Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2

"just doesn't measure up to the standard THPS3 has set."

A little note before my review.

Basically, I just plain old didn't enjoy this game very much, however to be fair I must mention (as my one-line synopsis indicates)that I am a big fan of THPS3, so some of my problems with this game may come from the fact that I just don't think it measures up to my expectation of a good x-treme game.

My Reasoning:

Gameplay:
The gameplay seems very mechanical, when you hit grinds it feels like you have a magnetized bike, in the sense that you stick to the grind like a magnet to a fridge. Also the whole feel of the game seems slow and quiet. Gameplay is probably the biggest issue that I have with this game, simply because it feels very ''wooden'' and easy.

Graphics:
Are fine, nothing spectacular. But they really aren't that good I think they probably could have done better. Also they have these annoying words that pop up in the center of the screen whenever you land wrong or mess up. Placing the words to the side of the screen definetly would have helped.
Also one other thing, the glitching is a real problem that I guess they just decided not to fix. In the first half hour, I experienced multiple slow downs and got stuck in a corner glitch.

Controls:
Really easy, except the way the set it up makes it awkward to make the transition of not using the X button accelerate. Also its just too easy, no learning curve at all. The frustrating thing about the controls is that the bike keeps going backward all the time. You land backward then to turn around you have to stop the bike and reverse the controlling. So you end up back pedalling for awhile when you land until you can stop.

Multiplayer:
Biggest letdown here imo. It just wasn't fun, it was just like playing by yourself rather than a head-on competition. You know what I mean, like Super Mario for the Original Nintendo, Mario plays, Luigi waits, Luigi plays, Mario waits. No split screen options.

Music:
Typical punk rock. Kind of muted in the background.

Game sound:
This was definetly one the weirder things about the game. The bike is totally quiet. No noise when you cycle, no noise when you land. When you biff, pretty much nothing.

Overall:
This game just doesn't cut it. It doesn't give you that ''oh man, I can't believe I just did that'' feeling.


Rent it? Buy it?
I'd go with rent, if it floats your boat then buy it. Some people do like it (as evidenced by the other reviews in this section) Hey it takes all kinds.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/02, Updated 04/21/02