Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2

Written by Matt Partington on October 04, 2002

Full Review: Hawk better watch his back, the Condor has arrived.

Out of so many genres, the extreme sports category is one of the most difficult for developers to produce a quality game with innovative features that piques peoples' interest. The original Mat Hoffman was a large success primarily do to being published by the same company as Tony Hawk and a bit of a УTHPS Follow UpФ per se. Despite that, Hoffman was lacking in important areas therefore the game wasn't quite what it could have been. Simply put, that's what sequels are for. Hoffman 2 is an entirely different game, much better than the original, as well as most extreme sports titles.

Cutting to the chase: Hoffman 2 succeeds in a great many areas. While it has some Уbeen there, done thatФ elements, Rainbow Studios has included some unprecedented features. First, and most obviously, are the flatland moves. Instead of strictly grabbing, grinding, and verting, Hoffman 2 allows you to pull of insane freestyle tricks while riding on the pavement. You can do things like spinning your bike around four times then doing a handstand followed with a barspin while both wheels never leave the ground. This stuff is so awesome! It's also relatively easy, and once you get the gist of things you can pull off major combos using these techniques. The animation is outstanding, not one trick or move feels fake or glitchy, especially with the flatland moves. MH2 also let's you УtweakФ moves. Basically, this is a more complex way of doing a No Footer, One Hander, Half-Half and so forth. Yet it turns out better because if you do tweak a move (R2 by default) your trick's score will increase more rapidly. The freestyle tricks and tweaking ability both seem like something extreme sports games will be receiving in the future.

Initially, Hoffman 2 may feel a bit awkward. Those would've donated their lives towards the Tony Hawk 4 fund may particularly feel out of place. There's definitely a small learning curve with Hoffman 2, but it's easily overcome after a mere few hours of play. At first I had problems with how the biker was controlled--I didn't feel like I was in total command of the character. Also, the cameras were a bit annoying (not bad, just somewhat aggravating being so close). This, mostly due to experiencing other extreme titles, as well became undisturbing factors once that learning curve was subdued. It's honestly just Hoffman 2's design, not that it terribly affects the game in a bad way.

Instead of a basic Career Mode, Hoffman 2 has Road Trip. This is where you travel to eight cities across the United States unlocking each gradually through Road Trip Points. Each level has a series of objectives in Amateur Mode, Normal Mode and Expert Mode (roughly four to five goals each). You start off in Hoffman's hometown of Oklahoma City. From there, you can branch off to cities including Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Boston, Hawaii, Portland and Las Vegas.

As well as Road Trip, there's your standard Free Ride and Session. As far as unique modes go, the multiplayer is impressive with eight total games. You'll recognize a few from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, such as Graffiti War, Free Ride and Trick Attack. Horse is played just like the basketball version--someone starts off and pulls off a trick, then the other person(s) has to score more points on a single move. Tag is a little more complicated. Basically someone grabs a ring and tries to score as many points as possible with it, without bailing, but the other person can slow them down by scoring points themselves. (Get it? Probably not.) Treasure Hunt is where you venture out to find as many treasures as possible (Ar, Matee!), and Halfpipe Hell is an endurance battle where you climb a mountain of halfpipes to reach the top. Lastly is Push, a simple game where you try to push your opponent off the screen. It's easily understood once experienced.

Hoffman 2's graphics aren't going to blow you out of your seat, but they'll definitely keep your mouth shut. Rainbow Studios had no intention of spending too much time on visuals, but to primarily focus on gameplay instead, which we like. In fact, the graphics are good enough that I'm not sure why I'm writing this paragraph right now...

All the Hoffman 2 levels are large and well designed. If you can see something, there's almost a 100% possibility you can grind it. The areas expand very far out, possibly the largest levels to date in an extreme sports title. One problem I ran into was that the objects to trick off of sometimes felt incoherent. They're a bit too diffused in certain levels such as Chicago, but there's a good tradeoff because that provides ample room for flatland tricks.

Your biker becomes better by discovering...bikes (not much of a surprise here). Instead of statistic points, the better wheels you find in a level the more skill your lil' friend earns. You will also come across new getups to wear which serve no purpose but to keep things fresh. Even though Hoffman 2 boasts no create-a-biker mode or something to that sort, there's still enough singularity among the characters that you'll find a style you enjoy (whether that be a forte in air, manual, grinds, and so forth).

The soundtrack almost reaches the standards of the original Hoffman, but it's just a glimpse away. Certain songs don't fit very well with the environment or tempo of the game, but it does give Hoffman 2 a distinction among a punk/emo-dominated genre. After a bit I found myself in delight of the tunes, and the as far as sound effects go we're making no complains.

Hoffman 2 isn't exactly directed towards those who are looking for the most challenging experience. Scoring points is quite easy, if you can't do it then you should probably give up, there's no hope for you. Regardless, there's a slight learning curve to get down all the grinding and timing just like most quality extreme titles. The control scheme is set up like most Activision 02 games--Square does the tricks, O does the grabs, Triangle grinds, and X to jump. R1 and L1 will spin you more efficiently, L3 for movement and R3 for camera. This shouldn't be a problem for veterans. Unfortunately Hoffman 2 doesn't have much of a reason for you to come back time after time again, but you might have a yearning to play it occasionally for mere fun.