[Mush xx]

Motogp 07 is the fifth and final game in the series from developer Climax Racing, now know as Black Rock Studios and publisher THQ. The MotoGP series, along with Whacked and Mech Assault launched Xbox Live on a trial disc that was given with Xbox Live starter kits back in 2002. The demo version was used to unlock multiplayer from the retail game, which had no multiplayer built in. Five years later and four more games since, three on the Xbox and two on the Xbox 360, MotoGP 07 follows the 2007 real sport of Moto GP, just as its predecessors have followed their respective years. The Moto GP series have always sported a learning curve, and they can be a challenge to new comers to the series, there are times that the people at the top post on the leaderboards that will have you scratching your head thinking how did he get that fast? Perhaps xXBADGERXx explains this well with his slogan "MotoGP2 is like an Onion , the more you peel away at it the more layers you find , and the more you cut into it , the more it makes you cry" this is true to all of them in the series. The key to success is to find the right lines, slow into corners fast out, the right setups for the right tracks and most importantly learn the tracks and practise, practice, practice. When you first load the game you have a choice from two career modes to take, and you really should start from career as the object is to build your custom bike to full credits, or at least enough so you can get on Xbox Live and earn more. Extreme Mode was introduced in Moto GP3 and love it or hate it, expanded the amount of tracks. Each one of the Extreme tracks are fictional street tracks of the GP tracks. As these are not real tracks, they give the developer more scope to making them what they are....fun. They could be re-named "Super Hang On", as they certainly are fast. The scenery looks amazing and they have really gone to town (or street) with the customization of the bikes. This time in MotoGP 07 you have the option to swap parts and even lose your bike in Pink Slip racing. This mode is more arcade-like and will have casual gamers and MotoGP veterans coming back for more. There are twenty new Extreme bikes. The GP (Grand Prix) Mode is the mode which follows the real sport and this time it is the 2007 series. As these tracks and bikes are from the real season and under license of Dorna, they have been designed to look exactly like the real tracks and bikes. Again the attention to detail is there, helicopters and jet planes fly above the tracks, smoke and people cheering, so much attention to detail you may end up watching the planes land instead of watching the track ahead. In fact one of the main new features was to make it feel like a race day and it certainly does this, you can almost smell the burning of tires as you come out of the pits onto the track from qualify. At the start of each race you now get a glance of the umbrella girls and the sense of the start of a real race. Of course there is more to the game than the career, with Quick Race you can jump straight into a race, Time Trials you can perfect your times on the leaderboard with the ability to place your bike on any part of the track, and of course there is multiplayer action in both split screen and on Xbox Live. The main differences to MotoGP 07 from MotoGP 06 apart from the gorgeous graphics are; drafting, you may remember if you are a veteran of the series that drafting was a feature in MotoGP 2 before it was patched out and we missed it so much we made a call for it to come back, well it is back and great fun it is to! Tournament mode, Pink Slip racing and a new track. You may notice as well that some of the tracks have been improved and changed from MotoGP 06. The rider on the bike almost touches the ground as you swing round corners and the bike does a funny puppy-dog tail wiggle at the rear. The ghost has now gone and been replaced by Telemetry. Telemetry is a system that shows you how well you are doing by colour, so green means you are breaking your personal best and a clean section would be yellow. In addition to this you now have a track checklist to complete and this can be anything from beating a certain speed to doing a clean lap, as well as this there are challenges such as following the leader. MotoGP 07 is not only about the single player modes and you will find that once you have gained enough credits for your bike you probably won't be visiting single player mode again, unless you do not have Xbox Live as the competition and community is on Xbox Live. MotoGP 06 sadly suffered from a few bugs online and one of the most annoying was the problem of not hearing everyone in the lobby you were in, In MotoGP 07 this has been fixed and so you can hear all your friends now. In fact MotoGP 07 is almost bug free and the couple that are there can be worked around and hopefully fixed with a patch. As the draft has been added you now need collisions to be set to forward only or full to set personal bests on the leaderboards and this does take a bit of getting used to if you have played the previous games in the series and got used to having them off. Perhaps the most obvious missing feature is the absence of the coloured helmets from the lobbies and the non-existent flashing names from the race, this makes it impossible to see who you are talking to and who is who. The kick from lobby button is back too. The environmental sounds in the game have been enhanced too and the bike noise as you go through tunnels on some tracks are quite impressive, although on the open tracks the jet noises are a bit loud. If like most people you like to listen to your own music you probably won't notice this as much, however if you ride manual settings and need to hear the bike then this may be annoying. MotoGP 07 has also had a interface makeover and this perhaps is a bit bright, but does look very futuristic. The loading screens have been improved with helicopter views of the tracks and the ability to now see your statistics and the amount of checklists you have completed from each track, for example a tick will come up on the screen should you reach a certain speed or manage to do a clean lap and of course there are those all important 'cheevs to gain. Climax Racing intended to make MotoGP 07 feel like a real race day and this they have achieved, there is an enhanced graphical change and the environment is something special, in fact like me you may be watching the jets land rather than watching the track! with the new features this certainly makes this game one that you will be coming back again and again to. Graphics 8.9 Gameplay 8.9 Audio 8.0 Longevity 9.2 Overall 9.0

[DarkBow]

Excellent Review Mush.

Definitely worth the read.

[HeY jOe]

yep, love the "funny puppy-dog tail wiggle at the rear", a definate MUSH quote

[Moon Sol]

Have been "peeling the onion", cant stop crying but learning new lines to take every time I race. Grat review, cant we do a petition and force 08.

[Mechanical R]

Awesome review, glad to see its finally up Mush

[Mush xx]

Mechanical R, on Sep 25 2007, 04:59 PM, said:

Awesome review, glad to see its finally up Mush

Thanks Guys, yes you wouldn't believe how long that took to write

[Mechanical R]

Mush xx, on Sep 25 2007, 05:03 PM, said:

Thanks Guys, yes you wouldn't believe how long that took to write

I think i might be able to

[BG Daz]

Moonsun 1, on Sep 25 2007, 02:51 PM, said:

Have been "peeling the onion", cant stop crying but learning new lines to take every time I race.

I haven't stopped crying since day 1 !!!

Yet another brilliant review Mush

[AlexBizzar]

Correction Mush... it's an "Update" I'm surprised Microsoft hasn't contacted you about this already lol only kidding.