We decided to take a look at RIDE’s visuals and determine just how realistic it really is. Will it be worth the wait for American gamers by the time it finally ships?

If you’re walking into RIDE expecting a frame rate of 60 FPS on consoles, then prepare for some disappointment. On PS4 and Xbox One, RIDE runs at 30 frames per second. The exclusion of 60 FPS isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as the frame rate stays locked. The PS4 version is a good example of this since it can manage a number of effect and bikes on-screen at once while maintaining a solid 30 FPS. The Xbox One version, sadly, doesn’t have this luxury and the frame rate drops pretty often into the mid 20s.

Head to head video comparison between the PC and Xbox One versions.

Thankfully, both versions sport a native 1920×1080 resolution with the PS4 winning out with more refined effects. It’s in 1080p that the sheer detail on RIDE’s bikes can be admired but it has its drawbacks. The overall full HD effect comes across as rough even with anti-aliasing present. This is because it doesn’t really prove effective on the cars and foliage, and further paints the cockpit view with stair-stepping artefacts. And while the bikes themselves look great in both design and representation, the backdrop design feels a little too plain.

This is especially apparent when looking closely at the game’s foliage elements. Though better than previous MotoGP titles, the foliage assets come across as pixelated in 1080p. Anti-aliasing doesn’t affect these either, which is just a shame. To top it off, any real since of immersion that the beautiful bikes manage to convey is ruined by the spectators which consist of little more than copy-pasted sprites. They stick out like a sore thumb sadly. It’s also odd to note how some tracks actually look more detailed than others. Could this have been the result of trying to rush the game onto current gen consoles? Or will more time be required with the hardware before Milestone S.r.l. can crank out a truly remarkable current gen port?

Despite Milestone’s experience with the MotoGP games and the overall improved lighting in RIDE, there are no lens flare effects. The material system is also mixed in its implementation, resulting in different variations in matte textures. In terms of texture filtering, a trilinear approach was taken which comes across as blurry. Overall, RIDE doesn’t exactly give the impression of a true “next gen” racing sim. It fails to convey any significant leap from, say, last year’s MotoGP 14.

Camera and object blur implementation are completely missing. There’s a limited amount of vehicular damage in RIDE though bodywork deformation is procedurally generated in real-time, which is a plus. Reflections on bikes tend to be rendered in low resolution but you only really notice this during the pre-race introductions.

Head to head video comparison between the PC and Xbox One versions.

How does the PC version compare to the PS4 and Xbox One versions? Firstly, texture quality is pretty much identical across all platforms. There are only slight differences in the clarity due to the post-processing effects employed. Otherwise, the PC version offers more options in terms of customizing one’s visual experience.

The amount of details in the world is easily higher on the PC as you’ll spot a more plentiful supply of rocks, grass, foliage and whatnot. These details feel scaled back on the PS4 and Xbox One by comparison. The filtering on the PC version is also capable of bolder shadow outlines on Ultra settings. While the current gen consoles don’t compromise all that much on shadow quality, the settings are a tier below what the PC version can deliver.

Issues like texture filtering and limited anti-aliasing thankfully don’t affect the PC version. You can opt for 8x AA, a higher resolution and hit 60 frames per second. Testing the game on our usual set-up with a GeForce GTX 980 at the highest settings further confirmed that 60 FPS was easy to achieve. Even if the animation and character models can be downright laughable, RIDE does a good job with its physics. So there is that.

Though it has a wider range of options than consoles, there isn’t a very in-depth catalogue like Slightly Mad’s Project CARS. For some reason, you’re limited to how much memory can be allocated to details like reflection quality, blur and track textures. Because the one thing PC gamers want is a limit to what their hardware is capable of delivering in a game.

RIDE isn’t the worst looking racing sim by any stretch of the imagination but it’s far from the best. Detailed bike models and a native 1080p resolution clash with sparse track details and backdrops, sub-par texture filtering and several pared back settings that really keep the game from being “next gen” on the PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version is easily the best looking option among the lot but if you’re restricted to consoles, you’re better off choosing the PS4 version. Along with better effects work, it doesn’t suffer from any drops in its frame rate. That being said, it isn’t too different from the Xbox One version when it comes to texture quality, details and resolution.

