TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 Review

Juan from SwitchWatchTV loves him some racing games apparently, and TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 looks to be right up his alley. TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 looks to be a lot of fun, but don’t take my word for it. Check out Juan’s video below or continue downward to read the review here on SwitchWatch.co.uk.

Welcome to my review of TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2!

Alright, so a year ago I tried to conquer Snowfell Mountain, and I failed miserably. It is one of the most dangerous races in the world with countless riders dying younger than they should, such is the velocity these guys are traveling with just 2 wheels between their legs. Nevertheless, in the first one I had a good time trying to overcome the challenge. Is TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 worth your hard earned cash? Let’s find out.

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay-wise, a few things have changed such as the physics being revamped and having a more faithful recreation of the sport. You can really feel the weight of the bikes as you move them into their turns in that type of pendulum effect leaning from one side to the other and man they feel so fast that one wrong move and you and your bike and your are super manning into the nearest hedge, ditch or a spectators face. This is no joke, but one wrong move here and you are falling, and I have probably won the prize for the most falls in a race if there was such a thing. Clip a curb, and you are in the turf. Misjudge that turn by a centimeter, and boom into a bollard.

There is no rewind here, people. This is the real deal. Real life truth. I don’t care how good you think you are at racers like this. TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 will chew you up and spit you out until you either persist or rage quit.

Sure, it’s probably more accessible, but this is one of the toughest games I have played and that includes every genre. What makes it tough is the speed you are going, and if you do not know every inch of that track then forget it. Then there are the controls, not to say that the controls are bad but the Switch is limited in not having analog triggers for acceleration and braking. These machines are beasts, and they are sensitive beasts. You need to be able to caress them through those turns with a tad of acceleration easing on the throttle nice and smoothly, but you can’t here because a digital press and your bike is 0-60 before you can say, “Hit me baby one more time.”

Imagine driving a car and flooring it every time you went somewhere then easing off the throttle completely then flooring it and so on. No one drives like that, and it’s a pain in the arse for games like this too, especially this one making it way more difficult than it should be. But fear not! Juan has come to the rescue. Well sort of.

I have made the best of it, and here is how. Luckily the game has a button mapping option, and so I mapped acceleration to the right analog stick and combined front and back breaks to the right analog stick too. Pushing up for acceleration and down for analog braking. All of a sudden I have a twin stick racer on my hands.

Sure, combined braking is not ideal. If you are a bit of a pro, you want to control front and rear brakes independently, but if that’s the case have your analog front brake and place the back wheel braking at a button which is to your liking. Then I place the shift up and downs on the left and right triggers and viola,the game is programmed to recognize analog inputs which is bloody fantastic and that’s when my experience of this game went from pure frustration to the beauty of having almost full control of my throttle, braking and shift and it makes for a beautiful experience. You will still crash but it beats having to do the tippy tappa which is what I call it when having to deal with digital acceleration on racing games on the Switch.

Career mode has you taking part in a number of challenges so that you can be ready for the 60KM run up Snofell Mountain. These are to earn your stripes, and you cannot enter the TT events until you ride for your team earning those signatures so you can enter the TT events. You will require 8 signatures, and if you don’t get the 8 you will need to wait for the next season.

While I enjoyed most of it, I really didn’t like the messy way the career mode is presented. It’s too small to see in handheld, and even in docked it’s a bloody mess. It’s basically a calendar offering you a choice of events each week ranging from easy, medium, and hard races which is quite nice if you are more of a casual gamer. And while more balanced than it’s predecessor, it’s still tough.

Racing feels quick and quite frankly terrifying. Talk about nailing the thrill of speed in this game.

I prefer games like this where it’s you versus the clock. Some races have a mass start, and others it’s staggered, but it amounts to who is the quickest over a certain distance. As you progress, you can buy other super bikes to put in your garage and use. Some races have a criteria which you can only use a certain type of bike and there are also perks which you can get too. Perks are useful in that you can equip them to give you certain benefits but you have to pay to use them and I found them not to add much to the overall experience. Useful at times and useless at others.

You get to race in other places not just the Isle of man from tracks in Scotland, Ireland, and England, but nothing beats the Ise of Man track. There are challenges you can take on to such as reaching a certain speed or completing a section in a certain time. All are challenging and will keep you on your toes. Each bike has it’s own stats of course and come from manufactures such as Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki to name a few, different riders can be chosen too as well as bike models. The career mode will keep you going for a very good while but you will need to be persistent if you are to compete. Such is the quality of the game that I felt compelled to keep going and playing and if you love your racing then you will too.

There are varying other modes apart from career mode you can choose too such as a quick race where you can choose 17 different tracks bikes from the off from differing manufacturers and some classics too. There is a tutorial mode, Time trial race and even a free roam mode where you can ride around. The mode is a great addition and I found myself just losing hours pottering around and trying to go as fast as I could with no pressures. I loved this mode a lot and was great for just letting off some steam.

Then there is multiplayer modes where you can set up offline or online and play against 8 other players which is a col feature too. However locally you will be taking it in turns to post your time and this was the same as last years edition.

AUDIO

The audio in TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 is basically focused on the bikes engine noise, which is really good. As you go through the gears, the bikes sound is really beefy and impressive. Each as a differing engine noise from the superbikes to the classics, and they all sound.

You can really be in tune with the bike from knowing what gear to shift and when to shift if you like complete control of your bike and Switch to manual gear shifts. Going through a tuner sounds fantastic when you hear the roar of the exhaust, and it’s a complete thrill to hear that bike hit top speeds. I very much recommend headphones in handheld mode or in docked if you can.

VISUALS & PERFORMANCE

The game has taken a downgrade on the Switch so it can run smoothly at 30 frames per second. Of course it’s not going to match more powerful consoles for background detail, but it performs great in both handheld and in docked, and it feels smooth and fast which is what is important. I didn’t hit any stutter which is great news, and that is what I look for when playing a racing simulation like this.

VALUE

I have to say that I would not recommend paying the digital price of £53,99 or $60USD for our friends in the USA as its far cheaper to source a physical, and I can find one here in the UK for around £39,99, which is much more reasonable. I would be happy to pay that price for a game in my opinion which is going to give you hours upon hours of gameplay, whether that is just the thrill of practicing and making a whole run without falling off your bike or posting a great time on the leaderboards.