[steadiworkz]

Webbiker, on 05 June 2012 - 02:42 PM, said:

Touche.

Hhhhmmm, disappointed more like !

[thelogger]

After my initially upbeat first impressions I've had a few days to re-assess Generations and.......

It is, as many would expect pretty much a tweak of 2011, the 2012 season update is a bit of a let down (I was looking forward to getting my thumbs on a superstock Panigale) as its just superbikes, no stockers or supersports, Milestone have included all the superbikes/sports/stockers (ish) from 11,10 & 09. Graphically it's not quite as drab as 2011 with a slightly more colourful palatte (at least on my monitor), the majority of tracks are exactly the same as previous years - Dunlop bridge still intact at Donington/Schwantz Esses not opened up !, Aragon is new for 2012 but whilst it's a nice track to race on isn't any prettier than the others.

Graphic glitches from last year are still intact which is unforgivable, other riders sprout an additional set of legs for brief moment as you approach them , this and rider animations that sometimes stick are things that should have been sorted since last year. The animations on the whole are still very, very good and put recent moto gp games to shame, individual riding styles are still all there, which is a nice touch.
The engine audio is still pretty good, the supersport bikes sound great , some engines sound nicer than others, most are authentically growly/bellowy/screamy even if some do sound a little too synthesised.

The most noticeable tweak though is in the handling, this seems to be an amalgamation of different elements from the various years of SBK gaming, the bikes feel looser and are more liable to wheelie than last year but aren't as rigid as 09, it's in the way braking works that I've noticed a real change and one that IMHO isn't necessarily for the better.

On some tracks/corners the bikes rear ends will come straight up if you even think about braking (this is stiil the case whilst using the tried and tested rear brake dragging of SBK games), with even a tiny bit of pressure on the trigger you can loop the bike nose over tail, yet in other corners (imola in particular) you can't stop for love nor money, the bike just slides and can do so at the expense of the ability to control the direction your travelling in even when braking in a straight line.

The next change is in the way the bikes lose stability in quick direction changes, on sweeping bends the bike feel planted & weighty but in areas like chicanes they feel and behave horribly, for anyone who's played the other games in the series the last two chicanes at Imola can be tricky anyway, this year is no easier especially when you factor in the bikes are going to lose the rear end as you flick directions & the bikes do this at nearly every medium to fast speed area where a speedy change of direction is needed.

One thing that is still nice though is the ability to slide a bike into a corner as well as out, but this loses it's shine when you either loop the bike at the next braking zone or high side when you change direction or if you are braking in a straight line but veer helplessly off to the right or left.

Some bemoan the SBK games ( i believe the kids say "haters gonna hate" or something) for their lack of speed sensation, this years entry won't change their minds and at the moment if anything ive found that the handling issues I mentioned above have slowed it a little further, Flowing tracks like Kyalami are now treacherous swines - don't try to go belting through the first two corners, you'll crash !. And don't think about pulling a move at anything above walking pace through the penultimate corner either - because you'll crash again. The front ends bites like a ferret on your testicles but the rear acts like its been smeared with goose fat.
For all i know the speed/line needed may possibly be more faithful to the real world now but it's nowhere near as thrilling as before.

In fact, although it probably sounds like I'm throwing my toys out of my pram because I'm a bit poo at this SBK malarky at the moment (hey give me break, im 40, I'm pretty sure I'll adapt as I did to last years game), I do however think that my last line sums up exactly what I think of SBK Generations so far and the SBK games franchise in general, it's becoming very much like an old Labrador....... More faithful but not as thrilling as it used to be.

N.B, all my opinion is based on medium sim (I'm crap at full sim) and with no changes to bike set up, yet !.

This post has been edited by thelogger: 06 June 2012 - 09:44 PM

[thelogger]

I've taken a step into the world of full sim, hard work work for a softie who's used to med sim,
Maybe it's because of the gentler way in which you have to manage throttle and brake but some of the issues I found in mid sim have lessened,
The bike can still veer uncontrollably under breaking and the rear end will still come aloft randomly but in general it doesn't feel as bad as it did.

Now like a CRT team in moto gp I need to find about 4 seconds a lap to get with the front runners online.

[PISTOL PETE 73]

well well well....how things change..

people wanted a front brake that would throw you over the handlebars....well here you go...enjoy.

people wanted a bike to wheelie...well here you go.just dont cry when it slaps you on its side...your pulling a wheelie silly!!!

sbk generations is by far the best bike game ever..tourist trophie...come on ladies its 2012..that garbage just wont cut it now.sbk has grown up but now it seems people cant man up.take kyalami.what an amazing track that is now.it makes you think!!you get scared!!how nice to feel worry approching a corner on a bike game.i actually have to think every step of the way..its absolutley fantastic and if you dont see that...well...god help ya.its the bomb.

look at all the flipping bikes!!! each different in ther own way,dont ask whats best i have no idea.