Milestone Interactive just released their first original IP, RIDE. RIDE is a motocross racing video game, available on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC, and it presents players with an authentic take on, and simulation of, motorbike based motorsport.

If you have been curious about the game, but unable or unwilling to commit to spending full price money on it, then the new demo that Bandai Namco and Milestone have made available for the game should help you. The downloadable demo of the game includes the Quick Race game mode and the Sierra Nevada track as well as 3 bikes in the Naked Heavyweight, Superbike and Supersport categories. Players will even get a small sampling of the robust customizable elements that make RIDE a complete motorcycle racing simulator.

Unlike the full game itself, the demo will just be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC; that said, if you’ve been thirsting for something new to try on your consoles, be sure to give it a try.

The game is already available in European territories, with a North American release set for later this year. It is currently set to ship on June 23rd. European distribution of the game was handled by PQube whereas the North American version will be distributed by Bandai Namco Games.

Ride is being given a multi platform, cross generational release, set to release for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It will be made available at retail in North America and is available by way of digital download on PC. The game also has a “RIDE Digital Deluxe Edition” that includes a free Season Pass, a behind the scenes 89 minute movie and the game’s soundtrack.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Bikes

Development

The development of Ride was announced on September 15th 2014 by way of an official post on the games development website. It was in this post that the game was given its Spring 2015 release window.

The post stated that, “It is with great pleasure that we are able to publicly announce our first proprietary IP: RIDE. Milestone has worked hard over the last few years to get to the position we are in today, where we can compete with the major companies in the international gaming scene on an equal footing.”

Given that Milestone S.r.l. have an expansive back catalogue of racing games that include rally racing as well as motorcycle racing, it’s understandable that the announcement on the game’s website reads, “Milestone’s development studios in Italy are back at work, doing what they do best. The developers are tearing up the rulebook and bringing a raft of new ideas to the table. These are the developers who have become synonymous with the world of virtual racing.”

They then go on to talk about how this game is being, “created for the players”.

Marco Micallef, Director of Marketing and Sales with Milestone said, “After more than 15 years of hard work, we felt the need to develop something that would bring together all our expertise and encapsulate the Milestone DNA with respect to the world of motorcycling.”

Milestone developers thought it essential that players be able to customise their bikes. Talking about this in a FAQ, they’ve said, “Ride gives the player the opportunity to customise both the appearance and the performance of their bike. All the components are faithfully modelled on their real-world counterparts, and they are the same as the components sold in parts stores.”

Players can also customise their rider. “We have signed deals with the leading specialist motorcycle gear manufacturers, so we can offer a choice of hundreds of different models and colours (suits, helmets, boots and so on), the same as the ones in the official catalogues.”

Story

The game’s story portion comes in the form of World Tour mode, Ride’s main gameplay mode. The World Tour allows players to “participate in various Festivals around the world, divided into various categories: Superbike 1000, Supersport 600, Historic Championships, and so on.”

This game mode offers single races, championship races, time trials, track day, drag races, and endurance events that play out across different courses.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Ride is similar to what you would find in most other motorcycle racing video games. It offers simulation gameplay options for hardcore racing fans and purists of the sport, but it also offers more arcade like racing mechanics to make it more open to casual players, including braking assistance and turning assistance etc.

The small features are ultimately what impact gameplay the most. This includes tucking your body closer to the bike to help streamline the vehicle for higher speeds, leaning your body backwards and forwards on the bike and the ability to operate each brake individually, allowing for heightened control of the bike.

Players have access to Quick Race options for a quick racing session and Elite Trophies. Ride also supports online Multiplayer of up to 12 players. This online multiplayer support extends to Quick Race and Championships. There is also support for split-screen gameplay and each race is recorded on Leader boards.

There are over 100 bikes in the game and they range from bikes in production from 1987 to early 2014-2015 with each bike having its own unique specifications, including overall weight distribution, power, engine build etc.

There are 15 circuits in the game, which break down into country tracks (natural parks, mountain passes, etc.); city track (tracks winding through cities) and GP tracks which are actual renowned racetracks.

Bikes

This is the current list of Bikes in Ride, with more possibly to come as DLC rolls out.

