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Platform Filters:   All Platforms  Xbox   GameCube   PlayStation 2   PC   Game Boy Advance   Site Sections:   Updates  News   Games   Publishers   Developers   Reviews   Previews   Release Dates   Editorials   Glossary   Contact Us		Review:       13th October 2001: Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2  The world of BMX tricks comes to the Playstation 2 courtesy of Acclaim, but was it worth the effort? Posted by Marc Hull - PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe Following the trend of sports games being supported by their relevant champion (Tony Hawk's Skateboarding, Ricky Carmichael's MX2002?) comes Acclaim's Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, this time bringing the excitement of BMX trickery to the Playstation 2. As the nicely edited FMV intro sequence points out, it won't just be Mr Mirra who you play as in the game, but there are also thirteen other BMX pros to select including Ryan Nyquist and Zach Shaw. So, the licence is certainly solid - but how does the game stand out from the crowd of trick-orientated sports games? First of all, the arenas in Freestyle BMX 2 are absolutely huge, and populated with all kinds of ramps, rails and slopes for you to execute a number of the 1,500 tricks the game offers. In terms of detail, there are plenty of themed animated objects in every course, including other bikers practising tricks and cars driving around the level. There are even sound effects that fade in and out as you approach things, giving each level a sense of liveliness and involvement. As well as a high level of detail in the tracks, the riders are also very nicely modelled. Z-Axis, the game's developers, have taken photographs of the rider's faces and mapped them onto the models to ensure that the virtual Dave Mirra and the rest of the fourteen available characters do look like their real-life counterparts. So the game certainly looks the part, but how does it play? To begin with, there are three single-player modes; Proquest, Session and Freeride; where the latter two allow you to familiarise yourself with each course and practise some tricks and the former is the main game in which you go from course-to-course completing certain tasks to unlock new tracks, riders and extras. However, right from the beginning the tasks you are asked to perform are pretty tricky, and just keep getting tougher and tougher as you progress. Usually, there are several things you are required to do within the time limit, ranging from finding certain objects, clearing certain jumps, or getting a certain score on one trick. Fortunately, once you have completed a task it is crossed off your list even if the time limit runs out, so not all tasks have to be done in one 'session'. Even so, the scale of the levels makes even finding the places in which the tasks take place pretty difficult, so the practise modes will get a great deal of use. For controls, the game mainly uses one analogue stick for movement and acceleration and two buttons to control jump and tricks. Most of the time this arrangement serves it's purpose well, with the trick button being applied at different times and held down for different periods to perform various tricks, however sometimes it is pretty difficult to get the game to do the move you want, such as deciding whether you want to turn in the air off a ramp or carry on forwards beyond it. Because of this, you can sometimes be stuck in an area while the clock is ticking down, which can be pretty frustrating. For those more interested in after-pub party fun, there's also a multiplayer mode in the game. Here, the developers have avoided a split-screen style game by forcing the players to play one-after-the-other on a set of task-based sections, where whoever accumulates the largest score within the time limit wins. Although this doesn't produce the same kind of competitiveness that a simultaneous multiplayer game does, it means that there's no loss of graphical detail that rendering two views at once usually produces, and it's clearer to see what you're doing since your view is the whole screen, not just a small window. Despite the inclusion of all these modes, and the general length and difficulty of the game, the developers have gone even further by including a great level editor for you to make your own tracks with. Although it uses every button on the controller, creating great courses is actually pretty easy, and there's a good amount of help to show you which buttons to press to move, rotate and place the large range of objects available. Once finished, you can save your creation to a memory card then load it into the single-player 'Session' or 'Freeride' modes. Overall, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 is a pretty class game, with some minor flaws. The graphics are good, with a nice amount of detail running at a good framerate and only small amounts of noticeable clipping in the background. Unfortunately, there's no 60hz mode or screen adjust for the PAL release, but there isn't any noticeable slowdown and the black bars have been kept to an absolute minimum. The soundtrack consists of licensed music, some of which is more popular than others, but all seem to suit the game's style well. The length of the game can't be disputed, since there's loads to unlock, the tasks are difficult and will take some time to complete and the level editor means you can keep creating your own tracks even when all the pre-made ones are finished. The gameplay is generally good throughout, but some control issues do cause frustration now and again. However, all in all, the Dave Mirra licence has been put to good use once again in this deep, well-polished game. Marc Hull             Latest Images:		Review Scores:    Graphics:   Sound:   Gameplay:   Length:   Overall: Click here for our Review Score Guidelines.  Review Summary:  Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 features huge tracks, detailed riders, loads of extras to unlock as you progress and, of course, an official liscence. However, be warned, the tasks you have to complete to progress in the single player mode are difficult and sometimes made frustrating by the controls, so there's a long quest ahead of you. However, with that said, there are also the multiplayer and track editor modes that should give you plenty of tension-relieving enjoyment if you're stuck in the main game.  Related Games:  Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 for PlayStation 2  9  Screenshots  1  Review Click here for All Game Information.
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