Review

This is a died in the wool arcade racer. Concerned about realistic or even semi-realistic physics? Move along, there's nothing to see here. All I have to say is the following, and you'll know what I'm talking about: you can turn while you're popping a wheelie. Oh, and you absolutely can not lay the bike down via aggressive turning; it just doesn't happen. The worst that can happen is if you run into the omni-present shoulder barriers at too severe of an angle, which will cause you to wipeout.

Even so, Moto Racer 2 has clung to my hard drive longer than it really has any right to. That's mostly a testament to how rare it is to have a racing game that lets you do what you want. All the tracks, all the bikes, all racing conditions, all available right out of the gate. I can set the weather (rain/snow), the sky (cloudy/clear) and the time of day (day/night). Just being able to race in the snow at night is worth the price of admission. It's really too bad that the physics are completely AWOL. The tracks are all fairly sterile, but that apparently was the toll for having a track editor. And the sound effects are grating at best. But the racing is fast; the road bikes are in fact blistering fast. And the visuals are nice. particularly the nighttime racing. There are no subtleties to the handling, or performance details to learn. Get a few laps under your belt, and you'll have pretty much "mastered" the riding. Multiplayer might have been fun if they'd allowed AI riders to fill out the field. WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY DO THIS!

I'd love to retire Moto Racer 2, I really would. Show me another arcade racer that lifts up its skirts the way this game does, and I'll gladly hop in the sack with it. Until then, this mediocre racer stays on my hard drive, for little reason other than the fact that it let's me change the weather.