The Superbike World Championship series returns with a vengeance. Milestone’s SBK has always been the most dominant superbike racer out there, partly because its competitor Moto GP, is still a fairly new franchise compared to SBK.
SBK 10 offers a slightly different approach to the series. At the get-go, the menu system is somewhat similar to what is found in Dirt 2 in terms of how it functions from a first person perspective, which It instantly creates a more immersive atmosphere for the player.
SBK 10 tries hard to cater for a wider gaming audience, whether you are into racing motorbikes or not. There is a strong emphasis on the different options that the game offers, which allows for many different ways to change the game’s difficulty settings. Enthusiast gamers will still feel at home with SBK10 as well offer newcomers a good start. Overall there are 5 realism settings that range from arcade to full simulation. You are also able to tinker with another 15 settings such as rider weight, bike damage, tyre wear, brake differentiation and so on. There are plenty more settings and options to play with after you have selected your level of simulation and opponent difficulty.
The graphics are fairly good, the detail of each rider, their bikes and the inside of their garages are well detailed. The tracks could do with some more textures and objects in the environment, but otherwise, it has the best visuals of any Superbike game. There are also some small added visual effects such as flames that burst from the exhaust when changing gear. After a few falls, your rider’s leathers will also show the evidence that you are still trying to perfect a couple more corners before making it to the podium. As usual, there are all the official SBK tracks and team riders to choose from, adding some authenticity to the racing experience.
The game offers three main modes of play: Arcade, Simualtion and Multiplayer. Arcade and Simulation both offer a championship mode where you begin your career by customizing your rider’s looks, riding style and weight which will affect how you take corners. Simulation offers career and championship modes, where you will choose from one of the twenty world class teams to ride for. The different teams have their specific bike manufacturers, and each manufacturer will have bikes with different weights and power outputs. The rider and manufacturer you pick will determine your future upgrades and riding ability as each is rated according to overall experience, knowledge and reliability.
There is also the option to start your career in either one of the three classes which are Superstock, Supersport and the big time Superbike. Ideally you should start at Superstock, work your way to Supersport and then get stuck into Superbike to be able get used to the playing mechanics as the game is extremely challenging when in simulation mode.
The degree of bike tuning is really immense. Between races, you have the option to speak to your team engineer where he will give you the latest tips for the current race, what tyre profile is best suited for each track and the telemetry for each which you can save and load at anytime you wish. Your bike’s settings such as the suspension dampening, steering angle, gear ratios, chain adjustment, brake power and tyre profiles can all be fiddled with or carefully adjusted to get the most optimum settings for each race.
The soundtrack in the game is super, as the fantastic mix of rock and electro is well chosen, which adds perfectly to the overall attitude of the game. The different engine sounds have been captured extremely well, choosing a v-twin Ducati sounds exactly as it should along with the rival 4-cylinder Japanese bikes.
SBK 10 is definitely the most advanced Superbike title to date. It has absolutely everything a hardcore SBK fan would want from a two-wheel racing game, as well the options for any casual gamer to just pick it up and play with ease.
