HIGH The smooth menu simulation UI.

LOW The lack of improvement in realistic representation.

WTF Tadej Pogacar is overpowered.

When I last reviewed (and played) a Pro Cycling Manager title, it was mid-2020, the world was in the grasp of a pandemic, and nobody was sure who would win the Tour de France. PCM, as a point-and-click simulation franchise, modeled the cycling world as accurately as possible in the post-Froome era, and seemed to point to Froome’s relatively young teammate, Egan Bernal (the winner of 2019’s Tour) as his successor.

The fact that 2020 saw the rise of a new era of Grand Tour champions, including Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, and a year later Jonas Vingegaard, exemplifies the unpredictability of road cycling. In PCM, where the present cycling season and potential sequential seasons get simulated, this unpredictability is definitely an advantage, as every outlined scenario has an inherent degree of possibility.

The PCM formula is simple but fertile — menu simulation in commercial team manager or pro cyclist career modes, where calendars with training schedules are planned for months in advance, to ensure peak performance in the most important races. These races themselves can be quickly simulated or more elaborately played out in a 3D format. In the latter, players can actively control their team’s riders, including how much effort they will put into their pace, when (and if) they attack, or whether they decide to closely observe and follow a competitor.

There are typically two playing positions in such a managerial sim, either start from the top, from the vantage point of a team (close to) competing for wins, or from the bottom while building a team or cyclist from a lower ranking in a process that takes multiple in-game years. The advantage to the former position is the possibility of simulating road cycling season 2024 from within the current peloton, whereas the bottom-up option allows one to imagine what the future of road cycling could look like.

Both positions also speak to the promise of realistic representation customary of annual sports franchises. In my playthrough, I played as a world class team manager for the 2024 season and as a rookie pro cyclist for a career far beyond that.

The menu simulation in both modes feels somewhat slicker than it used to. In the managerial sim, the player manages the riders’ (peak) fitness, schedules races and ideal team selection, and can even manage technical details such as bicycle settings. In the pro cyclist sim, these settings are similar, but catered to the cyclist’s personal development of numerically valued attributes such as climbing or time trial speed and stamina.

While simplistic and only marginally improved, the menu simulation serves as a solid background to the off-road aspects of cycling. Still, I think that the current template could use with an upgrade, mainly in terms of narrative elements. While it’s possible to see updates on injuries across the competition, as well as detailed results, there is no serious news or social feed that could really liven things up and stay true to sport’s increasing media-tization.

The main issue of PCM 2024 is its 3D racing. It’s simply not updated in any way whatsoever, even compared to a title four years its predecessor. This wouldn’t have been a significant issue if the current simulation would work wonders, but it has definitely not aged well.

Typically, road cycling requires patience, picking the right moment to attack, planning a sustained effort that does not have a cyclist overextend their stamina, and taking care of any unforeseen circumstances. Especially on intense mountain stages, gaps between riders can be minutes. For this reason, I prefer simulating stage races such as the Tour de France and playing as climbers with a chance to win it all.

In PCM, certain strategies are favored over others. Attacking is highly inefficient stamina-wise, so winning a mountain stage with an attack is unlikely, unless there are more than the usual fine margins between riders. At the same time, my pro cyclist, developing into a top level climber and stage racer, could not follow any attacks by punchier climbers, nor make up ground by a sustained effort due to the AI suddenly coordinating their efforts perfectly.

It’s understandable that a simulation of road cycling would initially struggle to condense multiple hour-stages into a format that may take as much as 30 minutes, while still remaining faithful to time differences typical in road cycling. The result remains unbalanced, however, with punchers able to take half a minute extra time due to carrying a stronger final sprint, for example, and the quick simulation featuring wholly different results in both bias and form.

Other than the inauthentic feel of the simulation, there’s the audiovisual representation. In the case of PCM, it has never been a highlight — until now, where it’s notably a concern. While I will be the last critic to ever judge a game for limited resources concerning graphics and sound design, PCM’s lack of polish disturbs the experience. The props look ancient, with historically significant stages making use of the exact same backdrops as other stages, with the difference a mere physical road taken or not taken. On the level of the cyclists, faces and motions have the effect of making everyone look identically dull.

