An endless deadly circuit (more than 60km) that has entered its technical peculiarities in the history of motorcycling, finally coming to host one of the most feared competitions of the legendary Tourist Trophy. Nothing to do with the Polyphony Digital game or even with the plot of a sci-fi movie, no: this is simply the big race on Man’s Island track, the protagonist of the new game Bigben Interactive.
At Gamescom 2017 we got in touch with the title for the second time, trying to figure out where the work is and above all the intentions and ambitions of this game, developed by a team of about fifty people. We have seen a hands-on presentation and here are all our impressions.
Not suitable for weak people
The panorama of video games dedicated to motorbike games is not so wide, for this reason TT: Isle of Man could represent a breath of fresh air for fans of that kind. Despite the assumptions, however, the game developed by Bigben Interactive proposes itself as an atypical experience and very, very simulative. We are talking about a totally faithful reproduction of the original competition: every corner, straight and straight line is the same as the real counterpart of the original circuit, which is actually the niche of the offer.
The Snaefell Mountain Course circuit thus hosts one of the most dangerous races of all and tries to reproduce it as faithfully as possible, interpreting playfully what are the historical problems of the circuit, which have made it, as previously mentioned, one of the most dangerous of all time.
The other available tracks have been drawn from the huge track, and will be much longer than so many modern circuits, to point out how the game is completely and exclusively focused on this competition.
The other peculiarity is the absence of the minimap, usually useful to point the way and help the player in the succession of the curves.
The result is a challenging challenge rate and makes the challenge possible only as long as you have studied the course; which we remember to be as long as the standard champion usually takes 16 minutes to complete a lap, the video game players who will hang for the first time with the circuit, have been assured, will not spend less than 25 minutes.
So let’s talk about a game design idea if we want original and strongly targeted at the tourist trophy or the hardcore gamers. The offer will also include the Superbike, Supersport and Sidecar categories. We could not touch the game with the help of some physical problems that would make a hands-on session really difficult.
However, we could admire it played by developers: in addition to the aforementioned physics problems (notably in the collision phases), we have had a general sense of gameplay that reminds us of the most challenging challenges for motorcycle genres. Any curve or trajectory will have to be tackled with great technique and precision, whether it is falling or just going off-road.
From the technical point of view, TT: Isle of Man is certainly not amazing, the graphics engine is the same as the next WRC and, for what we have seen, does not offer any particular eye shots, rather it points to a cleansing to enhance the sense of realism and immersion.
