Moto Racer 3

however lots of bikes to choose from, with only drawback being that the performance differences between each are minimal.  DSI is releasing some new tracks and bikes in April, but the download is only available at the time of writing to European gamers. 

With so much fun to be had, it is too bad that there are so few tracks and bikes to choose from in total.  Starting out with only one track in each game mode, players will soon find their strong suit, and play that game mode over and over until all the remaining tracks are unlocked.  Unfortunately, this will not take long, as selecting the higher level of difficulty is hardly worth the increase in points that are won.  With this in mind, it is hard to resist playing in the easy mode, dominating in your strong suit, and then buying all the locked tracks and bike classes. 

In terms of being an eyesore, the detail and graphics on the riders and bikes are absolutely fantastic but the backgrounds leave much to be desired.  The buildings, and streets look fair but the dancers, and other non-rider characters are just an embarrassment to the game.  The spectators and pedestrians look like they are static cut out pictures that seem to be pasted into the scene.  It is just fortunate that most of the time your focus will not wane far from your rider, and the direction you are heading in.

Each game mode has something unique and fun to offer, and handles its unique aspects quite well.  In the traffic, and superbike modes, there is a great sense of speed, and rush as you race across the pavement.  In the motocross mode, the skill needed to place well in a race is quite high, as timing your braking over jumps will be just as vital as the line you take.  In all these race modes, emphasis has been put on making the gameplay fun rather than being completely physically accurate.  For instance, bumping into walls, other riders, cars or curbs will only cause your bike to lose a little speed and bounce up a bit.  However, some reality is still maintained as going full speed into a barrier or another car, will cause a spectacular crash.  Taking a sharp bank too slow will also cause you to slide out.  Make no mistake though, as this game is not meant to be a simulation, but rather an arcade style racer.  

Another annoyance that surfaces, occurs in the freestyle mode, where stunts are performed when taking huge jumps.  Without the possibility to remap the keys, stunts can only be performed by pressing the number keys on the keyboard and then pressing a corresponding combination of direction keys.  With this type of key mapping scheme and the inability to remap these keys, it forces the player to play with the keyboard in this game mode.  Apart from being extremely limiting to the gamer, the default configuration is extremely awkward to play with. 

In the online mode of the game, gamers can go head to head in the motocross, superbike or traffic modes with up to eight players.  DSI is working hard to build an online community for this game with ladder games, and support from Gamespy.  This game has been out for a while in Europe so most of the online gamers are from there, so anybody picking up the game from our neck of the woods may not see the best pings when connecting to a game. 

Despite the good playability of Moto Racer 3, there is a slight sense that the game was shipped just a little too early or that the developers set there goals just a little lower than they should have.  Each of the game modes is fun and none of them are extraneous, but there is just not enough replayability with 3 tracks in each game mode to make it essential.  With the hope that DSI releases more tracks (a lot more), this game will be worth motorcycle lovers everywhere.

- Mark Leung