ok lets keep it real now,they did go for dinner one day and didnt come back so there are issues as always with sbk.....lets not beat about the bush missano is through the pits like sbk x..there is the usual portimao stuff and imola is a waste of space but on the whole there is no real cutting,staying on track is the faster way in general.
with only 40 spaces to save setups they seem about 600 short to me!!!and talking of setups its kinda like 2011 with mild changes ....its even more ott!! haha.

i cant lie aragon is too orange and a bit cartoony but the hills are alive no more at donny,dunlop bridge is tho..some tracks look good others dont.thats just how it is and in the rain....er hello where am i??? you cant see ####!

there has to be something here for most if not all bike fans.remember bikes are in general all different so finding on to suite you should be easy,from whatever year..2010 bikes are very good,easy and fast where 2012 seem like you have to be more violent with them.

anyway thats how i see sbk generations and for £22 new it has to be the best valve game ever!!!

im sure some will dissagre.

have fun.

pete

[thelogger]

Could it be the case that, for people who've been playing full sim in previous games, the changes aren't quite the gut punch that I found them to be in medium sim ?. I've now spent the last few days try to acclimatise myself to full sim and I'm starting to get the hang of it, I've also begun to feel that the bikes are more responsive in f/s, the (very minor) aids in m/s may just interfere enough to upset the balance of the bike & rider combination.

F/s is, at first, thoroughly unforgiving but with perseverance, and an more feather light use of the controls the bike is behaving itself and can be chucked about like a toy on certain circuits, the likelihood of flipping the bike arse over tip on the brakes has lessened but still appears at times when I'm feeling sure I've done nothing different than the laps before.

My big gripe now is the auto gear box, in a lot of corners, once off the brakes I'm having to blip the throttle once or twice to hold the bike in a more useable gear, without that blip it'll normaly go down 1 gear to many & screw up the line through/drive out of, a corner. No doubt at some point in the future I'll be able to use manual gears but for now I'm frying my nerve endings just concentrating on not falling off.

With my new "treat it nice or it'll bite my hands off" way of teasing the controls a lot of my complaints about the handling have all but gone, i suppose that finding a balance is difficult for any game but this series has just about become a yearly "no expense spent" update instead of having love & real attention lavished on it. I just don't like how a new circuit like Aragon can be modelled for Generations and yet Donny gets left as it was in 08, I know the whole handling/physics model has been updated each year for the last 4 but this is starting to show its age.

I suppose the final retail price says it all, i think you can tell a game is going to be rough around the edges when it gets released at under £30, this is almost a "budget" title now, on top of that I was shocked that for the first time since SBK 08 I had to go to 7 different shops in 3 different places to actually buy it, is it really that niche ?.

SBK is getting tired (like that Labrador I mentioned), it may get put out of it's misery instead of being re-energised.

[PISTOL PETE 73]

well ill have to disagree that it needs putting out of its missery..

correct me if im wrong but the game itself is bigger tham 09,X and 11 put together so £22 seems very fair.

yes you do need to take the final chiccane at nurberg carefully(im assuming) haha.try braking in a straight line early not comming across the track as most do quickly followed by the rear popping up.its really quite easy if people slow down a bit.kyalami is just the same...slow in quick out.

a bloke at word said he actually saw an advert!!!!! wow.


i believe milestone has finally laid the golden egg,yeah its smells a bit but....time will tell.


pete

[thelogger]

The game is bigger, how much work did it take though ?, not much, they already have all the bike/rider models, they should've gone the whole hog and included Brands Hatc and the 08 bikes, Aragon was new but that's it, no new Supersports or superstock.
If you take away the 2012 bikes and Aragon, they've cobbled all the old stuff together as a "filler" to make up for the lack of wss/sstk, £20 - £30 is about right really.

Sounds like I'm slating it, I'm not, imho it's not quite as good, polished or complete as it could have/should have been - but at the same time it's also updates previous seasons with Milestones latest physics, they give with one hand and take away with the other.

Making a bike racing game harder each year for the loyal punters but still giving it accessibility is somethdon't bike games dont seem to do well, these really are niche games, SBK may have depth that can take an age to master but you must be able to pick it up in the first place, not everyone will give this the time it needs.

This year the bikes bite, slide and buck, wheelie and endo, you appreciated this straight out of the box, i'm beginning to but this isn't enough, the whole game needs polish, even the manual states you can download online ghosts - you cant !, it isnt very good, and even if it gets all the polishing in the world I think it'll appeal only to SBK loyalists.

I hope we're not watching SBK sink, we've no moto gp anymore, I nearly gave up after failing miserably to play the game in the same mode as I've done since 2008, I'm sure many others won't bother.

