By Tim Stone on December 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm.
If Trials 2 has given you a taste for trail bike trashing, do investigate indy motocross sim MX Simulator. Bike handling in the two-track demo is infuriating right up until the point you realise that the default 100% ‘stability’ setting (found in Bike Setup) is what’s causing the Kawasakis and Hondas to turn like sulky supertankers. Once you’ve adjusted stability to a more sensible level (40% seems about right) and got into the swing of the wonderfully naturalistic lean steering (joystick recommended) the game flowers quite spectacularly.
Tim’s Mostly Rather Obvious MX Simulator Demo Tips:
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The lean indicator is your best friend. If it reddens don’t tighten that turn any further.
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After a spill you’re going to want to get moving as quickly as possible, but don’t throttle or turn until your leather-sheathed avatar has hoisted the bike upright.
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Despite being referred to as ‘robots’ in the pre-race set-up screen, MX Sim’s AI competitors are gloriously accident-prone. Approach blind bends and crests with caution.
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For maximum chaos go for the full twenty rider field and add ” –erode 1.0” to the end of the demo shortcut (this activates real-time track wear).
28/12/2008 at 22:26 TelefonHonda says:
I’ve always loved chaotic racing games, and judging by the 1st pic this is one of them. Gotta give this one a try.
28/12/2008 at 22:52 Dreamhacker says:
Whoa, my eyes!
28/12/2008 at 23:12 TelefonHonda says:
Not much to say about that. The “robots” were pretty slow and the game was too easy, atleast on default settings. Not the worst way to spend 10 minutes but if I seriously wanted to play something like this I would get good ol’ Motocross Madness. It even looks better than this.
29/12/2008 at 00:34 Tim Stone says:
Yes the scenery and bike models might be a bit ropey, but show me another bike sim that allows you to do stuff like this:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eR8GqchfX14
purely through weight redistribution, and brake and throttle control.
29/12/2008 at 00:47 Pags says:
Too many games! I’d been hankering for a meaty motorcross sim after watching my little brother play Pure.
On a completely unrelated note, Tim, did you know that Venture Arctic is being given away free ’til the new year kicks in?
29/12/2008 at 01:01 qrter says:
Ooh I didn’t know about that, you woke the grabber in me!
29/12/2008 at 01:16 The Hammer says:
Awww. I might have to get that game. It looks hella cute.
29/12/2008 at 03:11 MetalCircus says:
For a second there I thought it was 1998.
29/12/2008 at 07:41 Shadowcat says:
MX Simulator looks neat.
The one thing that confuses me about that video is why the rider waited until almost the very end to pull off a back flip?
By then I had concluded that the game actually didn’t enable you to do them, because as neat as that ‘sideways’ stunt was, it got a bit old when the guy did it on Every Single Jump.
Graphics look just fine to me, if the gameplay is there. Good stuff.
29/12/2008 at 09:31 Schmung says:
I’ve downloaded it and tried it with the keyboard, which is nigh on impossible. I shall try it with my 360 controller later and see whats what.
29/12/2008 at 09:57 Tim Stone says:
Thanks Pags, I’ll pass that on.
One more important thing about MX:
Don’t ride with ‘arcade physics’ active. (I can’t remember if it’s on by default). It purges all the poetry.
29/12/2008 at 10:48 Andy says:
I miss Motorcross Madness. Used to play that for hours and hours, remember at the edge of the map there was a big cliff but if you could get up it it would like fire you back into the middle of the map. Good times.
29/12/2008 at 11:53 Fat Zombie says:
With this and Trials 2: Second Edition, it seems that today can officially be renamed Trials Bike Day, the other festive holiday.
29/12/2008 at 12:13 Fat Zombie says:
Holy Christmas! This game is bloody difficult. At 40% stability, there’s just no keeping the damn bike upright, let alone actually keeping up with the pack.
How are you supposed to be able to keep corners if the bike turns over at the slightest provocation?
29/12/2008 at 12:38 Tim Stone says:
When stationary you can ‘dab’ (put your feet down) to stay upright. Cornering is all about finding the right speed and line, and not over-leaning.
I’m still trying to master low speed manouevring. The handling model in this sim is a triumph, but the way the steering reverses at very low speed (as handlebars rtake over from leaning) is positively sadistic.
29/12/2008 at 14:44 Radiant says:
What a lovely youtube!
29/12/2008 at 16:24 AndrewC says:
For us ignorants – what exactly do you mean by adding that ‘–erode 1.0′ to the end of the shortcut?
29/12/2008 at 17:51 Tim Stone says:
Adding ” –erode 1.0″ (minus quotes) to the end of the shortcut causes track surfaces to deteriorate during the course of a race. Ruts form. Bumps appear. Peril increases.
29/12/2008 at 18:14 Schmung says:
This is sweet. It tried it with my pad and it has an almost GP Legends-esque quality it to it. Doing a clean lap is an achievement in itself. I do wonder how that bloke is controlling his weight though as every time I’ve got some big I’ve utterly unable to land it because there doesn’t seem to be a way of controlling yourself in the air. I’ll have a nose at the official website and see if there’s anything in the way of enlightenment there.
29/12/2008 at 18:22 AndrewC says:
I meant where do you put it – at the end of the shortcut name? somewhere in properties? I’m a bit lost.
The game demands to be conquered though. It’s quite the thing.
29/12/2008 at 18:49 Cigol says:
“C:\Games\MX Simulator\mx.exe” -erode 1.0
Either type that in RUN which you can access from the start menu, or right click and select properties for the shortcut to the game in the start menu or on the desktop and do the same to the TARGET part of the properties.
Obviously; the directory to the game will be different for each user.
29/12/2008 at 18:52 AndrewC says:
Thank you! I can has PC gamez.
Now: do you have a console command to make me not rubbish at the game?
29/12/2008 at 18:58 Tim Stone says:
Schmung. One of the patches for the full version added backward and forward leaning which obviously gives you much more control in the air. In the demo you can land some pretty sizeable jumps just by chopping the power and keeping the bike upright.
29/12/2008 at 20:00 Mik says:
With -erode 1.0 tacked on to the end of the shortcut (after the “) the game wouldn’t start for me.
Checking their forums it’s actually two dashes (how very *nix’y), so tack –erode 1.0 on the end for your eroding pleasures.
29/12/2008 at 23:08 Bremze says:
42$? Kinda on the pricy side. Well I will try out the demo atleast.
13/04/2010 at 11:36 LOCHO says:
ARE U CRAZY TAKE THE ARCADE PHYSICS OFF AND TRY BEATING THE LAP TIMES OF SOME OF THE PROS WITH NO ARCADE I CAN GET ON EKSWANBEE PARK 1.09 EMAIL ME WHEN U CAN rufflomaster12345@hotmail.com
13/04/2010 at 11:41 Leelad says:
How random.
You have had 2 years since the article was published to practise though Locho!!