The sound design is minimal, with hardly any classic cheering (nor a visual representation) of fans along the road. Commentary is very limited, unspecific and contains some ill-conceived phrases (e.g. “there are pretty ladies at the top.”) Generally, the sound does not add any value to races. If the game does not play like road cycling, look like road cycling, or sound like road cycling, the question can be posed whether it simulates road cycling at all.

In the last four years, road cycling has changed immensely. Pro Cycling Manager has not.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Cyanide Studio and published by Nacon. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 28 hours of play were devoted to single-player modes, and several seasons of these modes were completed. No time was spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, which most recently rated the 2020 installment of this franchise, this game is rated E with no descriptors. The official summary reads: “This is a pro cycling simulation game in which player assume the role of a professional cyclist or a team manager. Players can select and supervise their teams’ staff, calendar, and equipment as they compete in international training and racing events.”

Colorblind Modes: Color filters are present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The only ‘subtitles’ are the text that can read in the menus, there are no subtitles in the 3D race mode. This game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. The entire game can be played with a computer mouse.

The post Pro Cycling Manager 2024 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Going all-out on a downhill section for the first time.

LOW Frequent control issues.

WTF Egan Bernal is way too overpowered.

Cycling competitions are highly complicated affairs. Riders race in commercial teams, frequently with certain roles, and have managers, feeding stations or material men scattered throughout the road ahead — often for more than 100 kilometers. It’s truly spectacular how cyclists can keep up with this bizarrely intense competition for a few days, let alone three whole weeks of racing against the greatest in the world.

This legendary competition, the Tour de France, is captured in its official 2020 videogame, TDF 2020. Rather than the simulation-based Pro Cycling Manager 2020 from the same developer, TDF 2020 is predominantly dedicated to 3D third-person racing, and is more sophisticated in that regard. However, it comes with its own flaws — some merely frustrating, while others actually corrupt the experience.

Unlike PCM 2020, TDF 2020 comes with only a few stage races to participate in, but the tradeoff is that they’re all more detailed and realistic. The player’s control over the race is also greater – they can precisely determine their rider’s position in the peloton and there are additional tools for managing energy. Since the player not only controls the cyclist’s pace, but also their sideways position on the track, the challenge is more technical.

TDF 2020 quickly familiarizes the player with the core mechanics by providing a solid tutorial and additional challenges to practice certain mechanics such as downhill racing, which is also my favorite part of any race – I could hear the wind blowing past my driver’s face as I had to carefully steer, brake and accelerate to make the quickest descent possible.

However, I’m sad to report that I’ve experienced frequent control issues. The option to follow a cyclist, for example, often results in a fall at the descent since my cyclist would inexplicably get off-track, whereas the followed driver would not. Things like this led to major issues, so I often relied on fast-forward simulation to skip descents in the peloton altogether. Related, the fast-forwarding is significantly limited, leading to a lot of waiting.

Another issue worth mentioning is ‘effort’ management. There are manual and automatic modes for determining a cyclist’s pace, but switching between them could result in a temporary effort of 0, making me stand still within the peloton and losing my position.

Finally, it has to be mentioned that while I’m all for an array of variables determining the outcome of a cycling race (as in real life) this version seems to have 2019’s TDF winner Egan Bernal as the predetermined winner of every mountain stage, and I was never able to seriously challenge him.

On the plus side, every stage of the Tour de France is introduced with a short clip outlining the route on satellite footage of France, introducing the stage’s profile accompanied by epic introduction music. I really felt as if something big was about to go down after watching these, so they’re successful in generating hype before a stage.

However, other aspects don’t feel as fleshed out. The manager’s commentary during and after every stage is poorly performed, to say nothing of the terrible and repetitive victory ceremony featuring around three static commentaries, making it a must-skip.