This post has been edited by thelogger: 13 June 2012 - 07:40 AM

[PISTOL PETE 73]

as far as churning out the same poo goes....look at cod...or f1...or forza...all games are the same now unless its a new title, your just paying for a "large" update.most say they will do things they dont too!!

i think the worst thing sbk have done is divide people into sim catagories..moto gp 9/10/89 did it right in that respect.you must bring everyone together,we are not a large enough group to be split up...sad but true.it also stops people naturally progressing..being able to learn and remove abs tc and all that gubbings like moto would have been a wiser option i think.but what do i know.

the way the front wheel thumps into the floor like biaggi in the start up video is sweet.....i just had to say that.


sbk always seem to produce a product that is value for money looking at the overall market( including x with its dodgy assists even in full sim)....lets be honest..we were all idiots to buy the same f1 last year...who will do that again for 10 cars and a few tracks?? ill stick with the massive sbk bike selection this year i think.which game is the better value there??

miletone have gone out with a bang!! and given us a much larger game...remember the 600s are always a year behind anyway,not sure about stk bikes.you have more bikes than you know what to do with ill bet.just a shame we never had the chance to mod and or paint etc...

the sbk "look" has always been dissapointing but you dont think about that when your racing 15 idiots that just want to get inside you come what my...oooohh eeerrr.which usually results in skittles as with last year,some noobs never learn!! and the game seems to play much quicker too.which is nice.

but this is it....the swansong,the end of sbk on the 360 and they have thrown most if not all there toys in the pram and ill thank them for it...a dam good effort i think considdering most bike gamers are a stubbern bunch to say the least who,for the most of it dont really know what they want and/or are on about.in my humble opinion.yes we could have had more but thats what we do isnt it...moan for more!!!!

im sad milestone dont seem to be interested in bikes on next gen consoles.im happy overall with what they have delivered for the money and wish them a good future doing whatever they do.im pretty gutted if im honest.

ive enjoyed chatting with you on here and racing you online...i commend you on always giving sbk a good shot and saying what you think....good stuff.

race you soon.

sbk fanboy till the end pete.

[thelogger]

It's true that far too many games rip people off with yearly "tweaks", in that light Milestone are no better with SBK than EA are with Fifa,etc,etc.

The only reason none of us really mind is because we love bike racing games and Generations is the latest one, even then some wont give it the time of day. I've been trying to get some of my friends to buy it, telling them about the close racing online, but none have taken the bait, and even looking at SBK as a fan of the series, as I do, it's not very user friendly, it definitely not a pick up and play kind of game as in low or med sim Generations isn't very inspiring.

To a newbie, (even at £22) Generations would appear to be utter "naughty word alert"e & i'm certain they'd trade it straight back in, I should know better but I came pretty close to doing the same !,
Full sim is where the real fun is at, as im starting to see, but you need the patience of a saint to get to grips with it, to get good your either going to need a hell of a lotta time or need to be some kind of alien (like you Pete, or Bobr6 ).

Ps,
One thing I have found with SBK online is that, even in the early days of 08, in general, the people who play it are there to race, not always to just to win, and definately not to ruin the experience for everyone else, the podium is nice but you can still have a hum dinger of a fight down in 16th. Apart from the odd tit most play fair and it's those battles with good players that make this game a little cracker online.

See you at the start line .

This post has been edited by thelogger: 13 June 2012 - 03:55 PM

[BIG CAROLINA23]

Well for us racers in the USA the game is in fact region free. I ordered mine last wednesday and got it today. As long as you have an HDMI connection you are good.

Now all I have to do is become as fast as Pistol.

[steadiworkz]

Was going to pick this up for my PC but it doesn't seem to be available as a digital download (well legally anyway).
Seems a bit strange not to have it available this way ??

[thelogger]

BIG CAROLINA23, on 13 June 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

Well for us racers in the USA the game is in fact region free. I ordered mine last wednesday and got it today. As long as you have an HDMI connection you are good.

Now all I have to do is become as fast as Pistol.

That's what I keep telling myself , you can start to see what real racers go through, a couple of seconds doesn't sound much but it's hard to find.

[jimortality]

Are milestone blackbean pulling the plug on this?

[steadiworkz]

jimortality, on 14 June 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

Are milestone blackbean pulling the plug on this?

As in is this the last version ?

[Webbiker]

Yes.

[PISTOL PETE 73]

region free!!!!!

thats good news.

pete.

ps misano and aragon are faster running out the pits..sad but true...but there will be no "freebies" this year..i gave imola away to cheats last year..but not this time...

This post has been edited by PISTOL PETE 73: 14 June 2012 - 04:49 PM

[jimortality]

Webbiker, on 14 June 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

Yes.

Why?

[thelogger]

jimortality, on 14 June 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Webbiker, on 14 June 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

Yes.

Why?

And where's that info come from ?.

[PISTOL PETE 73]

thelogger, on 14 June 2012 - 05:25 PM, said:

jimortality, on 14 June 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Webbiker, on 14 June 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

Yes.

Why?

And where's that info come from ?.

milestone press release...webbiker may have the website address i just read it!!

but it may have just been on the 360...you never know on the next gen rip off!!

pete

[maVr1c]

Where can I get this to be delivered from the uk? I checked shopto but not in stock for Xbox.