Tour De France 2016 much like its real-life counterpart is all about biking. However, there is one thing I noticed about this game the point where I found it frustrating and irritating all at once. Tour De France 2016 and Pro Cycling Manager 2016 all use the same in-game assets and even the same logo. Yes, they are all from the same company but that does not excuse that the games are different in each regard of what they do.
So they should be treated as such, to recycle the in-game assets and the visual art assets to create games of similar nature but marketing them as different games are downright laziness. I get it you probably don’t make a lot of money on these games to the point where you can’t afford different art assets and if you can then you are just furthering the point of me calling you out on your laziness.
That being the frustrating moment of this review let’s continue on.
Now the controls for the game are pretty straightforward. They do teach you everything you need to know about game mechanics by playing through the tutorial. So it gives new players such as myself to learn the curve before we start playing.
However, when we do start playing it begins to throw piles of information at us in the hopes you know what we are doing.
Learning to bike is the easy part of the game, there is a tutorial for that. However, there is no tutorial for everything else and it treats it like a management game like in its brother copy of Pro Cycling Manager but gives no tutorials about it.
Furthering the issue between the two games, Now when I did start the race that was all straightforward and easy, for the longest time I was 6th place in the race I selected but my ego got the best of me and in the end, I was dead last at 198th place. Don’t get me wrong the game is fun in its own right. But the fact that I’m met with countless screens I don’t understand leading up to playing in a race confused the hell out of me.
I fully understand that people who have played sports games for a long time understand these learning curves, but as a new player stepping into it. I’m met with just straight-out angry confusion and its unforgiving nature.
The game is not welcoming to newcomers to the series or franchise and it’s built upon only older players knowing how to play these games. The music for the game is good, the controls for the game are perfect, and even the scenery is beautiful. The only issue I have with the game is simply its menu setups and its recycled assets to try to make two types of games.
I cannot recommend this game to newcomers but older players who have experience in this genre of the game should have no problem.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!