Game Overview
Valentino Rossi is the man we are talking about, World Champion in the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc classes, always linked with swapping two for four wheels and trying out some Formula One and possible one of the greatest motor sport personalities ever! Well with Moto GP 06 you can now experience what it takes to become a Moto GP great without the danger of actually having to slide your knee on the tarmac going through Druids at Donnington at a mere 150mph!

The graphics will without a doubt amaze even the most experienced gamer (they did with us, although that’s not to say we are experienced!). The bikes, riders, crowd, track, scenery, everything looks pucker, it’s almost impossible to fault in fact! It is simply beautiful and if you can't appreciate these graphics then you shouldn't be playing games! THQ definitely haven't scrimped on the effects side of things, that’s for sure!

As with most bike games we have ever played and we are sure a lot of you can relate to this, it still has that very sensitive and annoying feeling to the game. Unless you have thrown a bike around a circuit doing the best part of 200mph it's going to be pretty difficult to compare it to real life, so you almost have to take it as it comes but the steering seems to be so sensitive it makes it incredibly hard to get the hang of the game, knowing when to use the front brake instead of the back brake and when to turn and when to accelerate is a case of trial and error, remember practice makes perfect!

With plenty of options on Moto GP 06 you won't be getting bored of it in a hurry, you can now chose to race with either the 2005 season lineup or the 2006 season lineup, you race Street circuits in the Extreme modes and of course there is the inevitable Xbox Live! But boy is that difficult, we do recommend you hone your skills in single player before you jump online to play as your pride and ego will definitely take a hit!

Playing the Career mode will require you to design your own bike, there didn't appear to be any pre-made designs that you could just slap on your bike and get one with it which was a bit of a shame, obviously you don't want to be racing with a plain looking bike but so you need to design something, unfortunately for the "not so creative" amongst us (including ourselves) it was almost impossible to design a decent looking bike there didn't seem to be any kind of help at all which was a great shame, especially when you just want to get into the game and start racing.

Our Conclusions
All in all this is a top notch game, in HD it looks superb, add a nice bit of surround sound to the mix you should have a very entertaining evening ahead of you. Popping wheelies, burning rubber and pippin your mate to the chequered flag doesn't actually get any sweeter than Moto GP 2006, make sure you buy this game!!

Overall Score: 9/10

Thanks to Trilogy Comms for sending this cracking game through and also THQ!