Reviews / previews
The Castrol Honda Superbike team has joined forces
with Intense Entertainment to put you behind the
handlebars of the 1997 Superbike Champion Honda
RC45, which can zoom to a blistering 187 mph.
The tweak-your-bike sim aspects don't go too far:
select automatic or manual, pick the tire
compounds, and tinker with the final drive/sprocket
set ratio. The "realism" options let you decide if you
want to deal with such things as engine overheat or
radiator damage.
A nice feature is the trainer mode, where you follow
a "trainer racer" to get familiar with the tracks. When
you've got a handle on the racing, pick one of the 10
available real-life tracks (Porto Korinthos in Greece,
the Canuga Speedway in the US, etc.) and race
from just three to an exhausting 66 laps.
CHS supports force feedback, network play for up to
six (no Internet or modem play), and split-screen
play for two. While the racer-techno soundtrack is
decent, the 3Dfx graphics aren't. Smoke is
pixelated, skid marks look very generic, and the
background seems bland.
CHS, hyped as "the first true motorcycle simulation
for the PC," is supposed to be less of an arcade
racer than games like Manx TT, giving you a sense
of what it's like to participate in a realistic superbike
experience. You do get to follow a whole season of
racing, just like the real thing. But Intense could've
thrown in a lot more to give this game a boost: more
realistic crashes, more options to tweak (like bike
parts), and, obviously, access to more than just one
superbike.-- Danny Lam / GamePro
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