MotoGP 25

MotoGP 25 was provided by Milestone S.r.l. for review. Thank you!

My experience with superbike racing games is pretty limited. In fact, the only superbike racing game I've played was MotoGP 06 on the Xbox 360, and my memories of that game are of me repeatedly falling off and sliding down the tarmac on my face. While my racing skills have not improved and have quite possibly declined over the past 20 years, the MotoGP series is still going strong, and MotoGP 25 carries on that legacy, albeit with a bit more accessibility than in the past.

Going straight into the riding feel of the game, and I have to say it feels great to control. There's a good amount of scalability in how "realistic" you want the physics to be. Playing on the more "pro" settings brings back the nightmares I had from MotoGP 06, where going off the racing line, or steering/accelerating slightly too hard, will fling you off your motorcycle and into the gravel, but there's also far more beginner-friendly "arcade" settings.

The "Arcade" settings aren't arcade in the sense of playing a game like Road Rash or Burnout Paradise, but they make riding much more accessible to your average player. If you're fully steering and hit the accelerator on the apex of a corner, it will still throw you off the bike, so the game still demands some fine control. Still, I found this riding style much more enjoyable as someone predominantly used to cars in racing games.

There are a few modes that you can enjoy in MotoGP 25. You can do a "quick" race for yourself, setting up an entire session with practice, qualifying, and a race. You can play online multiplayer, you can do the MotoGP Academy, which are short tests of skill, and you can play in the game's career mode, which is probably what most players will be doing.

There's also a "Race Off" mode, like a sub-section in the game, where you can ride minibikes around kart-like circuits, or Motocross bikes on tarmac circuits. It can be a fun and silly diversion from the main game, with smaller grids and unique environments.

The Career mode is as expected if you've played a Milestone racing game before. You play through a series of races, gradually building relationships with other riders and improving your vehicle via Bike Development. And yes, MotoGP 25 also has the silly fake social media system where you can respond to comments with a positive or negative statement, affecting your relationship with other riders. As one option always seems better, it's still baffling why this system makes it into the games.

What is pretty neat, however, is that the game allows you to play Moto3, Moto2, or MotoGP categories. If you're not too confident, you can select a lower vehicle class and enjoy a slightly more manageable ride. They're still fun to drive, but you'll be going about 80MPH slower on a Moto3 than a MotoGP, a bit like Formula 3 compared to Formula 1.

Another point I wanted to make was that the AI, much like the riding physics, is highly flexible. The game allows you to select AI difficulty based on a percentage, meaning you can lower it as low as 20%, where I was, on average, about 15 seconds a lap quicker than them. I bumped it up to 40% to see the difference, and I was around 5-6 seconds a lap quicker. Having them at around 50-60% seemed like the sweet spot for me as a new rider. However, the fact that they can go much higher shows that the AI should present a decent challenge for most players.

When it comes to the visuals, MotoGP 25 holds up pretty well. You're still treated to some nice visual effects even with lower settings. Riders are animated well, allowing you to see small movements for gear shifts and throttle adjustments. You can even choose from multiple camera angles, including an in-helmet cam, which is as disorientating as you might imagine.

One thing I did notice, however, is that during the race, there is no music at all. I understand that the developers perhaps wanted to focus on the sound of the engines, but at the same time, racing games customarily have background music as you race, and it feels a little odd for that to be absent here. There is your generic "Hype" music that plays in the menus.

MotoGP 25 is a solid little racer. If you're familiar with Milestone racing games, you know how this one goes, but if you like their formula and motorcycle racing, then I think you'll have a good time with MotoGP 25. Nothing immediately stands out as a "problem" to me, and while there are a couple of things I'd have liked, such as music in races, it's a fairly minor issue, and I might be alone on wanting that.

MotoGP 25 - Steam Deck Performance

MotoGP 25 supports 16:10 resolutions, including the Steam Deck's 1280x800, so there are no black borders around the screen. It also has great controller support; I wouldn't recommend playing this game on a keyboard.

Things aren't so rosy when it comes to performance, though. While the game offers many graphical settings, the scalability doesn't seem to be there, with the difference in performance between Low and Ultra being fairly small.

In the end, to lock 30 FPS in all racing situations, I had to pretty much set the graphical settings as low as possible and then set FSR3 to Performance. Stress testing the game with a full grid of superbikes on a rainy track, I only got it to dip as low as 31 FPS, but at points, it exceeded 50 FPS.

Unfortunately, MotoGP 25 is a game where you want absolutely no frame drops, as it's a highly precise racer, so I'd rather keep the framerate steady instead of aiming for 40 FPS and having drops into the low 30s on occasion. We do get the occasional stutter, but it doesn't affect playability.

The power draw is around 13W-16W, but it varies depending on the track and weather conditions. Temperatures were around 65C-75C, again, varying. Expect battery life to be about 3.5 hours on a Steam Deck OLED and around 2.5 hours on an LCD model.

Accessibility:

MotoGP 25 has many driving assists, with Pro and Arcade riding styles available. It can help you with automatic throttle, braking, and steering (while in corners). You can also have an automatic transmission/clutch, suggested line, and rewinding if you make a mistake. The game can also be played in slow motion in offline game modes.

Conclusion:

MotoGP 25 is another entry in a long line of games. I don't think it does anything revolutionary, but playing it safe while offering slight improvements might be enough for players who haven't played a MotoGP game in a while. There's nothing glaringly wrong with MotoGP 25, so this is a safe choice if you're after a Superbike racing game.

Thankfully, we can lower the settings enough to get a playable Steam Deck performance. The image becomes a little fuzzy, but maintaining the 30 FPS is crucial, and we can just about manage it. The controls work fine, and I can say that the game is fully playable on the Steam Deck.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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