Gaming Target - GameCube: MX Superfly Featuring Ricky Carmichael

Written by D'Marcus Beatty on August 27, 2002

Full Review: Your fly season is open.

Fortunately for us, we tasted sweetness in Nintendo's last-generation console with Excitebike 64 in mind. This time around, with the wait for the game's follow-up a distant dream, we'll settle for THQ's ever-so-impressive motocross racing game featuring none other than Ricky Carmichael, and that's not a bad thing.

Right off the bat, MX Superfly's presentation oozes production time. The video introduction is excellent and incessantly long, while the in-game menus feature an intuitive interface and fit the premise of no-holds-barred action. The actual character models too, are exquisitely detailed, and this is an absolute must given the nature of this game. However, they come off as somewhat inane. To cut to the chase, the sky high tricks are the meat and potatoes of the game, and with that said, the game delivers. The in-air movement looks stellar, and while the floaty physics may turn off some players, I was extremely entertained. The characters move fluidly and are more than enough to satisfy your cravings. Obviously the licensed racers help out the cause significantly, and at the end of the day the game gets the job done.

To help round things out ,the racing tracks are gorgeous, most specifically the background scenery. The bright blue skies and speeding jets above add substance and draw your attention. One thing that leaves a little to be desired is the flatness of the terrains. It gets really obvious up close, but is nothing too critical. To compensate are rich and abundant textures that are easy on the eyes. Also, random objects such as fences and boulders are well done, but are not without their fair share of rough edges. Nonetheless, the final product, running on RenderWare, doesn't let you down.

The actual racing is a blast. The track designs are all well put-together and are based on the ever-popular foundation of catching mad air. The tricks are easy to pull off, but can seem needlessly complex at first. The game requires you to preload your suspensions to go sky high, but it is also an integral part of winning races as well. Fortunately, life is made easier as you can consult the tutorial to get the basics down. After that's all said and done, get ready for the gameplay. The game supports up to 7 computer racers onscreen simultaneously with no blaring slowdown to top things off. Don't fret about the length of the tracks either.

The audio soundtrack comprises predominantly rock tunes to get the job done. Oddly enough however, they are usually overshadowed by the loud grunts of the motorbikes on the default setup. However, you can usually hear your favorite Blink 182 song in crisp and clear quality and also adjust the various volumes to your liking. There's not much else to the sound, apart from accelerating and braking, and other participants shouting Уwatch outФ. On the other scope, the announcer offers some nice commentary while also blurting out lines to correspond with what you're doing, whether that is pulling off a trick or contacting an orthopedic surgeon. It's all here.

It's sufficient to say that the controls are not easy to get a grasp of from the get-go, but that's no problem. As previously mentioned, you'll need to dig out your manual or try out the tutorial to get you rolling along. On the default setup, for tricks you must hold the R button and tap button combos. The catch is that you can tap, press, or hold the last button of a button sequence to score more points. Also, preloading your front shocks will help you gain height and distance in your jump. Lastly, you can mess around with trick combos or experimentals. As usual, accelerate with A, brake with B, but most importantly, the Z button is assigned to powersliding, and it works here. It comes in handy so you don't lose speed, and I use it more than I would like to admit.

Unless you have a lot of free time on your hands, the sheer number of pro riders and tracks in addition to multitude of mini-games are more than enough to fill the void. Fortunately, MX Superfly delivers on both ends, offering both quality and quantity. You won't get bored too quickly, trust us. The artificial intelligence in this game is like any other. Naturally, racers will try to throw you off course, but overall it's not too hard to stand tall with the big boys. The addition of 7 onscreen riders simultaneously with no frame-rate loss is impressive to say the least. Also, you aren't too far behind the action if you happen to fall down crashing on your motorbike, which is a nice change.

There's so much to mention feature-wise. The multiplayer experience further fuels the fire of this game, as mini-games from Horse to Bus Jump to Pizza Delivery will heat up the competitive spirit within you. The final count is 11 in all. Longevity doesn't suffer one bit, and it's amazing the game packs so much in. Indeed, for sake of me going back to play this game, take it from me that it's good. Of course you can mess around in exhibition races to perfect trick combos and experimentals as well.