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

Written by Leigh Culpin on October 03, 2002

Full Review: Trick like you've never tricked beforeЕ on the ground.

Activision's latest installment in the Extreme-Sports genre is here, and it's pretty damn nice too. It's a well-put together package of everything you'd expect from the BMX genre, with some cool new innovations that really should've been around sooner. Unfortunately, it still has some inherent flaws that almost every game of this type does, but none that will really keep you from playing.

The first thing to mention about this game is the introduction of flatland tricks Ц tricks executed in one of a few different manuals while on the ground, which, anyone who's played a BMXing game in the past knows, has been due for far too long. The old standard has been air tricks, and loads of them. However, that's been about it Ц levels usually consist of collecting items or grinding and tricking throughout. Now, however, you'll get to see some really cool looking tricks while you're moving (generally at a slow speed mind you) forwards on the ground. There are 4 different positions you can execute flatland tricks from, and a fifth is available when your adrenaline meter is full Ц not only do you get points for tricks, you get a couple bars of adrenaline as well. Though, unlike points, if you bail or crash then your adrenaline meter will go back to zero, and you'll have to work towards it again, the point of the meter being that if you can fill it up, you'll have access to special adrenaline tricks, worth more points and far cooler than most of the standard ones. Each of these positions gives you a different set of tricks as well, and linking them together will give you a combo multiplier, making flatland tricks easily the quickest way to collect thousands of points.

The only problem with this is that you have to be able to do the flatland tricks Ц previous games had you earning points solely through grins and air tricks, which are relatively easy to master. However, upon entering the later levels and the harder difficulties, you'll need literally a hundred thousand points in only two minutes. Such scores can generally not be accumulated solely by grinds and air tricks, therein a great amount of flatland tricks are required. These can be difficult, as you have to balance forward and back to keep from falling over while executing the direction/button combos. While it isn't excruciatingly hard, it does certainly take a fair amount of practice. In all fairness, this does add another dimension to the game, and provides more purpose for the tricks than simply УThey look cool,Ф but near the end you'll find yourself doing fewer and fewer (if any) air tricks and more and more flatland tricks, and, needless to say, it seems that the game is perhaps not as balanced as the developers intended. Despite this, the air tricks from previous games are all still there, so you can do them if you wish, you just simply won't get as many points for them.

Some other features in Hoffman that you won't find anywhere else are in the multiplayer modes Ц there's no bail mode (which was utterly disappointing, but unique to Mirra games unfortunately), but modes like tag, a game resembling hang-man, and half-pipe hell (where you have to climb a mountain using half pipes with fiery chasms below you) make for a pretty decent variety of multi-player modes. The game also features a full park editor in which you can create your own arenas and optimize them for whatever you enjoy most Ц grinds, air tricks or flatlanding. There's also a scrapbook mode where you can view pictures taken of you while tricking by cameras that are placed throughout the levels.

The single player mode is basically what you'd expect to find in this type of game Ц you can play as one of many characters, all of which have their own skills and will each have their progress saved separately. You can also choose the order in which you play the levels of the game (to some degree) if you want to branch out and try different areas without beating the whole game with one character. A really cool, if simple, feature is the collectable items throughout maps; these include bikes, costumes and even new songs to add to your soundtrack. You'll also get new videos of the gang doing what they do best, and sometimes just hanging out, as you proceed through the Уroad tripФ (the reason behind moving from city to city).

The graphics in the game are easily some of the best seen in any BMX game to date. Most impressive are the cities, which are all well designed and rendered. The streets of Las Vegas are filled with casinos and limos; the areas in San Fran are moderately elegant yet trendy; the musicians in New Orleans play their jazz instruments in the middle of the square. Each level also features unlockable areas that tend to have more ramps and grindable items, along with pedestrians and some cars (best of all is New Orleans Ц a mime is in the courtyard, and if you try to run him over and stop next to him he'll run over, knock you over the head and scoot off).

The sound is also well-done, with a decent soundtrack and good biking and ambient sounds that have been realistically created. The songs don't actually restart if you restart a level, but rather keep playing, which is a nice feature for continuity and a pleasant change from the usual. The controls are also well balanced, with all the tricks and modifiers you're used to seeing in these games with a couple additions.

The level objectives themselves don't usually vary too much Ц collect five of these, trick over this, grind that, get x number of points. The difficulty levels don't usually change much, except for the number of points required, and might need you to perform one difficult task (maybe two on the pro levels), but generally are still all pretty easy. The size of the levels can be all that gets in your way Ц you often need to go all the way around a city to collect five very spread-out items.

The only real problems with this game lie in features Ц there are plenty, but you'll constantly see areas that could have been expanded on; such as the replays or photos that you can collect. However, better a good core game than a good extras set and no gameplay at all, so I guess I can't really complain too much.