Introduction:
A few days before the start of the Tour before, and a summer that
promises to be positive news, cycling is celebrating its return on PC.
Firmly established for many years, the Pro Cycling made shed its skin on
the bottom of window-dressing. The opportunity for cycling fans to
smoke their bike without having to add an engine …
This time evolution is more clear and obvious from the first seconds
when the race director means to pack the real start of the launch, head
and chest protruding from the roof of his horse concealed under a wealth
of sponsors. What was formerly only reworked visuals to be glued on the
back cover of the game is now a reality: a 3D engine credible and
consistent with the natural atmosphere (the villages, mountains, plants
…) benefits with equal care in the foreground of races, namely road
and physical models of the riders. Suddenly, Pro Cycling Manager is a
title with a game experience more comfortable. No need to close your
eyes to play.
About the game:
For nearly 10 years, the Cycling Manager series, created by Cyanide
studio, has offered a clever mix between sports simulation and
management. It has continuously increased its audience through its
different versions, each introducing novelties and each becoming the new
video game benchmark for hundreds of thousands of players.
Today, Pro Cycling Manager starts afresh to offer its most beautiful
cycling season. Benefiting from a new more beautiful and more powerful
graphic engine, Pro Cycling Manager/Tour de France 2010 marks one of the
most important steps since the beginning of the series!
At the head of one of the 65 official teams or of a team of your
creation, you have to manage every aspect of a great cycling season:
such as contracts, training, finances, transfers… and of course the
races themselves which are full of adrenalin and twists. Race the most
prestigious international cycling competitions during more than 500
stages.
All the world’s biggest cycling events are here, including the Tour de
France and its 2010 route, the Vuelta and many others!
Gameplay:
Although PCM is primarily a management game, he offers phase "action".
In that way, Cyanide offers a gameplay similar to last year. The recipe
works well, certainly, but one would prefer a change at least in style
and in the number of shares offered. Here is the timing that matters.
Giving orders to the good times, monitor the escapees or the status of
your riders, PCM 2010 has a convenient interface that allows the focus
on racing rather than navigating menus. However, this system shows some
signs of weakness: long reaction time on the part of cyclists, not
always explicit interface … Meanwhile the AI is realistic in its
shares, bringing the game closer to reality. No escape the first 100
meters, for example.
Like last year, Cyanide diversifies the gaming experience by offering
with PCM 2010 mode "runway". You can take part in various events such as
speed (1vs1), playoffs (each rider in last place at the end of a lap is
eliminated) and many others. The mode of difficulty ranges from
beginner, junior and professional. Among the various velodromes, you can
take control of a cyclist. Like the road race mode, the gameplay mode
track is also the end of life. Not precise enough, the rider often
responds poorly to orders. Similarly, there is no sensation of speed on
the runway. Again, a need for renewal is felt, especially after an
experience like that of Cyanide in the genre.
So, with the exception of a few new things, the game is a simple copy
and paste version of last year with the necessary updating of the
database runners. The advantage, you might say, is that the veterans of
the series will have no problem handling since the interface is exactly
the same. I’m not too put me to copy and paste my previous article and
the operational details of this game, I suggest you refer to them.
Suffice it to repeat, as I said last year that the mechanisms of
gameplay are perfectly honorable and work well. In these circumstances
it is difficult to solve turmoil and very easy to succumb to a
monotonous routine.
However, as good as are the mechanisms, they are not indestructible and
stagnation leads only Anchylosis and degeneration. It is always nice to
see a developer take a risk with a franchise successfully, sometimes
even getting lost, instead of reused the same dish in a little more
generous, as they milked a cow routinely. The Civilization series, for
example, has evolved, planting himself at times, without altering its
fundamentals, that Cyanide has clearly kept to.
As such, the interface is clear and easy to use, either by icons or
pull-down menus. But beyond this effort to ergonomics, the content is
not easily accessible to novice cycling. We talk still a very realistic
simulation complete written primarily for fans of cycling. And that
side, there is no complaint. Although it may be noted in some cases
small changes as the name of sextuple champion of the Tour de France,
Lance Armstrong called and Neilstrung. Throughout this long and
exhausting career, choosing the role of your racer at the races is also
vital to win the race: crew leader, sprint …. Like their objectives
during the race, available only in fast and detailed simulation mode:
protect the leader, take risks, go running 1.5km from the finish.
Competitions:
A brand new season mode appears and offers an unprecedented level of
customization. Create your own competitions and organize a whole year
season! From the choice of the stages and the unfolding of the calendar,
to the point scale, and from the selection of the participating teams
to the draft option, each individual parameter can be modified. Save
your competition and share it with your friends!
The career mode has been redesigned. It is now possible to plan ahead
for cyclists’ inscription. The career mode also provides many tests to
challenge-lovers. More than 50 official records await the best sports
managers. They will have to give the best of themselves if they want to
match them… or even beat them!
Finally, the simulation engine has been entirely remodeled. Offering a
more realistic simulation that gives little room for randomness, the
engine drastically revives the interest for this game mode, whether in
single of multiplayer, where players will confront their elaborated
tactics throughout many seasons. It is a real pleasure for management
aficionados who prefer concentrating on the management aspect of the
game. They will gain precious time by getting precise and realistic
results for the tactics, strategies and orders they have deployed.
