Xbox 360

Black Bean Games is releasing Milestone's SBK08 Superbike World Championship next week in Europe, and here are the First 10 Minutes of the game. This game is nothing less than a real bike simulator which impresses with tons of customization options, 22 bikes on track and many modes.

And by saying a serious simulator, I really mean it. I've gone through early reviews and all of them say the same thing: if you want to enjoy this game, you need to practice for many hours. The whole (giant) customization part can be skipped in the early stages, but it will still take a while to get a grip of the controls.

When you turn, you first have to wait a while for the driver to position himself, and when you turn there's barely any turning back. Driving in the correct lines is a huge aspect, and it's hard to cancel the decisions you make (something I learned while trying to look cool in the last part of the video...).

You will see for yourself in the video and the images below; there's a crazy amount of options to change in the customization part. I do not have the expertise to actually see and understand what they all do, so the quick automatic options served me well.

The game technically looks fine but the crowd and the objects around the track is a mess. The more important things, like the bikes and track, are detailed and it's easy to see that the developers put time on these things. I sometimes get sick of the aliasing on the track and horizon a head in racing games, but there's none to be seen while you race here. It's all very clear for the eye, while it still won't get any awards for the graphics.

The career mode consists of race weekends, and one race weekend includes several qualification days, warm-up days, several racing days and more - you can of course skip whatever you want, but it's all in a very realistic fashion.

Other than that you can play through different scenarios; an example, you start a mission and its one lap to go, you are 10 seconds away from the leader, go past him and win the race. A fun addition to the career mode. The loading times might be a problem for some though, as they are fairly long overall. It does not bug me much, as I know I'm about to enter a at least 5 to 10 min long race anyway.

I haven't played it enough to actually be anything close to the hardest difficulty, the game is a real challenge to master and some people might only want a simple arcade game to play now and then. Still, the game is not the hardest game ever made - I won at the third highest difficulty after only a couple of races.

The game is released Friday the 1st of August on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 2, while the Playstation 3 version is planned to be released a couple of months later. Enjoy the first 10 Minutes below, showing parts of a race weekend.

First 10 Minutes images

  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
  • The First 10 Minutes: SBK-08 - First 10 Minutes images
Sly_Marbo135
Sly_Marbo135
Commented on 2008-07-27 23:33:33
It's an easy game for 1000 gamerpoints :D

And in the gameplay you can choose ULTRA Arcade mode, or ULTRA Simulator mode.
It's a great game.
In reply to
Manager - Shemale
Manager
Commented on 2008-07-27 23:39:14 In reply to Sly_Marbo135
Posted by Sly_Marbo135
It's an easy game for 1000 gamerpoints :D

And in the gameplay you can choose ULTRA Arcade mode, or ULTRA Simulator mode.
It's a great game.
I'll do a short gameplay video tomorrow of the Arcade mode, it will probably look a little bit different.
In reply to
cjelly
cjelly
Commented on 2008-07-28 01:09:45
Is it 60fps?

LOL, did you actually win that race? Trying to be too cocky at the end!

The graphics look really clean and crisp. Perfect for a racing game.
In reply to
LEBATO - IS WRONG
LEBATO
Commented on 2008-07-28 01:44:37
Manager, why do you think it is getting such crappy reviews? I'm downloading the video, but what you said makes it sound very decent, plus what Sly_Marbo said.

Also, do you know if this game is coming out in the US. I looked it up on gamestop and I couldn't find it, it would suck really, another racing game that doesn't come to the US because of a lack of interest in the sport.

Do you know if it is region locked?
In reply to
GriftGFX - He can also<br>ban your ass!
GriftGFX
Commented on 2008-07-28 01:46:53
People hated MotoGP too, which was pretty solid. I had never even heard of this game.. now I'm instantly interested :)
In reply to
LEBATO - IS WRONG
LEBATO
Commented on 2008-07-28 02:19:22
Wait a minute manager, I'm watching the video and there is rain and you are doing this sort of "drifting", like wayyyyyyyy too much. You can sort of do that, but not to the point you are doing it.

So where is this simulation? Or at what level of sim where you playing it in?

So I guess I'm missing something. It didn't look bad, but I didn't see anything I hadn't seen in Moto GP, but then GP has better graphics and then this game looks not too great any more :(
In reply to
LEBATO - IS WRONG
LEBATO
Commented on 2008-07-28 02:41:40
Also, just as a general comment. Since Climax is not developing the Xbox version of GP, this game is most likely not even coming out in the states, and Capcom showing a truly awful trailer for GP08, it is looking like a bad time for motorcycle games.