• Aprilia RS 250 2001
• Aprilia Tuono 2004
• Aprilia Tuono V4R APRC ABS 2014
• Aprilia RSV 1000 2003
• Aprilia RSV 1000 R 2003
• Aprilia RSV 1000 SP 2000
• Aprilia RSV4 APRC ABS 2014
• Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC ABS 2014
• Aprilia RSV4 R APRC Racing Version 2014
• Bimota Tesi Naked 2014
• Bimota Tesi 3D 2014
• Bimota DB9 Brivido 2014
• Bimota Tesi 1D 1990
• Bimota DB8 2014
• Bimota DB8 Italia 2014
• Bimota DB8 Oronero 2014
• Bimota BB3 2014
• Bimota BB3 Racing Version 2014
• BMW F800 R 2014
• BMW S 1000 R 2014
• BMW S 1000 RR 2014
• BMW S 1000 RR HP4 2014
• BMW S 1000 RR HP4 Racing Version 2014
• Ducati Monster 696 2014
• Ducati Streetfighter 848 2014
• Ducati Monster 1200 S 2014
• Ducati Diavel Carbon 2014
• Ducati 998R 2002
• Ducati 1098R 2008
• Ducati 1199 Panigale S 2014
• Ducati 1199 Panigale Superleggera 2014
• Ducati Desmosedici RR 2006
• Ducati 1199 Panigale Superleggera Racing Version 2014
• EBR RS 2014
• EBR 1190 RX 2014
• Energica Ego 2014
• Honda CB650F ABS 2014
• Honda CB1000R ABS 2014
• Honda CB1000R ABS Barracuda 2014
• Honda CBR600RR 2004
• Honda CBR600RR 2014
• Honda VFR750R RC30 1987
• Honda NR750 1992
• Honda RVF750 RC45 1994
• Honda CBR900RR Fireblade 1995
• Honda VTR1000 SP1 2001
• Honda VTR1000 SP2 2006
• Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade 2005
• Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade 2014
• Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP 2014
• Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade Racing Version 2014
• Kawasaki Z800 2014
• Kawasaki Z1000 2014
• Kawasaki ZRX1200 2006
• Kawasaki Ninja ZX 6R 2004
• Kawasaki Ninja ZX 6R 636 2014
• Kawasaki ZX 7RR 1996
• Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10R 2006
• Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10R 2014
• Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10R Racing Version 2014
• KTM 390 R 2014
• KTM 390 R Racing Version 2014
• KTM Duke 690 2014
• KTM Duke 690 R 2014
• KTM 990 Super Duke R 2014
• KTM 1290 Super Duke R 2014
• KTM 1190 RC8R 2014
• KTM 1190 RC8R Track 2014
• Lightning Lightning LS 218 2014
• MV Agusta Brutale 675 2014
• MV Agusta Rivale 800cc 2014
• MV Agusta Brutale 800 2014
• MV Agusta Brutale 1090 2014
• MV Agusta Brutale 1090 R 2014
• MV Agusta Brutale 1090 RR 2014
• MV Agusta Brutale Corsa 2014
• MV Agusta F3 675 2014
• MV Agusta F3 800 2014
• MV Agusta F4 750 1998
• MV Agusta F4 1000S 2006
• MV Agusta F4 1000R 2006
• MV Agusta F4 2014
• MV Agusta F4 R 2014
• MV Agusta F4 RR 2014
• MV Agusta F4 Racing Version 2014
• Suzuki GSR 750 2014
• Suzuki GSX R600 2000
• Suzuki GSX-R600 2014
• Suzuki GSX-R 750 SRAD 1998
• Suzuki TL1000R 1998
• Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K5 2005
• Suzuki GSX-R1000 2014
• Suzuki GSX-R1000 One Million Edition 2014
• Suzuki GSX-R1000 Racing Version Team R2CL 2014
• Suzuki GSX-R1000 Racing Version Team SERT 2014
• Triumph Street Triple 2014
• Triumph Street Triple R 2014
• Triumph Speed Triple 955i 2004
• Triumph Speed Triple 2014
• Triumph Speed Triple R 2014
• Triumph Daytona 675 2014
• Triumph Daytona 675R 2014
• Triumph Daytona 955i 2005
• Yamaha MT07 2014
• Yamaha MT09 2014
• Yamaha MT09 Street Rally 2014
• Yamaha XJR1300 2006
• Yamaha YZF-R6 1999
• Yamaha YZF-R6 2014
• Yamaha YZF-R6 2015
• Yamaha FZR 750 R OW 01 1989
• Yamaha YZF-R1 2014
• Yamaha YZF-R1 Racing Version 2014

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

RIDE is an all-motorcycle racing game but one that includes bikes throughout history, from as far back as the 80s. It’s already out in Europe and will release in North America on June 23rd. What can we look forward to in terms of features? GamingBolt spoke to Milestone S.r.l to find out.

