SBK Generations is pretty much the same game as SBK 2011 with exception of 1 added track (Aragon) and some bikes & riders from previous years.SBK Generations is pretty much the same game as SBK 2011 with exception of 1 added track (Aragon) and some bikes & riders from previous years. The handling have been tweaked slightly but essentially the game is very similar to 2011 or SBK X for that matter. Generations is a budged priced release and considering the lack of any significant improvements it's a good call. If you don't own SBK X or SBK 11, Generations offers a great value for money. For those who already own either one, it's nothing to get excited about. Generations is still a purchace that needs to be made though, as the motorcycle racing community will be moving to the latest title and the community being small means that if you plan on finding anyone to race agains you need to be running Generations instead of SBK 11 or X. SBK
Generations is currently the king, and only contender, in the world of console motorcycle racing. (Or PC for that matter.) MotoGP games seem to have died along with MotoGP 10/11 and besides SBK no one is making anything motorcycle racing related these days. Long gone are the glorious days when we had Tourist Trophy or TT Superbikes. This being the case it is kind of suprising that Milestone announced that SBK Generations is be the last SBK they will be making. Effectively that means that motorcycle racing games are no longer made on any platform! Monumental Games' (the developer of MotoGP 09/10 and 10/11) death while unfortunate was no surprise after producing two buggy and unstable MotoGP titles. Why Milestone is packing it in especially now that there is no competition at all is a mystery. There have been some changes regarding the licence holders for both MotoGP and SBK series and these changes may be the reason why console motorcycle racing is dying. Apparently MotoGP / Dorna is going for the quick buck route and soon releasing a mobile MotoGP game, but that is hardly comforting for people still waiting for the motorcycle equivalent of GT5 / F1 2011.
Whats good
SBK is a solid simulation of motorcycle racing. The best that is currently out there. Sound and graphics are quite ok while far from spectacular. Animations look fine albeit a bit twitchy. Everything is ok, but not great. In all honesty car racing games are way ahead when it comes to graphics, polish, features, flow and function but for bike racing fans SBK will do just fine as "cage" racing is not an option.
SBK introduced the dynamic track feature in previous titles and it's still present in Generations. It means that the track for example gets dryer and gains more grip at the racing line. It does not actually represent the true racing line where players are actually riding nor does the weather change during a race. A nice effort still.
The BAD
One would have hoped that Milestone would have fixed some of the obvious flaws of the series for the final game of the series. Apparently the budget priced release meant that minimal effort had to suffice.
- Loading and saving setups is still a monumental chore. In principle you need to have a setup for every bike AND every track saved beforehand. You can not load a setup for a Honda to use on Ducati or you can not load a setup for Monza and use it on Imola. Retarded! It's also annoying that you can not have a default setup that is automatically loaded or that you can't load the setup at online lobby. There is allways the extra 30 seconds of tinkering before a race when the tinkering could be done in lobby and save everyone some time. - Rumble feedback is still very poor. This atleast should have been fixed for the final SBK.
- The single player career and modes are weak. There are still no proper unlockables like new tracks or bikes to keep you motivated. Even unlockable custom liveries to show of online would have been something.
- Leaderboards are just a big mess. Again. With the different bike classes and handling modes the leaderboards a just infuriatingly complex and unusable.
- In general the finer things in premium racing games are missing. No sector times, no working pits, no dynamic weather etc.
- Track cutting is still an issue and it has been so from SBK 08.
- Sound is still quite anemic. Watching and listening bikes run on TV and then comparing that on how they sound in the game makes you really notice the difference.
Conclusion
On paper SBK Generations has tons of content in the form of many riders and bikes to choose form, in reality different riders have very little effect on the actual gameplay and different bikes, well... A same teams superstock bike from 09 or 10 aren't that different. In fact the same bike brand withina a class with virtually identical performance while the only difference being team liveries... not that exciting either.
If you want to race online with motorcycles this is a definite buy. If you like racing online but aren't a huge motorcycle fan, you are be better of with something more polished like Forza, GT5 etc.… Expand
