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Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 Review
Mark Simons
00/12/0000
We take a look at Dave Mirra’s first outing on Xbox and see how it stacks up against the competition.
Since Mr Hawk first appeared on the videogame scene there have been a large number of games coming out based around various extreme sports that didnāt get much attention before the sales figures for Tony Hawk were recognised. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 has essentially taken Tony Hawk as its basis, from the structure to the actual controls, yet somehow it manages not to challenge the classic seriesā position at the top of the extreme sports games.
The structure of the game and controls are very familiar, reach a certain number of goals on each level, be they point scores, collecting things or triggering events and eventually you unlock the next level. And repeat. This is a fine basis for a game and the levels in Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 are very impressive, large, detailed environments that give you plenty to see and do. With various interesting objects and characters to interact with such as other riders who give you challenges scouring the levels for things to do and trick off is not really a chore especially as the level design edges towards the outlandish rather than the realistic. Whilst at some points things can appear a little too spread out once youāve worked out which runs work then youāll be having a little more fun. Well, theoretically you would be, but more of that later.
Graphically things are alright, nothing special by Xbox standards but they get the job done, and some nice touches like individual blades of grass do look impressive in their own right. There isnāt however any impressive lighting effects or insanely detailed textures that weāve come to expect from Xbox titles. So whilst the levels may be large and have lots of things to do, they just donāt strike you visually. The animations for each of the 14 pro riders are impressive though with crashes looking suitably painful and tricks looking slick, if stretching reality somewhat ā“ but this is always the case in these games. The interaction between bike and rider is impressive, and perhaps rather more tricky than most animation in sports games given the number of moving parts and the opportunity for dodgy collision detecting to rear itās head. Luckily in Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 the bikes and riders interact very well, however between the bikes and the landscapes itās slightly different and leads to some oddities, which detract from the experience, given that the bike interacting with the environment is an important part of BMX.
Sadly itās the little glitches that scupper Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 from being a good game. The glitches between bike and landscape can cause you to become stuck when you crash, and when you come off the bike you often get placed where you fell so you end up stuck permanently. The interaction between bike and land really frustrates as it causes problems when making jumps and grinds, Tony Hawk showed how perfect tricks could be, but despite using practically the same controls Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 manages to fail with the tricks. The problems are rather small but frustrating enough to really detract from the experience, as you donāt want to fail because of a problem with the game, everything needs to rely on your own skill, and sadly in this game, that is not enough.