"We have a great heritage of bike games here at Milestone – and our staff are devout biking fans. It’s always been our dream to pursue biking games and to improve and develop them to be the best they can be."

Rashid K. Sayed: It goes without saying that there’s a distinct lack of motorcycle racing games, especially good ones. Why do you think this is?

I think it’s because, when most people think about mainstream racing games, they automatically think of cars. It’s a fundamental fact of life that more people drive cars than ride bikes – so for most developers and publishers, cars are the easier or safer option.

We have a great heritage of bike games here at Milestone – and our staff are devout biking fans. It’s always been our dream to pursue biking games and to improve and develop them to be the best they can be. Bike racing games feel inherently different from cars – for us, they are more exciting vehicles, and we want to be able to communicate that feeling to the players.

Rashid K. Sayed: Given your previous experience with MotoGP, was the development process easier than expected?

Development is never easy! But seriously, yes, our work on MotoGP has helped – we already have experience of course in managing the physics and handling. With RIDE however we had so many more bikes and track types that it was a huge undertaking to get the feel of 114 bikes correct – so balance them all against each other so that the experience of racing each one not only felt different but felt right.

So yes, working on Moto GP was a help – but RIDE is a very different kind of game, the scope is that much bigger – so it was still a great challenge of us.

Rashid K. Sayed: Did developing the game for a multi platform release cause any unexpected problems?

We had to carefully manage the consoles’ different architectures, but PS4 and Xbox One are great to work with – and of course we already have a great deal of experience on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Rashid K. Sayed: The PC gaming community may well be expecting some modding capabilities for Ride, custom decals and the like, can you tell us if that option will be available?

RIDE has a huge range of options for customization – particularly when it comes to the rider and bike, allowing you to change your leathers, boots, helmet, gloves etc – all the elements in RIDE are officially branded products.

You can also customize your bike too, from the liveries to engine, brakes, gearbox etc – many of which will change the physical appearance of the bikes themselves. Again, all these parts are real-world parts from real manufacturers.

"We wanted to get a good mix of real-world locations into the game – not just famous tracks and circuits but also real-world stretches of road that bikers might aspire to ride themselves one day."

Rashid K. Sayed: Over 100 bikes is a lot of machinery, will this all be available out of the gate or will players work to unlock new models?

Yes, there will be 114 bikes in the game, but not all of them will be available to begin with. You’ll have to earn them by competing in the races and increasing your world ranking. When you begin, you will be able to choose from one of three bikes – but it shouldn’t take you too long to start the process of unlocking your favorite riders. We didn’t want this process to feel like a grind.

Rashid K. Sayed: Can you tell us if any of the content will be held back for DLC packs later down the line?

DLC bikes of course- we will allow players to download even more rides – but beyond that we’ve not announced anything yet.

Rashid K. Sayed: Can you tell us any information regarding the locations that racers will visit in the game?

We wanted to get a good mix of real-world locations into the game – not just famous tracks and circuits but also real-world stretches of road that bikers might aspire to ride themselves one day.  We have Stelvio in the Alps, with its stunning scenery – the winding roads of Sierra Nevada – the mountains and villages of North Wales which provide some challenging rides – and also cities like Milan and Miami. Of course we also have famous circuits like Donnington Park and Imola – we hope this range will give bike fans a real satisfying collection of challenges.

Rashid K. Sayed: What can you tell us about Ride in regards to multiplayer capability?

On line supports up to 12 players – and you’ll be able to just jump in to quick races or challenge players in mini championships over a number of races.

Rashid K. Sayed: Will Ride be based on a racing simulation model or will it straddle the line or arcade racing and simulation?

We always try to cater for both sides of the coin. It’s in no way an ‘Arcade’ racer – but we do provide a variety of assists, like joint braking, ideal trajectory etc to help players new to bike sims.

