Moto GP 4 offers throttle action

By Neil McGreevey
BBC News

Corner hugging action without grazing your knees

Yachts, bikini babes, cash and caviar; it is easy to see why the Formula One set risks life and limb on the tarmac.

Yet Moto GP riders do the same on half the wheels for mere thruppence and the promise of a kiss.

While store shelves groan under the weight of F1 games, the fearless, leather-clad throttle-jockeys have been given the hard shoulder.

It is little surprise then that Namco's Moto GP series holds pole position in the genre.

Like its predecessors in their day, Moto GP 4 for PlayStation 2 is the most complete motorcycle grand prix game on the market.

Straddling arcade and sim-style gameplay, players can take part in all three engine classes from the 2004 season over 16 polygon-perfect tracks from around the globe.

MOTO GP 4 Graphics: 8 Sound: 7 Gameplay: 7 Enduring appeal: 7 Overall: 7 Format: PS2 Publisher: Sony Developer: Namco

Once again gameplay is all about early braking and hugging each kneecap-polishing corner.

Boasting a larger roster of racing legends than ever before, Moto GP 4 includes such greats as Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan and the late Daijiro Kato.

It also allows up to four players to tear up the asphalt with the Multitap. Visually, this is up to the lofty standards set by previous incarnations, with slick frame rates and an incredible amount of polys lavished on each rider.

While you will be hard-pushed to notice any real changes to earlier efforts, the overall effect is crisper, cleaner and faster than before.

If you are after something a bit different to Formula One, and Gran Turismo is not your cup of Castrol, Moto GP 4 offers enough two-wheeled, white-knuckle chicanery to swig the bubbly as the greatest console recreation of bike racing to date.

Moto GP 4 is out for PlayStation 2 on 27 May