MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3 Xbox
Published by THQ
Developed by Climax
Release Date: Out Now
Price: £39.99
MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3, an introduction.
One of the real successes during the early stages of the Xbox life span was MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology. The game provided the perfect mix of simulation and arcade motorcycling action and proved to be a tremendously popular game. When the Xbox Live service was in its infancy it was a special demo of MotoGP URT that everyone was enjoying and it was no surprise that when the sequel arrived it took full advantage of the Xbox Live scene. After two successful titles in the series we finally have a third one in the shape of MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3.
What's the game about?
MotoGP is back and it's better than ever. All 16 tracks from the official MotoGP event have been included along with all of the 24 riders from the 2004 series. Once again there's great support for Xbox Live with races for up 16 players, a full seeding system, a commentator mode and a spectator mode. If you don't have Xbox Live you can also use System Link and Split Screen modes to get your multiplayer thrills. Making its debut in the series is the new Extreme mode. There are 16 street courses from around the world to race on. If that wasn't enough, you can also customise your street racing bikes to your liking.
What's good about the game?
The highlight of MotoGP: URT 3 has to be the new Extreme mode. The single player game offers the traditional Quick Race, Career Mode, Time Trials and Tutorials but when you select the Career Mode you'll see that you can choose not only a Grand Prix career but also an Extreme 600, Extreme 1000 and Extreme 1200 career mode and these extreme modes are just as deep as the Grand Prix mode. You'll get to choose your bike and customise it as well as race around 16 circuits with full practice and qualification sessions too. You'll get to race on places such as the Autobahn in Germany, the Copacabana in Brazil and the Outback in Australia. The Extreme races are quite a refreshing change of scene from the usual Grand Prix races and justify the price of this sequel by themselves.
Once again the game is filled with unlockables such as mirrored, reversed and mirror reversed tracks, classic riders, bikes and race highlights. Of course all of these extras are nice but with the quality of the game you won't need these kinds of incentives to keep playing. The Xbox Live modes are once again top notch and will add an almost never ending amount of replay value. As before you can customise the controls if you feel the need to. I initially opted to use the right trigger as the accelerator but found the default controls were more comfortable for using the dual braking system.
What's not so good about the game?
There's actually very little to fault MotoGP: URT 3 for. Of course if you're not into the Extreme bike races and don't fancy racing online then essentially you're looking at a roster update that's a year behind. The AI probably sticks a little too close to the racing line at times too and doesn't really mind banging into you in order to keep to that line. However this is a problem with many racing titles including the Gran Turismo series so it's difficult to be too hard on the game for this. You could also argue that the rookie skill level is far too easy in career mode. It's not worth doing the qualification session in rookie mode because you can still claim the lead well before the end of the first lap. Still I suppose this allows everyone to do well in a race without having to put in too much effort.
How does it look?
Both the first two MotoGP games looked great and it's difficult to imagine this third game in the series looking any better. In fact it doesn't really look any better. It's quite clear the full capabilities of the Xbox were reached with MotoGP: URT 2 as this third game in the series hardly differs at all, graphically speaking. The trademark motion blur returns once more and really gives a fantastic sensation of speed. The weather effects are once again excellent and it looks great when you're racing in the wet weather. The frame rate is mostly excellent too.
How deaf gamer friendly is the game?
MotoGP: URT 3 is fine for deaf gamers. All the information within the game is displayed in text. The instructions for the tutorials are given in text and speech which is most welcome. During a race the directional arrows will turn red if you're going too fast to safely take a corner which is a great visual training aid. The highlight videos that you can unlock don't have any sound on them so this doesn't disadvantage the deaf gamer in any way.
Final thoughts.
In a nutshell then, if you enjoyed the previous two MotoGP: URT games you're going to love MotoGP: URT 3. Without a doubt it's the best game in the series to date thanks largely to the addition of the Extreme bike racing that gives the game an added dimension. Xbox Live support is once again excellent and the game is definitely up there with PGR 3 and Forza in providing some of the best online racing you can get. Of course with the Xbox 360 less than two months away we'll all be wanting a MotoGP: URT game for the console and only yesterday THQ announced there will be one. For now though we're quite happy with this third game in what has been an excellent series.
Overall Game Rating: 9.0/10
Deaf Gamers Classification:
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MotoGP: URT 3 is without a doubt the best game in a superb series of motorcycle racing games. The Extreme races really add another dimension to the game and make this an essential purchase for fans of the first two games.