The Cycles

The Cycles is a motorcycle racing game that focuses on the speed, danger, and slightly terrifying sensation of throwing a bike around a track at considerable velocity. The player races through different courses while trying to balance acceleration, cornering, and the need to stay upright. The game captures the basic excitement of motorcycle competition without burying it beneath complicated management systems, making it fairly easy to understand but harder to master. Its DOS-era graphics are simple by modern standards, yet they communicate the essential information well enough: road ahead, bike underneath you, and trouble approaching rapidly. There is something pleasingly direct about it. You are not managing a racing empire or designing a motorcycle factory; you are simply trying to go faster than everyone else without turning yourself into road furniture. For retro racing fans, that simplicity has its own appeal.