The two most powerful consoles in the world, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 are currently being outsold by Nintendo’s revolutionary Wii every month. No surprises there, but did you know that the aging PlayStation 2 is also beating Microsoft and Sony’s latest and greatest? As strange as it might seem, a seven year old console is showing that it has plenty of life left in it and given that over forty million have been sold worldwide, developers are still churning out games for it. And I for one am glad that this is the case because titles like Okami and God of War II are truly magnificent. Hopefully, SBK-07 will lead me to the same conclusion.
Superbike World Championship
Come to think of it, there aren’t really that many tarmac-based motorbike games on the PS2. I mean, you have the MotoGP series from Namco, Tourist Trophy from Polyphony and… that’s all that comes to mind. But now, one can also add SBK-07 to the short list, seeing as Black Bean’s latest racer is based on the world famous Superbike World Championship. Fans of the motorsport will be pleased to see that the game makes full use of its official license, resulting in all the real tracks, teams, bikes and racers. However, Black Bean didn’t stop there and also decided to fill the game with tons of beautiful pit stop babes, and although I’m not complaining, it does add a cheesy feel to the game.
Generic Visuals
The first major disappointment with SBK-07 are the visuals which are subpar, even for the aging black console. God of War is a perfect example of what is still achievable with Sony’s second child, but Black Bean wasn’t able to reach this level of graphical prowess and consequently, even Namco’s last MotoGP game released a year before looks better. The textures are flat and blurry, the scenery dull and barren, giving SBK-07 a very bland and generic look, much to my disappointment. In addition some basic features such as widescreen support are missing, meaning that the riders looked fat and awkward on my TV, which again, isn’t particularly pretty. Sure, as mentioned before, there are gorgeous pit stop babes in the menus and loading screens but even they can’t mask the unremarkable visuals.
However, there are a couple of graphical effects that stand out from SBK-07, such as the lovely cockpit cam that shows off real working dashboards and animated braking, as well as the perfectly smooth framerate (allowing for a great speed sensation) even with twenty-one other bikes on screen. It’s nothing special, but little details like these ones help the game gain a certain charm, even if you won’t find yourself easily immersed.
Killer Music
What I mean by killer music is that… well… the music kills. Literally. Can you imagine mixing rock and techno and pop all together in a blending machine? Because that’s exactly what it music sounds like! I’m quite open to different music genres but SBK-07 forced me to find the music volume in the options and turn it off, that’s how annoying it was.
That said, the aural department is quite decent with nice meaty engine noises (especially when in the middle of the pack of riders), exquisite pops and bangs from the exhaust and generally speaking, enough background noise to create a genuine Superbike atmosphere. It won’t be winning any awards but compared to other bike games, the sound effects are above-average.
Racing Heaven
There are two distinct kinds of racing gamers; those who enjoy realism and those who dislike realism. Usually, a game can only cater to one of those styles, alienating the other. Thankfully, Black Bean figured out how to avoid such a problem with SBK-07 via a simple realism tab in the options menu, allowing one to customize 16 different settings (traction control, realistic inertia, rider health, real rules, etc). This means that anyone and everyone can find the perfect amount of realism to suit their style of racing, especially since the difference between maximum arcade and simulation is quite noticeable. For example, when playing in the arcade mode, the left analog stick controls the bike whereas in simulation mode, it controls the rider. It might not seem like a big difference but trust me, there is. Even staying on the track becomes a real challenge on simulation mode, especially when a chicane appears out of nowhere, forcing you to apply the front and rear brakes expertly, without getting off balance and crashing (spectacularly) into other riders.
Once you’ve figured out how life-like you want SBK-07 to be, get ready to enjoy a very in-depth championship mode, with enough races and parameters (such as bike customization) to keep the biker within all of us happy for weeks and months to come. And of course, there’s also the standard Time Attack, Quick Race and Multiplayer modes, along with Race Weekends and Challenges, meaning that SBK-07 won’t ever be collecting dust. The races themselves are plenty of fun, having that addictive “one more try” effect that few games can achieve nowadays.
However, even though the handling is perfectly suited to all players’ needs, there are a couple of problems. First of all, the amount of tracks totals up to 11, which is alright in the simulation mode, given that the game is really difficult and challenging but on arcade mode… it just isn’t somehow. Secondly, the multiplayer feels like a last minute addition because there isn’t any online mode and just a two-player split screen that quickly gets old. But worst than all this is just how clunky everything feels till you get to the actual racing. Customizing the bikes, navigating the menus doesn’t feel as smooth as they should. In addition, the loading times are horrendous and watching skimpily clad women can only work for so long…
Conclusion
Black Bean got so many things right with this game, such as the realism settings, the customization aspect (very true to the Superbike World Championship) and the overall atmosphere of the game. Yet, the frankly atrocious menus, appalling music, bland graphics and overuse of pit stop girls ruin all their hard work to some degree. It’s not a bad game, but SBK-07 had so much potential and fell a bit short of my expectations to be honest. Hopefully, for an upcoming sequel Black Bean will have better graphics and a better presentation to the game (and get rid of the hellish Eurovision music). For real superbike fanatics, this is the best it’s going to get on the PS2 and it’s a worthy reason not to get rid of that “old-gen” console yet.
Gameplay
80/100
Simulation or Arcade? The choice is yours thanks to 16 different settings to tweak and play around with.
Graphics
50/100
Bland dull and boring are the three adjectives that come to mind when thinking of SBK-07’s graphics… Oh, and pit stop girls!
Sound
60/100
Bang whizz and pop along with respectable ambient noises make for a great atmosphere. Pity about the music.
Value
75/100
Only 11 tracks but so many modes with so much depth, it’ll take a long time to get through it all.
Multiplayer
40/100
Two player split screen just doesn’t cut it anymore… Where’s my online?
Overall (not
an average)
70/100
The gameplay is spot on; sadly, the rest doesn’t really keep up. Black Bean better get it right for the next SBK game!
