“SBK 2011 is a great motorcycle racing game that offers some compelling new features alongside the regular annual tweaks.”
The latest entry in the official FIM World Superbike Championship series delivers graphical and handling improvements while retaining the same core experience of last year’s SBK X: Superbike World Championship. All of the bikes, riders, and circuits from the 2011 World Superbike season are included, alongside 17 classic riders in the new Legends class. With the brand-new SBK Tour in addition to a good Career mode, SBK 2011 has plenty of content to satisfy motorcycle racing fans, as well as fans of racing games in general.
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In Career mode you must create a rider with the game’s somewhat limited character creator, choosing a name, face, riding style, and helmet before starting out in the first World Superbike support class, Superstock 1000. Each race weekend you complete earns you reputation points, doled out according to your qualifying performance, your completion of the team’s objectives for race position, and your finish relative to that of your championship rival. As you gain reputation points, better teams will be interested in hiring you, letting you progress to the Supersport class and eventually the World Superbike Championship. In both concept and execution, Career mode is very similar to the one offered in last year’s SBK game. Though last year’s Career mode was very enjoyable, it’s still a shame this area hasn’t been expanded upon. If you played SBK X, you might find that working through the lower classes to reach the best bikes and most challenging opposition isn’t quite as satisfying when you do the same thing again in SBK 2011.