SBK Superbike World Championship for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Overall I found the gameplay of this particular title to be excellent. It's always been my opinion that graphics and physics engines will make a break any racing simulator. The developers got it right on this one. The controls are very responsive and seem to actually conform to the bike settings that you can select in the gargage. For example, if you use harder compound tires on a track that is more suited to medium or softer compound tires you'll find yourself a slippin' and a slidin' all over the track.

I really enjoy the depth of racing the game lets you get into. The abilty to actually race an entire weekend that's set up around the basic SBK weekend is fantastic. It's almost more fun that going for the Championship....almost.

If this game has a draw back it's the lack of being able to create your own character. True, it's a lot of fun to tear around the Ducati Circuit as Troy Corser and win the championship, but it's even more fun to BEAT Troy Corser at the Ducati Circuit for the championship as myself. I mean seriously, isn't that why we play video games in the first place? To create avatars that can do all of the things that we can't do in real life? This is one of the high points of MotoGp 08, at least for me and hopefully this will be addressed in SBK 2010.

Overall, this is a great title that I highly recommmend for anyone who loves two wheel racing. Shoot, it's a great title for anyone who just loves to race. If the developers can tweak a few things here and there, this could be the start of a beautiful franchise.

PROS:

1. XBOX Live! With bikes. Need I say more?

2. Fantastic bike handling. Can be incredibly hard the closer you go to the simulation side; however it has at least 4 pre-made settings (you can make a custom set as well) from Basic (easy)to Extreme Simulation (very hard).

3. Sense of speed. It's there, and it's good.

4. Framerate. While I've seen some slowdown in replays (seems like a vsync issue to me), racing against the AI provides a solid 30fps at all times. Load times are also decently quick (I've installed to the hard drive - no comment on playing from the disc).

5. True SBK feel. It feels very similiar to Superbikes 2001. The realistic feel returns successfully. This is a GREAT thing.

6. Customizable. You can completely tune your bike to however you desire. This tuning is deep and directly affects the handling of your bike. It is immediatly noticeable when you alter settings and then go for a practice run. There is an advanced setting (for the players who know what preload, etc. actually is), and a normal setting which gives you a sort of 'slider bar' to adjust certain aspects of the bike.

7. Adjustable difficulty. When I say that, I don't mean the included AI driver skill level. You can adjust nearly every aspect of realism when it comes to your bike. These include riding aids, lean assistance, etc. The list is long, and even has such things as bike damage and rider health.

CONS:

1. Trackside details. Compared to some other racers, the trackside details are somewhat lacking in this game. As in there isn't much to look at outside of the track, not that the things that are there are bad looking. HOWEVER, if you're playing this game as you should, you are rarely going to be able to take your eyes off the road, especially at 150mph+. So, this is a non-issue, and I really think the tracks look more realistic this way.

Summary:
SBK returns to the US (finally!) and it does so with grace. Bike fans beware - this game may get you hooke