![]() Aprilia ® is a registered trademark owned by Piaggio & C. Though, with only a small selection of bikes and tracks available, it may not last many laps.RiMS Racing ©2021 Published by Nacon and developed by RaceWard Studio. It’s a fine first attempt and a solid base to build on and I’m sure that motorcycle racing fans will lap it all up. That’s RiMS Racing in a nutshell: good, but not great. For the most part, though, it looks good but it’s nothing spectacular. There’s also a noticeable pop-in of objects, especially during the point-to-point events where you can see further into the distance. ![]() There’s a weird, distracting line effect across the screen that’s really evident when racing on a wet track. Graphically, it’s good, but there are some flaws with the presentation, mainly in how the game does its reflections. It’s not consistent and while I’m not one of those frame-counting nerds, I could tell right away when it was dropping and hitching, and it didn’t feel great in those moments. On PS5, the game is supposed to run “up to” 60fps, and it’s very much a case of “up to”. On PS4, the game runs at 30fps and it looks OK. I mostly played on PS5 but I did also give the PS4 version a go, too. Technically, RiMS Racing is a bit disappointing. Nice feature, sure, but I barely used it. So, if you think your bike feels off, you can press the touchpad and pause the game while you’re shown the condition of your bike’s components. What it does do differently, though, is it gives you in-race diagnostic tools. It’s good racing but it’s nothing we haven’t seen anywhere else. The actual racing is fun, so long as you’re playing on a difficulty level that you’re comfortable with. There are single races you can set up outside of the campaign, though, so that’s something. Some events begin with warm-up sessions – which I always skipped – and then the races can go for seven laps, which, depending on your skill level, could mean around 15 minutes of solid racing. In Career Mode, you don’t have any say over how many laps you race for. The developers must have known this, too, because you can buy a perk with your Team Points (currency for upgrading your racing team) that removes the interactive part of the process and turns the workshop into a regular old menu with easy swapping. You take on the role of the mechanic by combining button presses and stick twirls to manually remove and replace each piece of hardware on your bike. Something I liked at first but quickly got bored of was the mechanic mechanic. I found it easier to just swap out bits that needed replacing as and when they were knackered, rather than building up a collection of spare parts, though some races actually reward you with parts in addition to cash, so if you’re any good (or an easy mode lover) you’ll build up a small collection of spare parts anyway. But for your brakes, brake fluid, tyres, and all the other actual mechanical parts, it’s a big deal. For some things, like the wing mirrors, this isn’t really an issue – especially on PS4 where the wing mirrors don’t actually mirror anything. Over time, the condition of your parts wears down. Every part of your bike will suffer from wear and tear, even more so if you’re throwing your bike off the track ten times a race. This is actually an integral part of the game’s lengthy campaign mode. You can swap out every part of your bike, from the windscreen to the brake pads to the wing mirrors – you can pull it all off and replace it with new stuff, so long as you’ve got the cash for it, as well as the patience to actually flick through the inventory screens and manage your bits and bobs. To be fair, it is very impressive and I don’t think I’ve seen so much granular choice in any racing game before. If you’re that kind of person, you’ll probably get a kick out of the game’s extensive customisation options, too. If your idea of fun is hitting every racing line perfectly, managing your lean angles, tyre pressure, and all the rest of it – great, you’ll have a blast, so long as you can bridge the connection between you, the inadequate input of a gamepad, and a motorbike that needs to be gently nudged but never forcefully pushed, lest it pushback and throw you away. RiMS Racing is a hardcore simulation if you want it to be. These days I just want to turn a game on and have a play without inviting my blood pressure to the party. The more realistic a game was, the more I wanted it. As a younger man, the harder the game, the better. In my quest to age 100, I’ve found that my desire for hardcore simulations has waned.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |