Tour de France 2021

Every year I buy this game and every year I think its the same game. Not a lot changes.

Game starts loading then gets stuck on the language selection screen. Such a great design, such an amazing testing. The Oceangate of gaming. https://steamcommunity.com/id/shabaka/screenshot/2098172801136716521/ Edit: today, I just edited this review to add the screenshot above. Right after doing so, I realized that the store page now says "Tour de France 2021 requires a controller in order to play". It is something I don't remember seeing when I bought the game nor when I originally wrote this review, so I'm not sure if it used to be mentioned or not. But I guess this explains why I get stuck, even though there is no valid excuse to not add some minimalistic mouse and keyboard controls on a COMPUTER game. That's what normal COMPUTERS have, a keyboard and a mouse.

Completed all achievements for this game, here's my review: It's a good game but it comes with some major caveats. Let's start with the good: - Gameplay is easy to learn, but hard to master. It gets addictive very quickly if you're a fan of the sport. - Full TDF experience, along with some other events thrown in. Stage length is quite good. - Plenty of room for strategy and excitement. Now, the bad: - One face for every rider. This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. - Peloton/breakaway dynamics feel very odd. Sometimes too easy, others impossible to get a gap. - The overall presentation is terrible. Not just the outdated graphics, but the subpar sound, commentary and soundtrack all let me down. So, as a cycling simulation it's quite good, but it lacks a lot to make it a complete videogame. Buy this only if you're a fan of the sport.

It's decent enough, especially if you like cycling / TdF but I find it very difficult when using your own character created for a career. Basically, everyone else has far more stamina and skill so you'll never qualify for any of the special events. Playing as an established rider is then too easy so there isn't much middle ground. Worth playing though, when on sale

fun

It's basically a clone of TdF 2020 only buggier and it crashes more often.