We’ve been down this highway before with Moto Rush Reborn, right? That’s right. Almost six years after reviewing Moto Rush GT on the Nintendo Switch, Baltoro Games has revamped the core game with a superbike from hell that has no intention of stopping. Unless crashing, of course.
About a year after covering the first game, I ended up buying a game called Cyber Rider. While we don’t have the pleasantries of oogling over a cyber lady’s buttocks, as this is exclusively first-person, not third, we do have a very similiar premise of driving down the same road in a not too distant future, without clipping any of the numpties going under 200km an hour.
It would be fair to say that there’s no plot to Moto Rush Reborn, but that’s not true. While there are no narrative devices during the two main game modes, Campaign and Just Drive, in completing milestones through each stage, as well as collectables, you unlock a comic book panel very much in line with the recent JDM: Japanese Drift Master. The art style is really slick, but in terms of story, nothing special.
Still, it’s worth unlocking all the panels regardless, as that’s the replay value. As for actual gameplay, it’s the same throughout, where you race through checkpoints, avoiding traffic, collecting sometimes out-of-reach collectables and pressing buttons to avoid any apparent hazards. It’s simple enough: steering left and right is all that’s needed from you in terms of basic driving, as the throttle is non-stop.
When facing straights, popping a wheelie can add a significant boost and shave off time at the caveat of not being able to see the road up ahead clearly. Shortcuts will also pop up, and you’ll need to slide under barriers otherwise, CRASH. There are no game overs, however, as you drop back to the last checkpoint, and there’s always momentum.
Moto Rush Reborn is a very basic setup with not much in the way of variance, which is probably why the first game was free all those years ago. But… simple is often the best, and while the game isn’t revolutionary, it is fun in bursts. Because it’s somewhat repetitive, sometimes it’s best to steam through a stage so they’re unlocked, then periodically go back to pick up the collectables, and others to improve your times and performance.
My strategy was precisely this: unlock the stage, go back and when passing a collectable, force a crash so I could go back and obtain it, then once that’s done, have multiple attempts to improve the results. Not only is this satisfying to beat your own times (no online leaderboards), but you also unlock more of the comic book, and it’s good to look at. Aside from those collectables and faster times, you can also try to reduce the number of crashes and increase near misses for a chain (driving as close to a vehicle without hitting it).
And that’s pretty much all there is to it. Moto GP Reborn is the same game as before, but with more incentives, and it does look much sharper. I thought this was a Switch 2 version at first, as it looks decent, but my review version was the Switch. If you enjoyed Tokyo Highway Challenge back in the day, but would have preferred to be on a bike and don’t mind not having any customisation options, this could be one for you.