Not only that, but the sad thing is that you can clearly see the lack of a budget for this games. They still have archaic components as far as graphics go. Capcom showed a "very early" build of GP08 this E3, they said the graphics were the same as last year but they were definitely going to get an upgrade for the final game, and the game is supposed to come out this year? Come on now. It seems to me like this game is getting a development time of about 6 months.

Then you take into account that GP's by Capcom were always inferior (in every way) to those from Climax........and well.............I guess I'll just wait for next year and hope for the best.

PS. Whatever the hell happened to motocross games from the PS1 days? We saw a couple of releases on Xbox, and unless I'm missing something we have NO releases at all this generation.
In reply to
Baleur
Baleur
Commented on 2008-07-28 05:24:41 In reply to GriftGFX
Posted by GriftGFX
People hated MotoGP too, which was pretty solid. I had never even heard of this game.. now I'm instantly interested :)
But motogp was amazing in every sense. This just looks like they didnt even try (look at the ground textures/mesh :O )
In reply to
KORNdog
KORNdog
Commented on 2008-07-28 05:24:47 In reply to LEBATO
Posted by LEBATO
Also, just as a general comment. Since Climax is not developing the Xbox version of GP, this game is most likely not even coming out in the states, and Capcom showing a truly awful trailer for GP08, it is looking like a bad time for motorcycle games.

Not only that, but the sad thing is that you can clearly see the lack of a budget for this games. They still have archaic components as far as graphics go. Capcom showed a "very early" build of GP08 this E3, they said the graphics were the same as last year but they were definitely going to get an upgrade for the final game, and the game is supposed to come out this year? Come on now. It seems to me like this game is getting a development time of about 6 months.

Then you take into account that GP's by Capcom were always inferior (in every way) to those from Climax........and well.............I guess I'll just wait for next year and hope for the best.

PS. Whatever the hell happened to motocross games from the PS1 days? We saw a couple of releases on Xbox, and unless I'm missing something we have NO releases at all this generation.
motocross? as in MX vs ATV untamed? or are you talking about a specific franchise? either way, from experience, motocross games are rarely any fun. in fact, the only decent one i played is freekstyle.
In reply to
hiscore
hiscore
Commented on 2008-07-28 11:06:42
Flemish (dutch) review of SBK-08 on x-power.be (popular Belgian xbox-site):

http://www.x-power.be/?act=reviews&content_id=8491...

Bottom line of the review: it has superb 'realistic' controls and inertia of the bikes, MotoGP's handling is inferieur, it will be appreciated by sim fans or hardcore bike enthousiasts... Graphics are good with a steady framerate and without screen tearing, the environments outside the tracks (trees) could be better. Overall 7/10 which is a good score.
In reply to
Doctor_Hades
Doctor_Hades
Commented on 2008-07-28 14:02:02
I've seen a 7/10 score elsewhere too although OXM UK thought the game was only average and gave it just 5/10.

Looks pretty good to me from that video so I've decided to pre-order it especially as it's only £29.99 on the GAME website. I loved SBK 2001 from EA so I'm hoping this Xbox 360 game is a lot like that.
In reply to
CEZARR
CEZARR
Commented on 2008-07-28 14:28:31
I already played it and imo 0/10. Another auto\moto sim parody
In reply to
Manager - Shemale
Manager
Commented on 2008-07-28 19:52:27 In reply to LEBATO
Posted by cjelly
Is it 60fps?

LOL, did you actually win that race? Trying to be too cocky at the end!

The graphics look really clean and crisp. Perfect for a racing game.
lol yeah, I was trying to show off but as soon as the front wheel left the ground, there was no turning back. I tried everything, breaking and all, but it just got higher and higher.
Also, I don't know if it's 60 fps, I'll check that.
Posted by LEBATO
Manager, why do you think it is getting such crappy reviews? I'm downloading the video, but what you said makes it sound very decent, plus what Sly_Marbo said.

Also, do you know if this game is coming out in the US. I looked it up on gamestop and I couldn't find it, it would suck really, another racing game that doesn't come to the US because of a lack of interest in the sport.