We always suggest that players begin easy and then slowly start to turn off the assists as they see fit – and then scaling up the physics and handling models. The upper end of RIDE’s challenge is a Full Simulation – with challenging physics and handling designed to convey the maximum realism in handling some of these incredible bikes.

"Without getting too much in depth or touching aspects covered by NDA, I can tell that the two architectures are vastly similar, with the PS4 favouring raw bandwidth with the GPU and Xbox One relying on more clever use of the eSRAM."

Rashid K. Sayed: Will the game run at 1080p and 60 frames per second on both the PS4 and Xbox One?

The game is locked at 30fps for all consoles. PC will allow for 60fps depending on your set up.

Rashid K. Sayed: This is Milestone’s first game on the Xbox One. Did you face any issues while developing the Xbox One, especially the eSRAM?

Ride is Milestone’s third title on PS4, but the debut one on Xbox One so, yes, we’ve been facing some difficulties. At some point of development the Xbox One build was significantly slower, and we were facing the very common “900p” option, but we were extremely unhappy about it. We’ve got in touch with Microsoft directly and with some hints from them we’ve been able to obtain a significant performance boost, and so Ride will benefit of full 1080p on Xbox One too. It’s not thanks to the eSRAM, a very small but very fast bank of memory, but to the ever-evolving libraries from Microsoft that grant access to the hardware. Version after version, you have to sometimes re-learn and get advantage of the optimizations offered.

Rashid K. Sayed: What is your take on the differences between the GPUs of the PS4 and Xbox One? Are you pushing the game further on the PS4 compared to the X1?

Without getting too much in depth or touching aspects covered by NDA, I can tell that the two architectures are vastly similar, with the PS4 favouring raw bandwidth with the GPU and Xbox One relying on more clever use of the eSRAM. But this is all hardware gossip, let me say, real world games may or not encounter bottlenecks on both machines in different areas.

The real trick is knowing the differences and not basing the whole result on a strong point that might be missing on other platforms. Our PS4 and Xbox One versions are almost identical at a healthy framerate, that’s quite a result in a world of upscaled or letter-boxed games!

Rashid K. Sayed: As someone who has developed quite a few PC games in the past, what is your opinion on DirectX 12? What kind of benefits do you think it could bring to PC and X1 games development?

We haven’t had time to get deep into it yet, but there are some upcoming events we’re going to participate that will show some of the potential of it. Remind that the custom DX11 of Xbox One partly incorporate some future DX12 features already,and they’re mostly performance-related. So what we expect is a slight benefit for Xbox One, and some major performance boosts on PC hardware, making the overall development pipeline more similar and tighter.

While I’m not the biggest fan of simulation based racing and I did find some entertainment from the game, I’d rather opt for MotorStorm as opposed to something along the lines of Forza or Gran Turismo, so it’s fair to say I gave it a chance. My thoughts and taste on the genre hasn’t changed since it’s initial installation.

During the run up to the launch of Milestone S.r.l’s newest title, my attraction to the genre begun to kick-in. Shiny surfaces, reflective helmets, impeccable lighting, and depth-of-field to die for, screenshots can tell a thousand words. Enter Ride, following a similar formula to the MotoGP series, Ride is all about fast bikes, tight corners, tucking and leaning, and competing in world tournaments.

" Shiny surfaces, reflective helmets, impeccable lighting, and depth-of-field to die for, screenshots can tell a thousand words. "

Upon entering the game the player is required to create and kit-out their rider,which will become their avatar for entering tournaments and competing in events. While My initial thoughts to this to this section of game seemed utterly pointless since I’ll be spending a fair amount of time concentrating on the intensity of races, while my rider is dressed head-to-toe in racing gear, rendering her actual appearance completely invisible. I did find some value in this section of the game and strangely enough I managed to embody my rider. Congrats Milestone.

Given fairly bland choices to decide from consisting of nationality, hair colour, gender, facial features, and body size, with all the terribly poor iterations of RPG mechanics being shoved in to every game that doesn’t seem to make an ounce of sense, I felt quite relieved. The only issue I came across within the customisation system was the non-existent choice in skin colour, given the vast amount of nationalities to pick from.