All of the aforementioned issues are especially notable considering TDF 2020 is dedicated to providing a realistic 3D race. The other modes, which include a professional career mode and other races, are hardly worth the time and effort. Tour de France 2020 is therefore greatly outclassed by Pro Cycling Manager 2020 in terms of content, and hardly makes up any ground with a better presentation.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Cyanide Studio and published by Nacon. It is currently available on XBO and PS4. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4 Pro. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and 1 complete TDF plus 1 career season were completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E without description. A description reads: “This is a cycling simulation game in which players compete as cyclists in the Tour de France. Players can take on the role of a team manager or professional cyclist performing both offensive and defensive maneuvers on the road (e.g., lead protection, relays).”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Racing doesn’t require audio, but a team manager gives audio cues that are only partly subtitled. The subtitles are small and not resizable. This game is therefore only not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

The post Tour de France 2020 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Increasingly-tense 3D racing.

LOW The code is poorly built and prone to crashing.

WTF Egan Bernal is way too overpowered.

I consider reviewing an annual sports franchise to be a fairly difficult task. More often than not, I find myself scrounging for new things to say about games which usually conceal novelty with shinier visual spectacle. The Pro Cycling Manager series is different, however, as it’s not created by a big budget team. The result is a yearly release with subtler changes, although still definitely improved.

PCM is the simulation of a road cycling career, either as a manager or a cyclist. As manager, the player spends their time handling a commercial team in a menu-based sim. Cyclists have to be selected for participation in races, sponsors request particular results, and this year’s addition features morale that impacts a cyclist’s performance. Overall, it’s a laid-back, stats-focused approach to cycling.

As a cyclist – my preferred way to play – one can enter global competition starting as a 19-year-old semi-pro. Contracts have to be managed, specialized training like sprinting or climbing is simulated, and races can optionally be run as 3D third-person events that deal with positioning and stamina. My simulated manager would sometimes give me a particular role to fill in a race (e.g. stabilize the peloton’s pace for a bit) but the mode is at its best when the player is free to shoot for victory.

As a character’s attributes improve, the player can take part in some of the world’s most competitive events like the Tour de France, build a top-quality team, and race against the best. This year’s edition really captured this spirit by offering AI that has more aggressive driving, leading to some exceptionally tense mountaintop finishes and unanticipated attacks that demanded an answer.

However, apart from this small (but impactful) addition, many of the issues I’ve had with PCM in the past are still present. The loading screens for 3D races still take several minutes and are prone to crashing, any alt-tabbing can cause a crash, and the in-race visuals are in need of work.

Luckily, the 3D race option is never required and results from uninteresting stages that I didn’t want to play can be simulated in a menu. On the other hand, I found that letting the game simulate a race rather than running it myself would sometimes corrupt my character’s standings and cause harm to my progress.

Another issue is that while it’s exciting to take a newcomer and turn them into a star, the skill point system for building up attributes allows for the creation of an invincible champion who hardly ever gets fatigued. By the end of my fifth in-game season, I had won all grand tours and both world championships at a simulated age of 23 – suffice it to say that such a feat in real life doesn’t even seem plausible, and no one has ever come close to achieving it. Once my character reached this superhero status, the value of playing PCM 2020 felt lost to me.

At the end of the day, it’s true that PCM 2020 delivers the series’ most realistic version of either managing or being a professional cyclist, but issues of technical quality and system design mean that it’s far from the experience it could be. Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Cyanide Studio and published by Nacon. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 75 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and several seasons of the pro cyclist mode were completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Everyone, with no descriptors. The official description reads as follows: This is a pro cycling simulation game in which player assume the role of a professional cyclist or a team manager. Players can select and supervise their teams’ staff, calendar, and equipment as they compete in international training and racing events.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options, but colors can be customized to some extent.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: I kept the volume at minimum when playing and have not noted any vital audio cues during 3D races. Audio is absent in the simulation modes. This title is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. The entirety of the game is played with a computer mouse.

The post Pro Cycling Manager 2020 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.