the Guru 3D - review

An Electronic Arts game.

System Requirements:

Pentium-166

16MB RAM

144MB disk space

4MB video card

Testing Machine:

PII 350 o/c @ 400MHz

128mb RAM

Asus V3800 TNT2 o/c @ 175/200

Diamond MX-300 Sound Card

36x CD-ROM

Windows 98 SE

DirectX 6.x

Nvidia Detonator Drivers Ver. 2.08

Riding as Aaron Slight

Another bike game! Damn, I'm being totally spoilt and I love it! To top it all off,the games just keep getting better and better. This is third and best of the recent bike games I've tested (the first being Castrol Honda Superbike 2000 and GP500). EA, once again surpassing themselves, have come up with what I believe is a damn near perfect combination of realism and playability. A big problem with sims of any kind these days is that they're too damn realistic and that takes a lot of the fun out of the game. It's just too serious and there are too many damn things to worry about while you're playing. This, in my opinion, is ideal. Detailed enough to put you in complete control, but simple enough to ensure that the game is still fun and playable.

Excuse my dust...

Getting started is nice and simple. You either choose a quick race, a championship or a multiplayer game. A quick race speaks for itself. You race one race on the bike of your choice against any number of opponents from 9 to 19. First you must choose your type of race, though, either action or simulation. Action is the best to start on. You can hit the grass, bump into other bikes, skip corners, etc... without wiping out (most of the time) and the bike has a standard setup. You then go on to choose your bike. Each manufacturer's bike has different characteristics. Ducati has great acceleration, but doesn't handle too well. Kawasaki is slow, but handles very well. I found the Honda was the best overall bike, but the Yamaha is definetly the most exciting.

Yanagawa, Haga & Corser

Then there's championship. Pretty much speaks for itself. You race each track once. Points awrded for position. Most points at the end wins. Once you start to get the hang of the game, the first thing you should do is shift your opponents up to amateur. This also changes your gameplay. Now you have to start braking for yourself (on Beginner the computer helps out on braking). As you move on from there grass starts having more of an affect, you wipe out if you bump another bike and so on. I haven't plucked up the courage to go beyond amateur yet. If you're a bike expert, on your race type, you should select simulation. This allows you to set up all the aerodynamics, gear ratios, tyre pressure and type, suspension, etc... The racing is also a lot more realistic and more demanding. Definetly not to be toyed with until you're good at the game.

The A1 Ring - stunning!

The graphics in SBK are nothing short of stunning. The scenery is spectacular. I could recognise every track without even seeing the name. The track layout is very accurate, even down to the gradients on the hills. What's nice to see is that the rider and bike models have been kept fairly simple, but fit together perfectly. The details have all been added to the skins. All the advertising is on the bikes and the riders overalls and helmets are identical to those used in the SBK championship. The sounds, while simple, are very well done in that each bike sounds like the real version and each one sounds different to the other, not just one standard bike sound. Gameplay is fast, smooth and well detailed. Little things, like the rider sticking his foot out to balance if he comes out of a corner too fast, are nice to see.

Multiplayer is great fun. You can choose if you want to race with computer opponents or with just the multiplayers, which track(s), which bike, etc... Things can really get hairy, especially if you and your opponent(s) are evenly matched. There's nothing like going into a corner three-abreast and praying that you can stay upright, nevermind get through in the lead!


		90%
		90%
		80%
		85%
		86%

Damn, I love this game. Granted, bike racing doesn't appeal to everyone, but if you're into biking, get SBK! Hell, even if you're not, you should give this a run. I've played this for hours and I'm going to keep playing it for even longer. I think my opinion can be summed up in the fact that the only thing I can find wrong is that on Action play, you can't choose individual riders, only bikes. If that's the only thing can find wrong, you just know this game kicks nads!