike simply seems to stop responding to steering input and ploughs uncontrollably into the side of the track. Sometimes it feels like the bike does this in spite of the input from the user. It is incredibly frustrating to feel like you have had control taken from you rather than as a result of your own error.
This seems to be a common complaint amongst other users, so it's not just me ;)
I'm sure will put off the more casual gamers from persevering with it.
No rewind! Crash and your race is done, it's very difficult to catch up.
AI is very poor
Overall - The snaefell circuit is rightly the star of the show but beyond this the game feels empty and not finished. There is so much more that could have been added to really make this a classic. in the short term the bike handling really needs to be sorted out though.… Expand
TT Isle of Man: Ride On The EdgeYour Score0 out of 10User Score
