TT Isle of Man

Genre: Motorcycle Racing

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen), 2-8 Competitive (Online)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in TT Collection, along with TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2 and TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 3.)

TT Isle of Man is a Simulation-style Motorcycle Racing game released in 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a port of the game releasing on Nintendo Switch in 2019.

Normally when I review games in genres that don’t appeal to me, I try my best to see how the game may appeal to those who are fans of the genre. However, I will say right now that if you’re looking for a more nuanced review exploring this game in-depth, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

Having said that, for more casual players, I will say right now that I don’t think this is a genre for you. While I am able to appreciate what games like this franchise and the MotoGP franchise bring to the Nintendo Switch for those who can appreciate them, these are extremely unforgiving games for newer players who aren’t already diehard fans of the genre. Even on the easiest gameplay difficulty, these games are hard and unforgiving. I’m not telling Nintendo Switch racing fans that you have to stick to Mario Kart, but unless you’re an extreme masochist or insanely dedicated, you’ll want to stay out of this genre.

TT Isle of Man is extremely fast, but even more than this, the bikes players ride in this game are extremely touchy. Taking turns is extraordinarily difficult, as it is far too easy to be unable to find the sweet spot between “you’re not leaning into it far enough” and “you’re overcorrecting so much that you’ll hit the other side and bounce around like you’re in a pinball machine”. In fact, much of the time in this game, you’ll find yourself toppling over without colliding with anything just because you tried to take a turn too sharply. Ugh, and don’t even get me started on sidecars tipping over…

However, even for players who delight in this sort of challenge, TT Isle of Man has one area where it clearly falters, and not just compared to direct competitors like the MotoGP series. Graphically, this game is an absolute mess. The resolution is a blurry nightmare, with muddy textures and some nasty flickering. This makes judging upcoming turns a thankless task. I had my issues with the graphics in the MotoGP games, but they are nevertheless far superior in this regard.

There are two more points I have to address about the Nintendo Switch release of this game. First, the load times are absurdly long. And second, the game’s standard price tag of $50 is absolutely outrageous, a full 150% higher than other versions of the game. You could argue that this is offset by the game regularly going on sale for $5, but the PlayStation 4 version of the game regularly goes on sale for $1-$2, so either way the Nintendo Switch version is ludicrously overpriced.

Despite the sadistic gameplay and the horrible graphics on Nintendo Switch, I can still see some players enjoying TT Isle of Man, but not many. If this sort of game is really your style, you’re better off playing one of the MotoGP games, or playing this game on another platform. This game just has too much going against it to be worthwhile.

tl;dr – TT Isle of Man is a Simulation-style Motorcycle Racing Game that’s already extremely niche and not accessible to newcomers due to its difficult and unforgiving gameplay, but then makes things worse with blurry, muddy visuals on Nintendo Switch that make the game even harder to play. The result is an absolute mess that only the most dedicated fans of the genre on Nintendo Switch will want to mess with.

Grade: D+

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