I wasn’t sure if this was simply a glitch or the developers forgot. Heck, maybe they ran out of space on the 25GB+ BLU RAY DISC. After gearing up my rider and selecting between one of three starter bikes, the game presents the player to the main menu, whereby a friendly narrator explains each of the game’s modes as well as the rules and regulations.

The game carries a fairly simplistic nature to everything the player will come across. I found this pleasing and friendly to get on board with as it makes the barrier of entry to newcomers quite welcoming and enticing. Browsing through each of the menus, right off the bat it’s clear, the heart, soul, and meat of the game resides within it’s world tour events.

"The only issue I came across within the customisation system was the non-existent choice in skin colour, given the vast amount of nationalities to pick from."

While a Quick Mode is available for players to dabble within, consisting of Single Race, Time Attack, and Practice, as one would expect given the standards of what a quick mode entails, I seeked no interest whatsoever with what this section had to offer. My Rider, Dealership, Teammates, Customise Bike, Online, and Elite Trophies are the only topics of noteworthy discussion here, with World Ranking and Options finalizing the menu.

Taking part in the game’s World Tour events works on a simple formula, the more the player rides, the more credits they earn, which in-turn leads to more bikes being available for the player to purchase so that they may take part in other events, where specific models and types are positioned as the requirement of entry. Dividing the system further and doing so in a manner that remains simple and uncluttered, the knowledge and understanding of vehicles that would present quite a steep barrier of entry to similar franchises, are thrown out the window.

For instance, events that consist of “Naked Bikes Under 700cc” and “Naked Bikes Over 700cc”, doesn’t have the player browsing through a convoluted menu dealership system, resulting in players scrolling through a checklist of specifications. It’s simple, use the bike provided at the start of the game, earn credits, choose an event, and purchase a bike that’s provided by the menu that follows. This isn’t to say that the game fails to provide any real depth for the racing enthusiasts, it nails down what’s important and drops anything that doesn’t provide anything of significant value.

"It's simple, use the bike provided at the start of the game, earn credits, choose an event, and purchase a bike that's provided by the menu that follows."

Aside from the choices available within the Naked Bike events, almost every other class and group varying from Middleweight, Superbikes, Supersports and so on are there for the player to take part in so long as the player has the credit to afford the necessary bike.

Extending to races catered for the enthusiasts which delivers on historical bikes, International Events, Drag Racing, Track Day, and Championship, the breath of content available delivers something that’s quite deep, also quite pleasing that encourages the player to participate.

Before heading into a race, the choice to change the rider’s gear, purchase new bikes, and buy new parts are present as expected. While the rider gear section offers enough garments and equipment for the player to differentiate their avatar from other riders in the game as well as online competitors, vehicle modification is unfortunately quite limiting. While my appreciation for this was at an all time high, given my fairly limited knowledge on the effects of air filters, cylinder head porting, exhausts, transmissions and brakes.

I do sense some disappointment for the enthusiasts who desire something that’s more in-depth. Tuning the actual bike in terms of how it fits the player’s own style and preference of shifting gears, leaning, suspension adjustment and so on, is available to play with before entering the actual race. Along with these options players will also find settings relating to difficulty, riding assists, physics, and A.I.

"Before heading in to a race the choice to change rider gear, purchase new bikes, and buy new parts for the bike are present as expected. "

It’s best to think of this section as the garage for each of the player’s bikes which can be adjusted differently for various factors involving the turns, length, and surfaces of the various racing tracks. As previously stated my own preference to games of this genre, border a severe lack of interest and motivation for actually inserting the disc.

With that being said however, the functioning and feature set as provided by the game’s simple yet detailed menu encouraged me to press on. Further increasing my interest for the game after heading onto the track, I was surprised to learn how easily I had passed three hours in the game, and had no intention of turning off the system.

Fair to say I was convinced and I had no shame in speaking off the game to my peers, as well as watching playthroughs of the game by others. During my time on the track of the many events I took part in, I found the gameplay itself to be quite intuitive. The way in which the difficulty settings and bike assists function in reference to the player’s own level of skill, presents itself in a fairly tailorable manner, with different methods of adjusting the system that aids in both the encouragement of players wishing to become better, as well as aiding them in becoming familiar with the physics of handling the bike.

