Today sees the launch of the highly anticipated SBK Generations, coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC courtesy of UK based publisher PQube. SBK Generations is the official videogame of the FIM Superbike World Championship, and covers four seasons in every respect, from riders to events, allowing players to rewrite the history of the seasons from 2009 to 2012.
As a racing enthusiast, Nicholas Simonovski feels that the genre never quite receives the attention it deserves in the gaming community. Sure, we have franchises like Need For Speed and Forza Motorsport, which everyone know about, but he gets the impression that for most, their idea of ‘racing’ involves little more than driving around in circles and crashing into walls. Another thing is that unless the game is part of a massive franchise (like the two mentioned above) or features overly-unrealistic physics, it seems to be ignored by the masses. Recently, he has been playing SBK Generations, the latest game from Italian developers Milestone Inc. It’s one of the best racing titles you’ve never heard of.
Like sports, racing is an incredibly niche gaming genre. Glad we have people dedicated to reviewing everything within it.
SBK Generations is the only major superbike game releasing for fans of the sport in 2012, and as such, has been packaged as one for the diehards. Strictly a simulation, SBK Generations' uncompromising gameplay and deep engineering settings are unlikely to appeal to the casual crowd. This should suit fans, however, who are likely to enjoy a game brimming with depth and licensed content - albeit with one or two rough edges.
The latest title from Milestone brings the same form factor of their more recently releases to a new sport. Off the back of the successful WRC 2 – the Official Game, SBK Generations arrives with the same grand appreciation of its source material: it may not have the budget of Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport, but this is racing simulation at its finest. And they’re not afraid to shout about it either.
