Full disclosure, this is my first time playing a cycling sim so I had really no idea what to expect coming into this. Unfortunately what the game provided just wasn’t for me. This game is obviously aimed at hardcore cycling fans and while there may be a large enough audience there, I feel that when you cross reference the amount of cycling enthusiasts with individuals that have a passion for gaming the field narrows considerably.
The game, developed by Cyanide from what I can gather from searching online has had yearly releases dating back to 2011. Each year an updated version is released which is a slight upgrade on what came before. I can only assume that the work has primarily gone on gameplay and game modes, because the graphics leave a lot to be desired.
For Le Tour de France to immerse you they had to nail the graphics. Any time you see the sport on TV it’s easy to get sucked in by the gorgeous backdrops but unfortunately we get none of that here. The scenery is bland and wooden, while the racers look odd and low res. It may deserve a little bit of slack as it is rendering a large number of cyclists on screen at the one time, but the harsh truth is that this game wouldn’t look out of place in the Playstation 2 era.
Gameplay wise it is solid enough. You spend most of your time managing your stamina. You have a regular energy bar as well as an attack gauge which is basically your turbo. This depletes very quickly and should be used sparingly. In short races the game can be quite entertaining but if you choose to do one of the longer venues you will be leaning heavily on Teammate AI which basically fast forwards the race with the computer taking over and doing a fairly awful job.
In terms of modes you have the usual suspects here. Career, management mode, challenge mode and training make up the bulk of what you will be doing. The training does a good job of introducing newcomers such as myself to all of the games mechanics, but once I was set free in the main game I found it near impossible for it to hold my attention for any length of time.
In closing if you are a massive fan of cycling or look forward to Le Tour de France each year on TV and also have an interest in gaming this may be worth checking out, but for racing game fans looking for something different, I would suggest searching elsewhere.
VdZe.