Being encouraged to play on and become better with my current bike while attempting to purchase different types and test the ropes with how they function, is something to appreciate. At no point whatsoever did I feel the need to place blame on the game when falling, crashing, or cutting the corners of a track incorrectly. I simply practised, became better, and reaped the rewards as indicated by the amount of credits, reputation points, and awards being given to me upon the completion of an event.

"Being encouraged to play on and become better with my current bike while attempting to purchase different types and test the ropes with how they function, is something to appreciate. "

Something which does well to accelerate this feeling of progression is the number of different locations and types of events to take part in, further eliminating a sense of boredom and lack of variety. Each new track and location that’s presented to the player feels new and refreshing to race on, even when replaying events.

How Milestone S.r.l. succeeded in swaying me over to this genre of racing games has proven to be something of magic. Gameplay is solid, customisation is pleasing, and there’s enough variety to keep the player entertained further extending to online play whereby players can compete and team up with one another, delivering a new experience with each mode of play.

While the game has a hefty number of positives in it’s favour proving to be an enjoyable and satisfying ride, with plenty of content from the get-go, the game does have it’s flaws, some of which should have been cleared up before its release. Preference of audio will forever remain personal preference, however, there’s something of critical importance that has to be said when the game’s menu music is far more appealing than what’s actually being played during actual gameplay.

"How Milestone S.r.l. succeeded in swaying me over to this genre of racing games has proven to be something of magic."

Reminiscent of a poorly-received 90s rock group, consisting of runaway teenagers under the denial of musical talent, in-game music is abysmal. Nothing of the game’s soundtrack was attracting nor did it place me in a mindset of wanting to get on a bike, and that says a lot for it’s terrific gameplay.

Playing on the Xbox One, Ride is by no means a bad-looking game, the problem however is that it’s only good-looking so long as you keep your eyes peeled on what’s in front of you, and don’t look off in to the distance. Almost everything outside of the game’s actual tracks appear to be lifeless, crowd density is lacking, trees and vegetation are static, buildings and architecture mimic cardboards cut-outs, and texture filtering is limited to the four-feet of ground that’s in front of the rider.

The game does make some decent use of lighting and reflections when looking towards the rider’s helmets and the body work of vehicles, textures are fairly acceptable. Outside of the immediate view of the player’s rider, the bike and the surrounding geometry, Ride lacks visual flare.

"Outside of the immediate view of the player's rider, the bike and the surrounding geometry, Ride lacks visual flare./span>

Ride is about as visually on par with Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, way back from 2007. With instances of frame rate juddering and a few minor texture pop-ins, there are a few performance issues with the game.

The biggest problem however is in the game’s loading times. Having to witness a loading screen for every single menu change with autosaves for no apparent reason is something of a curse. Loading screens attempt to appease the player in providing reading content based on the engineering and history of the bikes and it’s culture, but in reality, it’s a nuisance.

Outside of the game’s few minor problems, something of which can easily be fixed with a patch, as most games are now subject to, Ride is a phenomenal racing experience that’s well worth the time. It’s fast, entertaining, and rewarding, something of which I intend to put more time in to as I look forward to the titles that Milestone releases in the future.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

Italy based Milestone S.r.l. has a rich pedigree of games development on PC and consoles for the last two decades. So as someone who has developed quite a few PC games in the past, what is their take on DirectX 12 and what kind of benefits it could potentially have for PC and X1 games development.

“We haven’t had the time to get deep into it yet, but there are some upcoming events we’re going to participate that will show some of the potential of it,” game’s director Andrea Basilio said to GamingBolt. “It should be noted that the custom DX11 API of Xbox One partly incorporate some future DX12 features already, and they’re mostly performance related.”

“So what we expect is a slight benefit for Xbox One, and some major performance boosts on PC hardware, making the overall development pipeline more similar and tighter.”

Andrea’s statements makes a lot of sense. Console API is normally very low level compared to the ones previously available on the PC. With the advent of Mantle this has however changed by a lot, and Vulkan/DirectX 12 will make it even more easier to extract performance for PC games development. But eventually we will see some benefits as the the API for eSRAM will be replaced by a new one that will have all the new features of DirectX 12. But how much of an improvement it will bring to Xbox One is unknown unless Microsoft releases benchmark results for the console.