Furthermore, although the mechanisms are far from being poorly thought
out, they are not free from blame. In 3D racing career mode, for
example, it is very complex to set up a tactical team – even if it can
be done almost continuously by varying the orders for each rider, which
is annoying and affects my sense of immersion. Would not it have been
simpler to have an order requiring one or more riders to stay
permanently in the top 10 during a given time, even to correct the
course depending on the race or the state of form ? Similarly, it is
possible for a rider to "protect" a teammate, but there is no direct
command to ensure it does not leave the wheels of an opponent. These are
of course some suggestions, of course questionable, and other players
would certainly others, but we have the impression that Cyanide has been
locked in an ivory tower without listening to the returns audience and
without question.
The least we can say in any case is that nothing is done to try to
attract newcomers who are legitimately frightened by the complexity of
managing the career mode. A tutorial, which I regretted the absence of
last year, has already been a step in this direction.
Each drawing is studied: length, previous winner, turtle … you’re so
difficult to print your style. Another way also allows: the creation of
your customized team by recruiting free riders or young recruits. The
name and the color of the shirt can also be changed.Finally, if the
quarry do not try you can go into a season of a year by choosing your
races and tours in the mode "Season." Cyanide is also thought to fans
with a way "Tour" to relive the greatest cycling races in the world with
over 65 events. The mode "Classic" taking only the media races like
Paris-Roubaix. Finally mode "Steps" will allow you to relive her only
race in the 500 available. PCM 2010 is so complete that level.
This graphic and technical progress enabled a revolution in the
management of escapes, platoon, and other backward gruppetto. Now when
the boss of team you are switcher wants one group to another, the sudden
change of screen is replaced by a camera movement in real time which
can see firsthand the difference that was created between those groups. A
detail that changes everything that he has limitations, including full
sequence of corners where the camera tends to go a little in every
sense. Despite that, it also makes him the best tribute to all the
effects which we benefit, although activating the motion blur, we find
ourselves drowning in a blur around a small area. Whatever the
difference is obvious with PCM 2009, the overall result for the series
entering a new era and especially to give the various stages a visual
atmosphere of their own, depending on weather conditions and therefore,
light. Eventually, it is quickly convinced by this new generation engine
even if some old tankers will leave the tile (the game remains
moderately-hungry processor, RAM or graphics card).
The graphics in this 2010 version are the ones behind the performance
available today on PC. From top, the game is respectable but it is
enough to bring the riders to see dull textures, floating bikes on the
road, jagged shadow on the faces of riders and public pixelated. Another
surprise, cyclists are clones bred in large scale, only the jersey
changes. Same head, same build and even animation . The printing speed
is it absent in a game where it plays an important role. It does not
feel that when you press the button faster time.
Few gender specialist, your servant, however, noticed that it was easier
to bring the escaped safely, often times in PCM 2009. Now, to borrow an
adventurer or a good / very good climber, teamwork should be sustained
and if you only have a handful of runners up front, the cooperation of
other teams will be essential. We also note that the selection is much
more in the back of the pack, the succession of passes leading
irremediably backward propagating groups, to reduce the "Platoon" about
twenty or thirty top names. Just may be criticized as too much emphasis
on the arrivals in the sprint in the mountain stages. Not found the
Cavendish or Hushovd each arrival! But climbers can make a difference in
a few solo kilometers to expect too much of a fight in a melee that has
Sprint’s name. Pity. If the gameplay has progressed in small steps, the
speed events they have maintained a rigid and not original gameplay for
a sub, again based on management effort at the keyboard.
It is true, admittedly, the sets are a bit better but not really look
forward to, and racers were all still the same head, as if they had been
laid in a nest. Moreover, if one wants to enjoy the new (woohoo!)
Graphics engine, it is better to have a muscular PC. I personally owns a
PC gamer and a recent 3 year old PC, on the latter, no question boost
settings because the game offers to act as transfer to a lower level or
risk seeing the Tour de France was transformed into a rowing race.
The contents of Pro Cycling Manager 2010 is very similar to that of his
elder: 180 races and classic international, 65 official teams, the same
menus, same music … We can not say a change of scenery when making her
mark in this part that always includes a package of steps that the
official schedule of the Tour de France which starts this year in
Rotterdam. This database is not objectionable than the names of some
runners, even distorted. Neilstrung, Sustrai company and must therefore
be content to nearly that pose major tasks once written in chalk on
asphalt roads of the Tour. Fortunately, Season and Career modes have
been slightly revised to ensure maximum personalization of events. The
editor of steps has also seen a slight redesign to circumvent the
rigidity of previous versions and to finally free rein to the
imagination of the player.
Pro Cycling Manager is not a sudden became a bad, far from it, and it
will even pass a few pleasant hours for cycling fans, but neither more
nor less than the version last year. Maupassant To paraphrase: This is a
game lined up like a French garden, we traveled without surprise but
with finding a certain charm. However, the charms are not eternal and
successive facelifts can not hide a severe lack of innovation. It is far
from realism displayed in the management mode of the game with only the
bitumen effects of rain and heat, and the sets seem to come play their
game with superior quality that can make the difference with the 2009
album. A final word on the comments. Not often in the timing and very
repetitive, they spoil the pleasure of play.
Conclusion:
In terms of content and gameplay, Pro Cycling Manager Season 2010 is a
continuation of his elders. This leaves a full track and quite
accessible but rich enough and pointed to the connoisseurs. However, it
is the technological revolution and visual! The new 3D engine delivers a
license deal to references of the genre with a bunch of effects.
Although PCM 2010 is still a hardcore game perfectly worthy, we can not
advise buying only players who recently discovered a passion for cycling
and have not yet editions. The others will be better to wait for better
days and save their money to buy a tent and go camping on the roads of
turn. The conclusion is immediate: the achievement is really the road
and all the work of Cyanide PCM makes far more convincing than in the
past.
