''MotoGP 3'' (often stylized as ''MotoGP3'') is a Grand Prix motorcycle racing video game developed and published by

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, ...

for the PlayStation 2. Released in 2003, it is the third game in the Namco series, which coincided with the

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

series for a number of years.

Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to past games by Namco, like ''MotoGP'' (PS2) and '' MotoGP 2''. ''MotoGP 3'' is based on the

2002 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season The 2002 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 54th Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) Road Racing World Championship season. The season consist of 16 races, which started with the Japanese Grand Prix on 7 April and ended ...

, but with the introduction of four stroke bikes, the gameplay has some slight differences. The new 990cc 4-stroke bikes are faster but harder to handle, while the 500cc 2-strokes are slower but slightly better to handle.

Features

''MotoGP 3'' has far more tracks than the previous game, with 15 real world courses which include

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956. History Road circuit Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

, Motegi and

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Fl ...

. There are also a combination of fantasy layouts. When starting the game up for the first time, players can create a custom rider. After that, they will be brought to the menu screen where they can access a number of options. The first is arcade, where the players can choose the bike they wish to ride, number of laps, weather, difficulty and settings to do a race. Season mode puts them into a season with any team (depending on difficulty) and the player races on a combination of circuits to try and win the championship. Time Trial is like Arcade, except that rather than racing against a number of opponents for a number of laps, the player races against the clock to try to get the best time for as long as desired. Challenge mode is a series of challenges that players can play. They range from beating another rider, riding between cones, setting a specific lap time in Time Trial or winning a race at a specific track. Completing challenges will unlock riders, movies and pictures. Multiplayer allows players to race against up to four other people. Legends mode is, like Time Trial, similar to Arcade mode, except rather than facing riders from 2002, they face riders from past seasons, including the likes of

Kevin Schwantz Kevin Schwantz (born June 19, 1964) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was the world champion of the 1993 FIM Road Racing World Championship. Early life Schwantz, whose parents owned a motorcycle shop, learned to ride ...

Wayne Gardner Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle and touring car racer. His most notable achievement was winning the 1987 500 cc Motorcycle World Championship, becoming the first Aus ...

and

Mick Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan (born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended ...

to name a few.

Riders

2002

Legends

Fantasy

The game also includes fictional riders based on Namco game franchises. Susumu Hori is only available in the PAL and Japanese version of the game.

Circuits

The game features 15 circuits based on the 2002 season of MotoGP.

Reception

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. ''MotoGP 3'' was successful in Italy: Sony Computer Entertainment Italia reported just under 100,000 sales by March 2004.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2003 video games Grand Prix motorcycle racing video games Racing video games Namco games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Grand Prix motorcycle racing Video games developed in Japan Video games set in Australia Video games set in the Czech Republic Video games set in England Sports video games set in France Sports video games set in Germany Sports video games set in Italy Sports video games set in Japan Video games set in Malaysia Video games set in the Netherlands Video games set in Spain Video games set in Portugal