As you can probably tell by its title, TT Isle of Man Racing: Ride on the Edge is a very niche game. Not only is it an entire game dedicated to one sub-genre of motorcycle sport, but it’s actually dedicated to one race; the Isle of Man’s Snaefell Mountain Course is the only official track present, with fictional tracks set all over Britain rounding out the selection.
That definitely raises questions about the value of Kylotonn Games’ product and its £45 asking price, but you can’t knock the dedication to detail. All 37.73 miles of Snaefell are mapped out, from the start in Douglas town to the final thrilling ascent up to Hailwood’s Height. It does take a great deal of time to complete – usually over 20 minutes, something that will likely turn new players off – but motorcycle enthusiasts will be in their element.
The beauty of Snaefell has a detrimental effect on the rest of the tracks, though. Despite their varied settings, most of the game’s fictional courses look almost identical to each other and none of them provide the thrills and intensity of the main TT race. Even though Snaefell’s long nature means that you can choose to race certain combinations of sections as well as the whole thing, adding a bit of longevity, it’s still a little disappointing that the effort Kylotonn put into recreating the legendary course doesn’t carry on to the rest of the game’s content.
This is most noticeable in the game’s career mode, which again will only appeal to enthusiasts long enough to justify its price – a constant theme with TT Isle of Man Racing. It’s pretty much a cycle of buying a motorbike, then winning races so you can raise money to buy better one, rinse, and repeat – one that isn’t helped by the similarities of the fictional tracks.
Gameplay in general will be pretty unforgiving for beginners, too, despite the deceptively simple controls. Corners – especially on Snaefell – are often harsh and difficult to pull off, although there’s a huge thrill in bombing down a straight before braking sharply to whizz round a bend. There are plenty of options for pros to give themselves more of a challenge – operating gears manually, for example – but the only real support for beginners are guiding lines telling you when to brake and when to start turning. It’s certainly helpful, but it takes the fun out of racing since you’ll be concentrating more on the line itself than the actual course.
Glitches and AI issues also cause problems. Occasionally you’ll find your racer leaping off of his bike for no real reason – something that’s really frustrating when you’re on course for a good time – and your fellow racers don’t take you into account at all. If you so much as get in their way, they’ll try and bomb straight through you instead of avoiding you, again resulting in frustrating crashes.
Multiplayer is pretty disappointing, too. Though there is local multiplayer for up to eight players, the fact that it’s made up of turn-taking time trials means it’s hardly a good pick for a game night. Online is completely barren, reflecting TT Isle of Man Racing’s niche nature; in our time with the game post-release we were only able to get into a few races after a lengthy wait, and even then none of them were full.
The truth is that you probably won’t need to read this review to decide whether you’ll want TT Isle of Man Racing – the name alone should tell you all you need to know. Motorcycle fans will be enticed by the impressive Snaefell course, while the rest will simply pass it by due to a lack of interest.
Conclusion
Containing an impressive adaptation of the Isle of Man's Snaefell Mountain Course, TT Isle of Man Racing: Ride on the Edge will be attractive to motorcycle nuts looking for a new experience. But its high asking price, repetitive career mode, and lack of any online community means that everyone else can simply pass this by.
Comments 12
I doubt there'll be very many questions about this game, but if you have any then ask away!
guiding lines telling you when to break lol
Brake.
Are there any “really good” bigben games?
Nothing interesting.
One for the bargain bin, perhaps. Interestingly Eurogamer gave this one a 'recommended'. Willing to forgive its many issues perhaps due to it being such a unique game for motorcycle enthusiasts as you say. Hopefully they fix at least a few of the problems here.
I'm tempted by this, but the 30 fps makes me reluctant to buy. I think that it'll be a sale purchase for me. In the meantime, I'll stick with Moto GP 2017 and it's 60 fps gameplay.
@jgrangervikings1 The Bunker, dont get me wrong its not a 10/10 by any means but a great way to spend 2-3 hours.
pft, stick to COD we man, I can practice the TT race then use this experience to actually go and race the course on a Scottish Race Licence, you know, like outside (real life). The reason they bump you out of the way is that you are supposed to let them pass you, like in reel life (again outside). Get some life experience before humiliating yourself on social sites in the future.
5/10 does not match my own experience with the game.
As you imply in the review, this game is made for people who:
1) watch TT on television or elsewhere
2) enjoy bike racing games (SBK, MotoGP, Ride, ... )
3) play lots of racing games
You are right in considering the targetted audience before reviewing a niche games like this, because these games are never aimed at the Mainstream.
'Yes' it's always better with more tracks, but then again this game is not sold at fullprice. And there's even talk of some free DLC on the way. The developers have focused on the right things in my opinion: the main TT event, actual riders/bikes/etc, and complex physics.
The pricing argument is odd to me. You will struggle to find journalists/critics/reviewers who complain about price when it comes certain other games, like Inside, Little Nightmares, Superhot, or Gone Home. In these cases it's apparently OK to fork out €20 for just 1-2 hours worth of gameplay. This inconsistency of the "rules" is unfair in my eyes.
If any genre has an abundancy of replay value, it's sim-like racing games. No lap or vehicle is ever the same.
Whilst I agree the A.I. can be really infuriating sometimes the game is more than a 5/10. To put it into perspective Ride2 and MotoGP both have horrific A.I. and can't compete with this in graphics and the sheer sense of speed. There is no hand holding either, you need to learn where the lumps and bumps are, where you have adverse camber, where and when you can push a little harder.
Yeah, it's niche. But the TT course isn't for arcade track scrubs and you need to be 100% at all times or you're going head first into someone's barbeque. Just learning sections of the course will take many attempts let alone the whole thing. Each bike will have you thinking differently about lines and braking, speed and lean angles. It's a lot deeper mechanically than any bike racer I've played.
The other courses are a mixed bag ranging between meh and fast fun. But they are just there as a distraction to the main event.
Throw in the upcoming sidecar inclusion and this will be one of the better "sim-like" bike games out there. The aim is to 'git gud, son' and the game will soon put you in a hedge if you aren't. If you don't like the more realistic racers stick with Milestones offerings.
@IRN_WIL
Motorcycle bore calls out computer game nerd for not having any life experience (clearly racing the TT is the only way to gain life experience). Cringe.
If you're so disparaging about gaming compared to, you know, being outside (real life), then why are you even on a site dedicated to, you know, gaming (fake life???).
No, critic gets bad rep by concerned consumer. You are aloud to ask me questions.
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