Game: Ducati World
Console: Sony Playstation/Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Attention to Detail
Release Date: 2nd January 2001
I've never been a particularly big fan of motorbike racing. It's more an indifference than a dislike of the sport, but for some reason I acquired this game in the days when the Dreamcast was the only console I owned. It's a little like a motorcycle version of Gran Turismo, with Career and Arcade modes, License tests and series of races to win with specific types of bike. Recently I picked up the Playstation version of the game to see if it was any different to the Dreamcast release, and although it was hardly changed from console to console, the game was significantly worse than I had remembered it from my youth.
Arcade mode is fairly simple, offering players the chance to unlock all of the game's tracks and bikes for use inside of Arcade mode. The player races AI opponents on Medium or Hard difficulty on all of the available circuits. Career mode offers more choice as to what the player can do with different types of race series, 1 on 1 challenges for money or bikes, upgrades and different equipment and safety gear available to purchase.
The feel of racing can be very different depending on what type of motorbike you're riding. There are some incredibly slow vintage bikes from the 50s and 60s which make racing feel like a chore, since their top speed is only about 40mph. In contrast, the fastest bikes can be incredibly difficult to control, forcing riders to wheelie upon accelerating, not being particularly responsive and feeling almost too fast for the tracks you're given to race on.
With most of the bikes featured in the game however, the handling and overall ride is strange. There's no subtlety in turning; it's almost as if there's an on/off switch for it, and the sense of momentum seems a little off in some places. That said, players will still get the sensation that they're wrestling with a beast of a motorcycle which refuses to be tamed. I'm just not sure whether this was intentional or due to poor design. Falling off the motorcycle is a fairly common occurrence, particularly with faster bikes. While the way in which the player dismounts doesn't look particularly realistic, it's good that they at least included the possibility with harsher crashes.
Career mode can definitely become a bit of a grind after a while; the best bikes are incredibly expensive and there's a lot of series to win, if you're after 100% completion (although the game doesn't really track which series you've won in any way). I can only assume that "completion" of Career mode is attained when the player has beaten 4 time Superbike World Champion, Carl Fogarty, and won his bike from him. To do so, all you'll have to do is raise enough money to buy a decent bike and upgrades, wait until he appears on the list of 1 on 1 challenges, and then beat him.
Other interesting activities in Career Mode include attempting to win gloriously mismatched 1 on 1 races with vintage bike owners (the game decides whether they accept, but sometimes manages to pit a superbike against something far less powerful), raising enough money to buy ridiculously priced leathers and helmets, and beating the Special races. Other than this it's pretty dull, with completing many bland series being pretty much your only gameplay option.
Graphically the game is pretty mixed; the Dreamcast version doesn't look a whole lot better than the Playstation version, which has some pretty low resolution textures that sometimes pop in and out. It's very 5th generation in it's graphics in that you can easily see what they're meant to represent, but you can still see the pixels and rough edges that they're made of too. The soundtrack which accompanies races is ambient drum and bass style music, which actually works pretty well in places.
Overall Ducati World seems to be on the border between a budget game and a fully fledged title; neither the Arcade nor Career modes have too much to offer, but the racing isn't so bad that it puts you off the game. It's not graphically or technologically impressive, but if you've an interest in the history of Ducati bikes, or just want to pass some time racing motorcycles then it's a decent distraction.
Rating: 61/100
Grade: D
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