Review — MotoGP 17

With MotoGP 17, Milestone Srl gives us its yearly upgrade of the MotoGP racing game series.

Much like the annual iterations of FIFA, NBA, NHL and the likes, the motorized sports also receive a new edition every year. After the special approach last year, where Milestone put Valentino Rossi in the spotlight, they go back to the basics for 2017.

Be the Team

At first glance, MotoGP 17 offers all the possibilities you’d expect from this kind of game. There’s the option to do a single race, a Grand Prix or a whole championship in singleplayer or in multiplayer. You can even do a co-op championship with a friend where you both race for the same team. Finally, there’s the main ingredient of the game, or rather main ingredients, as the game features 2 career modes.

Aside from the typical ‘Rider’ Career mode, you also have the Managerial Career mode. Here you’re not only responsible for your rider, but you’ll also be managing your whole team. This means not only hiring the second rider for your team, but also hiring staff, developing your bike, undertake activities like appearing in commercials or attend VIP events. Don’ expect too much of this though, as it boils down to selecting an activity during the weekend off, which will grant you a certain bonus. But it certainly makes the career mode more noteworthy and more vivid.

Some hiccups

The thing is, having these two career modes is completely pointless. They’re two separate entities that basically require you to do the same thing. The only difference is the team management, and I don’t understand why they didn’t just gave the option to have this automated if you don’t want to be bothered with this. Personally I’m never going to devote time to clear both campaigns, because if I already did the races in Managerial career, why would I do them all again in the Rider career? And worst of all, Trophies and Achievements are uniquely linked to a certain career, meaning hunters and completionists are forced to play both.

Aside from the Management career and the updated roster for 2017, the game sadly offers very little improvements or changes. Sure, the controls have been pretty decent over the last few years, offering a choice between Pro and Arcade controls. But just like last year, the graphics seriously need some improvements. MotoGP’s graphics might have been justifiable 3 years ago, but now they really feel outdated and give the impression that Milestone is just lazy. The dull and lifeless track just aren’t attractive to race on anymore.

Unless you’re a hardcore MotoGP fanatic who wants the latest roster in the game or who’s curious about the Managerial career, I can’t really recommend MotoGP 17. Certainly not at full retail price. The game just doesn’t offer enough improvements compared to previous iterations. While I felt that the previous game was a step in the good direction, but here it definitely feels like a step back, maybe even more if it wasn’t for the Managerial career.

2.5/5

Reviewed for PlayStation 4.