RIDE  is Milestone’s first title for the Xbox One and the third for the Sony PlayStation 4. Given that the developer has worked closely with both hardware, GamingBolt recently asked the the game’s director Andrea Basilio about his take on the differences between the GPUs of the PS4 and Xbox One.

“Without going in too much detail or touching aspects covered by NDA, I can tell that the two architectures are vastly similar, with the PS4 favouring raw bandwidth with the GPU and Xbox One relying more on the clever use of the eSRAM,” Andrea said to GamingBolt.

However, Andrea believes that the real trick  is acknowledging the differences and working towards an optimized solution. Due to the the development team’s effort, RIDE now runs at a healthy frame rate on both the consoles.

“But this is all hardware gossip, let me say, real world games may or not encounter bottlenecks on both machines in different areas. The real trick is knowing the differences and not basing the whole result on a strong point that might be missing on other platforms. Our PS4 and Xbox One versions are almost identical at a healthy frame rate, that’s quite a result in a world of upscaled or letterboxed games.”

Recently, we revealed that the PS4 as well as the Xbox One version of RIDE will be running at 1080p and 30 frames per second. At one stage, the Xbox One version was running at 900p but with the help of Microsoft they managed to bump it to 1080p.

It seems that the gap between PS4 and Xbox One is indeed narrowing due to Microsoft’s consistent SDK updates for the console. RIDE launches this week on the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

During the early days of the Xbox One launch, most multiplatform games were struggling to run at full HD resolution on the Xbox One but in the last six months or so, several AAA games like Destiny and Grand Theft Auto 5 have been able to run at that standard. Microsoft have consistently released SDK updates for the Xbox One, freeing up GPU and CPU resources for the developers.

One such title that is taking advantage of the latest updates from Microsoft is Milestone’s RIDE. The game is already confirmed to be running at 1080p on the PS4 but the Xbox One version was initially running at 900p. But support from Microsoft allowed the development team to run the game at full HD.

“Ride is Milestone’s third title on the PS4, but it’s our first one on Xbox One so, yes, we’ve been facing some difficulties. At some point of development the Xbox One build was significantly slower, and we were facing the very common issue of  “900p” resolution option. We were extremely unhappy about it. But we got in touch with Microsoft directly and with some hints from them we’ve been able to obtain a significant performance boost,” the game’s director Andrea Basilio said to GamingBolt.

“So Ride will benefit from this and run at full 1080p on Xbox One too. It’s not due to eSRAM, a very small but very fast bank of memory, but to the ever evolving libraries from Microsoft that grant access to the hardware. Version after version, you have to sometimes re-learn and get advantage of the optimizations offered.”

Personally, I find this to be a very intriguing statement from Andrea. It’s a testament that Microsoft are working hard with developers to get their games to run at maximum possible performance on the Xbox One. But what is your take on this matter? Sound off in the comments section below.

Milestone Interactive’s RIDE, their first original IP, is almost here, and ahead of its release later this month, the developers have gone ahead and shared the full list of the tracks that will be showing up in this game. The full list comes to 31 tracks, covering 15 locations.

While 31 tracks may seem to be a bit lacking, it appears that they have managed to at least hit all the checkboxes:

• National Park of Stelvio – Italy
• Sierra Nevada – USA
• North Wales – UK
• Kanto Temples – Japan
• French Riviera – France
• Salt Flats Speedway – USA
• Milano – Italy
• Miami – USA
• Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola – Italy
• Sportsland SUGO – Japan
• Donington Park Circuit – UK
• Road America – USA
• Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours – France
• Circuito de Almeria – Spain
• Potrero de los Funes Circuit – Argentina

RIDE launches on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in March. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information on the game.

You may know Milestone Interactive as the name behind some pretty high adrenaline and authentic motorsport simulation games from the past few years; most recently, they were notable for MXGP, the motocross racing video game that they released for Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and PC. But now, they are back with their first original IP, Ride, which we have covered before, but a quick crash course: Ride is a motocross racing game, and it features over a hundred bikes for players to get their hands on.

The newest trailer for the game shows that the Milan based developer doesn’t just painstakingly recreate the bikes, it also painstakingly recreates locations. This trailer shows of Milan, which will be a location in the game, with all of its landmarks, emphasizing those spots that will be best for some high octane motorbike racing.

Ride launches March 20 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and PC. Stay tuned for more information.