DUCATI WORLD RACING

Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed paved the path for the racing game to concentrate on one single kind of car. NFS5 was all about Porsche as its name suggests and it won’t take Einstein to figure out that Acclaim’s Ducati World- Racing Challenge is all about Ducati. EA Sports is the uncrowned king in the motorbike racing game arena with the Superbike series and therefore Acclaim had to pull off some thing out of the ordinary with the Ducati World to make it stay in the race, sadly this was not to be. 

The publishers mentioned a lot of cool features in the game’s official website. But don’t be fooled by whatever the makers say. This is one of those games that do a lot less than it promises. The game boasts of an absorbing and detailed motorcycle racing with super smooth high-resolution graphics, the best rider/bike interface and a realistic physics engine. Well if you can classify a blocky and moderately detailed game as hi-rez, then this game may be called an astounding piece of creation, but the physics engine most certainly takes the cake. There were times I just kept spinning in 360 degrees, for several seconds while making a small turn. The jumps are most unrealistic and though I used all my Superbike2K expertise to land perfectly I found myself flying off the bike once too often. These are just small examples; there are lots of other flaws that will leave with the desire to bang your head on your monitor. The game AI sucks. The computer-operated opponents literary try to ride their bike up the mountains surrounding the Arizona Bay. The bikers start off in such a hurry at the starting line that they basically try to run each other down to take the lead. Surprisingly the player starts off a lot later than the others. But winning the race isn’t a big deal, all thanks to the missing AI, the bikers fall off their bike once to often for their own good. You can see them trying to a bore through the mountain as they got stuck while making a turn as you bike past them waving your hand to them. Well its not so easy all the time. Once, while making a sharp turn I accidentally lost control, which resulted in me flying off my bike. I was upset as it was almost the end of the race and I saw the others ride past me towards the finish line. Well the worse was still in store. The two most-dreaded words in a racing game- WRONG WAY, flashed on the middle of my screen. But wait I was still airborne. I realized after a while that I was flying the wrong way!!! God help this game!!! 

Well, Enough of the game’s shortcomings (I could have gone for some more, though). The game could have been a good collector thing for Ducati fans, only if the bikes were more detailed. The game features over 40 Ducati bikes from the early 50's to modern day Super Bikes (even Carl Foggarty's SuperBike is featured). The game has two modes of play, The Quick Race and Ducati World Racing Challenge modes. In quick race you can upgrade & tune your favorite Ducati and race on one of many tracks against opponents and also can challenge a friend (in the 2 player Challenge mode). Play for 'keeps' and the winner keeps both bikes. In the Ducati World Racing Challenge option you immerse yourself in the history and culture of the exquisite (??) bikes in Ducati Life. You will need to win races to open up leagues and available bikes. 

The controls of the game are really sensitive. So sensitive that to get control of my bike I had to push the steering sensitivity way below the half point. Besides this it’s OK. 

This is multi-platform game. Its also available for the Sony PSone and Sega Dreamcast 

After careful observation of the game its can be said that EA Sports has nothing to be afraid of. This game isn’t going to give them a run for their money. Suberbike fans, stick to your brand, I’ll let you know when to change it. This is most certainly not the time. But if you are a Ducati fan, go for it, but don’t come crying to me.

 

Game Info

Game Name: Ducati World Racing

Genre: Racing
Publisher: Acclaim
Reviewed by:
 Sami
Mail him.

Game Score: [Five lightning rating]

Graphics:                          
Gameplay:                         
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Story / Plot:
Reviewer's Tilt :
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Game Tested on:

- PIII 800 Mhz
- 128 MB RAM
- Savage 4 16MB
- Windows ME

The Good: Lots of Ducati.
The Bad: Almost every other thing
The Ugly: ???????