Do you know if it is region locked?
I can't try if it's region locked or not, sorry, and I haven't heard anything about a US release.
I have no idea why Edge gave it 5/10, if I remember it correctly they really think a game should revolutionize the genre to get a high grade. I guess this game doesn't really offer anything really new, but still... 5/10 is low.

Maybe it's a mix of the reviewer simply not liking sim-games and the fact that he think the career mode should be more extended, like GRID - I'm not sure. One aspect is probably that the career mode seems to only be about doing race weekend after race weekend, no back story or such. But ffs, this is a racing game we're talking about... I rather have this than going through cones and stuff.
Posted by LEBATO
Wait a minute manager, I'm watching the video and there is rain and you are doing this sort of "drifting", like wayyyyyyyy too much. You can sort of do that, but not to the point you are doing it.

So where is this simulation? Or at what level of sim where you playing it in?

So I guess I'm missing something. It didn't look bad, but I didn't see anything I hadn't seen in Moto GP, but then GP has better graphics and then this game looks not too great any more :(
There's a simple answer: I'm doing it wrong. "You're doing it wrong!" By drifting I loose tons of seconds, each time, but I haven't been able to train much in rain and I thought it would be good enough for a 30 sec gameplay segment. You have to take out better lines to get around that drifting, to get to the first grid you really have to do better than what I did. You have this kind of ''drifting'' in dry conditions too, but it's not as common.

I simply slided around where I shouldn't had, and I lost time because of it. I wasn't gaining anything at all by drifting like that.
In reply to
LEBATO - IS WRONG
LEBATO
Commented on 2008-07-28 22:00:22
Well my point was that in real life at those speeds, when that happens it means only one thing, you were extremely close to falling. If you watch MotoGP or SBK (whatever motorcycle racing), that never happens. It may happen for a fraction of a second, but then you are back or on the ground. I saw you doing it like for very long runs and this during rain?

But thanks for the answers, I'm sure it would be an awesome game if they had a bigger budget/they were published by a big publisher.
In reply to
Manager - Shemale
Manager
Commented on 2008-07-28 22:13:08 In reply to LEBATO
Posted by LEBATO
Well my point was that in real life at those speeds, when that happens it means only one thing, you were extremely close to falling. If you watch MotoGP or SBK (whatever motorcycle racing), that never happens. It may happen for a fraction of a second, but then you are back or on the ground. I saw you doing it like for very long runs and this during rain?

But thanks for the answers, I'm sure it would be an awesome game if they had a bigger budget/they were published by a big publisher.
The game has five realism settings. Basic, Arcade, Advanced, Simulation, Extreme. I couldn't even take a turn in Advanced mode, seriously. I fell down. I tried to break, and I just slid to the ground. When I did the same thing as in the rain video (accelerating in the middle of a corner), I fell.
And that's the 3rd of 5 realism settings. The video was captured in Basic or Arcade (they aren't really that different though). It's at Advanced and beyond where the hard part starts.

It's impossible to do what I did in the video in Advanced mode. I wish I could show more of it, but it would look a little bit silly if I put online a video of me just falling in every corner. :) I'll get better the more I train, but it's still really hard.

The thing is though, that even in Basic/Arcade, there's more simulation to the game than the MotoGP series, at least from what I remember. The brakes works different and steering also of course.
In reply to
LEBATO - IS WRONG
LEBATO
Commented on 2008-07-29 00:42:35
Ah......that's more like it :D Because I thought other things looked just fine, basically the lines you took, the speed you took them at, etc.

And well, in GP I you couldn't do that in water in non-arcade. Now I will start my quest in trying to find out if this game is region locked, hopefully I can import it.

Thanks, and make a video in higher difficulties if you get better :D

EDIT: By the way, you can use the triggers for front and back brakes correct?
In reply to
Bingham67
Bingham67
Commented on 2008-07-29 12:40:06
Video looks good but you can clearly see that its not in Sim mode as discussed im big Moto GP fan games on PS2 were awesome perfect handling wise. Moto GP 06 was pile of rubbish on 360 07 was much better far more playable but handling still not quite right.

As for Moto GP 08 trailer they are showing new revamped arcade mode to allow casual gamers to get to grips more with the game. (hence the over exaggeration of drifting. )From what i read from previews it says they will be showing Simulation at later date looking forward to new game got 125cc and 250cc now aswell. :)
In reply to
About the game
Platform
PS2 PC X360
Published by
Milestone
Developed by
Black Bean Games
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