Does this simulator crash and burn?

Become the head of a motorcycle mechanic empire in this realistic simulation game. Start from the small garage, upgrade, and buy bigger with new possibilities. Take orders from customers, find old bikes, and give them a new life.

I often find it bizarre when games that are a few years old end up coming to consoles. This particular game came out in 2021, it got a Switch/Xbox One port last year and in 2024 it has arrived on PS5. The ports were criticised for being badly optimised with long load times and the Steam version got mixed reviews, but does the PS5 version fall to the same fate?

While it seems to run more smoothly than I imagined, it does still fall into the same trap of poor console optimisation. The controls are okay, but you can tell the game just hasn’t been customised for a controller properly. It can be fun to take apart bikes and fix them up, but the actual driving gameplay is pretty bad which almost makes the game feel redundant. I mean why would you fix these bikes up if the riding mechanics aren’t up to scratch? You wouldn’t.

The user interface is also a mess. It doesn’t help when trying to get a specific item for your repairs is so much tougher than it should be, I just can’t fathom why they’ve made something simple so frustratingly difficult to do. The visuals are a bit of a mixed bag too. The bikes look good, but the garage itself looks average.

The Verdict

Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 feels like it should have just stuck to PC. It’s poorly optimised for PS5, which there’s no excuse for when the PC version came out 3 years ago. Add that on top of a messy UI and below-par riding and you have a game that is only fun for disassembling and reassembling bikes, which gets old quickly…even for motorcycle enthusiasts.

Score: 5.0