MotoGP 22 review – Back to the past

A year later, the developers from the Milestone studio again bring us a new part of the MotoGP series. The brand and the associated road bike world championship license have been in the hands of the Italian creators since 2013. With the annual release of a new part, this year’s MotoGP 22 is the tenth part of this division, which has long been focused mainly on motorcycles and other racing games.

• Platform: PS5 (peer review), PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Publication date: 21 Apr. 2022
• Director: Milestone (Italy)
• Genre: race
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: yes (online and split screen)
• Data to download: 22 GB
• Availability: 3+
• Sales version: physical and digital
• Price: from 899 CZK in Xzone store

Back to the past

In the older parts of the series, I often criticized the strict and unused mode dedicated to historical content. MotoGP 22 finally changes the order in this direction and is a completely redesigned historical mode called NINE Season 2009. In previous episodes, the developers have focused on bikes and riders from different historical eras, which are then mixed into one not very functioning unit. On the other hand, in the historical mode, the new part is almost exclusively dedicated to the 2009 season, in which racers such as Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo or Dani Pedrosa competed. This is one of the most interesting seasons of recent times, in which a lot has happened.

When you join all the frames together, an almost hour long document is created.

Therefore, it would be a great pity to sell all events with only brief text descriptions or a few photographs of the time. Fortunately, the developers were not afraid of big problems and decided to create a mode that combines special game tasks with footage from real documentaries. In practice, it seems that before one of the nineteen races of the 2009 season, you will always watch one part of a documentary that, in a few minutes, will briefly introduce you to the specific situations and moods of several of the leading drivers who fought for the championship together at that time. It’s not just specific fights on the track. The documentary also does a very good job with the various issues and antipathies between individual riders.

When you put all the frames together, you create an almost hour-long documentary that goes into the right depth and, thanks to well-developed dramaturgy, can appeal to ordinary players who are not so interested in real racing. The quality of the final work is not just a coincidence. For its creation, Milestone hired the services of Marek Nil, who has been working on documentaries for many years, especially from the motorcycle scene. Motorcycle racing fans will surely know his documentaries such as Fastest or Hitting the Top. The quality of the MotoGP 22 documentary is comparable to the work of Marek Nil and his team. But the new Historical Mode in MotoGP 22 isn’t just about watching a documentary.

You will also visit Brno

Each film insert is followed by a couple or three special assignments. In them, you will gradually fight with several different racers who played an important role in a particular race and fought for victory. Most often, you will have to overtake the right racers in a few laps, gain the necessary lead, or, conversely, maintain a position in front of oncoming opponents. However, it is the relationship between the documentary and the game that together forms a well-functioning combination that can be safely called the story mode in racing games. However, instead of cut scenes and a fictional story, you will enjoy individual episodes of the documentary and a story based on real events.

I can say that most of all I liked the new historical mode.

Therefore, the quality of the documentary itself and the playable part, which deals mainly with the fights and relationships of the great people in the person of Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa, deserves praise. But sometimes you can get used to the challenges of other racers in the challenges. The historical mode in its game part, thanks to the ability to play for several opponents, will not get bored even after a few hours. As for licenses, the developers have provided a complete starting list for the drivers and stands of the 2009 season and added to the top all the tracks visited by the participants.

Thanks to this, you will also be racing in Brno, Estoril or the American circuits Laguna Seca and Indianapolis. I can say that most of all I liked the new historical mode. The bet on a detailed study of only one historical season just came out. I want other licensed racing game developers who want to offer some form of historical content to be inspired by this concept.

old famous song

From the materials that the developers provided to us before the release, it was clear that the rest of the game modes were unlikely to undergo major changes. Working on the historical mode simply required some time and human resources, which are lacking elsewhere. MotoGP 22, for example, offers pretty much the same career as the previous two installments. You can ride for a real team or create and manage your own. There is also a well-thought-out employee management system and the gradual improvement of the motorcycle. All this in the main categories in the form of Moto 3, Moto 2 and MotoGP. MotoE classes and the Junior Red Bull Rookies Cup are also available.

Get a fresh look at the Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia.

It will be a challenging and interesting career for new players. which combines racing with a management part in which you have to keep the whole team working. However, for casual players, the series will feature identical content that the previous two installments offered. The only major new element is the current rosters of riders, teams and tracks for the current season. This will give you a new perspective on the Mandalika circuit in Indonesia. The new year will not bring major changes in terms of gameplay. The driving model and the physics itself have made a decent step forward in the past parts, so I did not expect further noticeable progress in this direction. With extensive customization options, MotoGP can satisfy both casual and more demanding players, so there’s not much to say about the game in that regard.

Sometimes the good feeling of the races themselves is spoiled only by artificial intelligence, which rarely takes you into account and at some points is too aggressive. Relatively counterintuitive is also the pace of the computer-controlled opponents, who are relatively fast in the corners and, on the other hand, incomprehensibly slow on the straights, especially on a medium or low difficulty setting. So this relatively well-known scandal of the MotoGP series is still around. Then you would be looking in vain for dynamic weather or a more sophisticated character editor. So in these areas, developers still have room for improvement.

Split screen is back

As for the audiovisual side, it simply will not surprise or offend. Compared to last year’s work, this year offers slightly improved models of motorcycles and racers and slightly different lighting, as seen, for example, at a night race under artificial lighting in Qatar. However, one of the weaknesses of the MotoGP series remains the handling of the environment and the overall presentation, led by cutscenes, riders’ faces, and imaginary gravy between races, which completes the overall experience of the game. Even at the moment the game is strictly based on the old parts. For example, improvement efforts are beginning to emerge in the area of ​​the individuals and characters mentioned.

Vertical cross-play is also a nice novelty.

However, some team leaders, who paradoxically look better on the podium than the riders themselves, have noticed improvements. In short, the developers have gone halfway. In terms of gameplay, it is worth mentioning the modified third-person camera, which in MotoGP 22 is more mobile and relatively successfully evokes a sense of speed. For example, this more dynamic and fluid version of the camera is the exact opposite of Gran Turismus’ traditionally static chase camera.

The offer of game modes also includes the traditional Quick Race, Championship and Online Multiplayer. But you will not find anything surprising in these modes. On the other hand, what may surprise many gamers is the presence of split-screen for two players, which is experiencing a general renaissance in racing games and is finally returning to MotoGP years later. Also a welcome addition is vertical crossplay, which allows you to play online multiplayer on different generations of consoles. However, crossplay only applies to a certain family of consoles, so PlayStation players, for example, won’t play with Xbox or PC owners.

Of the remaining novelties, it is worth noting the redesigned main menu and a significantly expanded tutorial. Thus, the developers are trying to attract new players to the series, for whom a detailed tutorial in the form of a motorcycle school will become a welcome assistant and teacher. MotoGP 22 will appeal best to new or non-kissed players. On the contrary, for some regular players, the news in the form of a new history mode and split screen may not be enough to automatically invest in the new year.

Compared to last year, MotoGP 22 impresses with a challenging history mode, detailed tutorial and split screen. However, the game is otherwise based on the decent, but in some areas already well-established foundations that parts of the past are built on. Therefore, regular players should carefully consider whether the presence of a historical mode, split screen and updated lists is a good reason to buy. In addition to the above innovations, new players can be surprised by a well-developed career and a successful driving model, which, thanks to the rich options in the field of settings, vacationers and hardened rivals will be able to enjoy. Thus, both groups of players have to reckon with weaker artificial intelligence and, in general, a slightly lagging presentation and audiovisual part.

You can buy MotoGP 22 at Xzone.