Moto Racer 2

Moto Racer 2 (or MotoRacer 2) in 1998 is a game I'll look back on when I used to play it in Windows 98. It is the successor of the original Moto Racer from 1997. You can do motorcycle road racing and motocross in this game. Best of all, you can create your own tracks! Can you prove your worth as a two-wheeled speed demon? This game was available for the PlayStation 1 and PC. I played it on my PC in my past. If you can, championship glory will be yours. If not, you'll have to try and try again. This blog post is a look at Moto Racer 2 as well as some memories I'd like to share.

NOTE: This blog post mostly pertains to the PC version.

--- Moto Racer 2 at a Glance ---

^ from: amazon.com - Moto Racer 2 (PC Version box cover).

Before I explain this game, let me show you a video of the game you are about to read about in this post:



I think the PS1 version allows only eight motorcycles to a track. The PC version allows you to have as few as eight to a track and as many as 24 motorcycles. This game (at least the PC version) includes 32 tracks. Some of the tracks have layouts similar to real-world courses. Each of the courses have a variety of different options you can tweak. You are allowed the option to race with Arcade or Simulation handling. Arcade Mode lets you enjoy the unmitigated fury of high-speed superbike racing while being forgiving. Simulation Mode, while realistic, isn't extremely realistic to where being near-perfect is the way to win. It still delivers quite a kick. The game's musical score is a punk rock score mostly featuring the V-Town Have Nots (VTHN). After each race, you can view a replay to recap the highlights of the race. The motorcycles you race with are fictional, and everyone races the same bike. You race the same superbike or motocross bike as everybody else. The only difference lies in the performance capabilities of each.

Getting Started.

When you begin, you can choose between single player and multiplayer options. Up to four players can play from a non-linked mode. Select your difficulty (Easy, Medium, or Hard) as you are choosing how many players there will be. There are three ways to race: Single Race, Practice, and Championship. Single Race allows you to choose between any of the 32 tracks included in the game or any track that you have created. Practice is a simple time trial around any given course. Compete in a Championship to race a series of events and try to win the championship. Winning the championships (there are multiple ones, and you can even make your own Championships) allows you to unlock some bonus material.

The courses consist of many tracks of different themes (four themes each for the two different styles of racing). The best way to tell the course type apart from the menu is to look at the helmets. The Speed courses have racing helmets while the Dirt tracks have dirt helmets. After choosing a track. You must then select a motorcycle. Each of the eight motorcycles have different levels of performance. To be safe, go with the blue motorcycle, as it is the most well-balanced for all courses. Various other bikes are tuned for certain characteristics of tracks, handling, and the like; but as any racing gamer would know, these other bikes fail in other departments.

Motorcycles: Speed.

Courses raced on with these regular superbikes are all about high-speed racing. The bikes are very fast and grip very well. They can be quite a handful when racing!

Motorcycles: Dirt.

The world of motorcross is all about style and skill as you tear up the off-road. Perform some mid-air tricks and show off while also making sure to finish ahead of everybody else.

Tracks and Creating Tracks.

The Speed bikes feature four themes. The Grand Prix setting is a race track exclusive to superbikes held in a modern city and takes place on city streets closed off to traffic. Held in the desert, the Sahara theme winds its way around desert villages, dusty hillsides and even around an oasis. Take your superbike racing to Amazonia if you fancy full-speed racing in the jungle. The Brittania environment takes you for a countryside ride in a locale inspired by the British countryside. I personally have had trouble winning on tracks using the Brittania setting.

Courses in the Dirt environment take advantage of off-road racing and big jumps. A real champion is able to rule the jungle, so prove your worth on the jungle trails of Amazonia. The Dirt version of Sahara features lots of sand to kick up as well as going all-out between sand dunes and a local desert village. You can race in the Brittania environment, which is the off-road version of this British-inspired locale. Exclusive to motocross bikes, the Forest environment features good old motocross racing in a forest setting.

When you race on a track for the Speed and Dirt disciplines, you note some key differences. The Speed venues are clearly designed for superbike racing, and the Dirt tracks have many bumps and humps unique to motocross racing. Trying to create tracks for either style of racing takes some good consideration. You can't edit roads for the Speed bikes to be too high or too low in elevation change. Your elevation change options are not as severe with Dirt bikes and Dirt tracks.

A created track can be ridden on to test the nuances of the course. To really give your track that finished appeal, you can select from five different pre-made layouts for the given track. These layouts determine the environmental appearance of your course. While you have no control over each of the finer points of the course, you can still give your course a unique charm based on specific environmental features you select from the pre-determined layouts. Find one you like and save your work.

--- Final Thoughts on Moto Racer 2 ---

I never had the chance to play the first Moto Racer. So therefore, my first Moto Racer was Moto Racer 2. There are very few motorcycle racing games out there especially today. One of the best motorcycle racing games on the market in its day was the Moto Racer series. This title was a great one with some great memories. This was another one of those Electronic Arts racing games of the late 1990s that still resonates to this day.

--- The "Sad Memories" Part of Moto Racer 2 ---

In the intro, I mentioned some sad memories. Well, what makes me sad is that I can't play this game on any platform besides Windows 98. I had once downloaded some supposed "patch" that allows you to play "Moto Racer 2" on Windows XP. What happens when I play this game with this patch? As soon as I play one track or try to create a track, as soon as I exit my work, the game crashes and then reboots my computer. I run Windows XP on my computer. One of the fallacies of being a classic gamer is that you have to deal with not being able to play certain classic games on modern systems and interfaces. All I am left with are memories of my Moto Racer 2 experience. While I still have the game disc, I can do no more unless I play this game on my old eMachines PC.





So make sure you have Windows 98 if you think about buying this game. Speaking of which, you can get it on Amazon. Please support my work (if you love it) by finding items on Amazon that may interest you.


^ Moto Racer 2 for PC


^ Moto Racer 2 for PlayStation 1.

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