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Castrol Honda Superbike Racing Review
Kim Wild
00/12/0000
Despite what seems to be millions of racing games on the Playstation, not many decent games have featured the humble motorbike with the exceptions of Moto Racer and Road Rash.
Castrol is bidding to be the king of two wheeled racers but unfortunately it fails to come close to taking the crown.
Unlike Moto Racer, Castrol is a simulation of the sport where you get to race Honda motorbikes across eighteen tracks based in countries throughout the world. The tracks themselves are set in some lovely locations and are full of variety, although they do look a little rough around the edges. However, the animation and look of the motorbikes leave much to be desired. The bikes look very jagged and don't move very realistically at all. The collisions are also very suspicious. If you so much as knock your bike against the side of the track, your cyclist comes sprawling off like he has been pulled by some invisible strings, only to then lie on the floor frozen in some awkward positions. You would get more flexibility out of an ice-cube. As for the sound, well apart from some awful engine noises that's about it. Nothing to write home about. Oh, and some trashy rock music which accompanies the menus. Hardly breathtaking stuff.
Despite this, the control of the bikes is very responsive and there are plenty of options available so you can configure your bike to your own specification. There are different championship modes for to work through, with the opportunity to save your progress after each race. But one thing you will notice is that things never seem to change. Once you have completed one championship mode, there is nothing here to make you want to try the others. The next mode just increases the number of laps to each track and slightly ups the difficulty level. You don't get any new tracks or options to unlock so it all seems like a wasted effort.
As if this wasn't enough, the game itself is incredibly boring. Although the game has interesting tracks and good controls, you can't help but feel that the gameplay is rather stale. It just isn't much fun to play. Going through each track is more of a chore than entertaining and it was hard enough for me keep awake while reviewing the thing. I can't pinpoint why the game is so boring as it has the ingredients to be fun but somehow this isn't enough.
The two player split screen mode isn't bad except everything looks terribly squashed. Negotiating corners can be a lot more difficult than the one player mode which can make races more frustrating than they should be. The speed and control of the game is still there and it is fun for a while but like the main game, it won't you keep you coming back for another go.
This game had the potential to be a big hit, considering it is probably the first motorbike simulator to hit the market for the Playstation. But sadly, it wasn't to be. Somewhere along the line, someone forgot to inject some life into the racing and what you are left with is a very bland game with some pretty tracks which quite frankly, isn't enough these days to please the punters. Better luck next time
