Name: Tour de France 2018
Developer: Cyanide Studios
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Released: 28.06.2018
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Reviewed on: PlayStation 4 Pro
Acquired: A copy of this game was provided from publisher for review purpose
As a wannabe cyclist, I had the joy of receiving a copy of Tour de France 2018 for review. I had yet to play a console version of the Cyanide’s series, but have enjoyed several of the Pro Cycling Manager games. Eager to get going, I downloaded the game and got my first kilometers on my bicycle.
Story
Obviously our reviews are our honest feelings, and I must say I don’t see the point of the campaign in Tour de France 2018. In my experience there were no significant differences between playing regular races and the story. Yes, I was allowed to make my own rider and team, but I never felt any closeness to either my own avatar or the team.
The story basically just allows you to play through a season’s worth of races, and depending on how well you are doing you and your team might be allowed to join in on the big races. Personally I didn’t feel like this mode really offersd anything positive that you don’t get by just playing individual races. Aand the few things that it does offer flts uninspired and boring.
5/10
Graphics
Regrettably I must say the game looks dated. It’s not bad, far from it in fact. But the game engine is visibly getting old, and can’t compete with the best anymore. Every rider looks nearly the same, apart from the prominent ones. And the spectators are the same as in the last Pro Cycling Manager-game I played. It’s a very obvious re-use of the same textures and programming with only minor updates. The world itself looks okay-ish. It’s not particularly stunning, but it gets the job done. My primary issue lays with the UI though, which feels cluttered and has less than an ideal setup for easy maneuvering.
5/10
Gameplay
The gameplay in the game is somewhere between average and good. If you know and love cycling that is. You have to be pretty familiar with what tactics to use and where to place yourself. When to attack, or when to conserve your energy. Fortunately, the game allows for all of these things to be controlled by the player. I found the game to become boring quite soon though, with lots of waiting (and a fast-forward function that I never understood when to use, since it always ended up with my rider being far behind the others) and an AI that constantly blocked me in, even by my own teammates.
When it comes to outside of races however, the game is inferior to its PC counterpart. There’s nothing useful to do and it’s just a couple of screens between the actual gameplay.
6/10
Controls
I did find the controls in the game to be a little bit awkward. My main issue was that the steering was way too unresponsive, so 90% of corners ended up with me crashing. On the positive side, the way to set your pace and the way you sprint were intuitive and easy to learn. You also have the opportunity to manage how your team mates are managing their race, which was pretty basic, but at least it worked. I would also like to point out that the developers has made a relatively good tutorial on how to control your cyclist during a race, it’s relatively brief, but covers all you need to have fun.
7/10
Replay Value
The game obviously allows you to play through stages/races again to improve yourself. So if you enjoy playing the same stage over and over to improve your time the game allows you do this perfectly. It will utterly be for your own pleasure though, as it seemingly aren’t any online scoreboards in the game. I never felt the urge to play through a stage a second time, mainly because of the gameplay.
6/10
You can check out our review policy right here, if you wonder how we set our scores.
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Story 5
5/10
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Graphics 5
5/10
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Gameplay 6
6/10
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Controls 7
7/10
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Replay Value 6
6/10
Verdict
All in all Tour de France 2018 feels dated and just like another “we must use this license that we have-game.” The gameplay is only okay, and gets boring quite soon. The graphics are so and so, and is essentially the same as it was several years ago. The controls are good, though, they’re a bit clunky, but it’s easy to learn the basics at least. If you enjoy cycling games, and haven’t played the 2017 edition I don’t see why you shouldn’t give this a go. If you played last year’s game though, there’s not really enough new stuff to do to defend another purchase.
Overall
5.8/10
User Review
( votes)Pros
- Okay gameplay
- Good controls
- An effective tutorial
Cons
- Not exactly stunning graphics
- A bit tedious campaign mode
