MotoGP - Game Boy Advance

The game's graphics are very good compared to most other GBA racing titles, and quite reminiscent of 16-bit racers: the rider is fixed in front of us, nice-looking background scenery scroll lazily from side to side during turns, the roadway and peripheral scenery blur by. An onscreen speedometer measures our rate, but the motion blur of the periphery, which gives the sensation of speed, seems only to have three settings--slow, medium, and fast. We stuck primarily to the Gran Prix, where you have to qualify by landing in the top four positions to make it to the next track. Unfortunately, there's no battery save for this game, and passwords come only at the end of a leg--four or five tracks, or about 20 minutes of racing.

The game would have benefited from more advanced controls. Players aren't allowed to shift gears or adjust their lean with the shoulder buttons. Accidents are too easy to avoid since your chirping tires give ample warning before they let go of the roadway. Another complaint is that the weather effects in this game (sunny, partly cloudy, rainy) are just for looks. The game gives just as much traction to a dry track as a wet one. We tried shortcutting a couple of turns and all but once we were kept miraculously upright and inside until the turn began--a flaw, true, but one you may want to exploit to your advantage.

Moto GP isn't a great game, but it errs on the side of simplicity and accessibility, and we can forgive that. This game is right for kids and moto fans waiting for something better to come along on the GBA. Multiplayer competitions can be played by networking GBAs together with a link cable, but you will require extra copies of the game. --Porter B. Hall