Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2

"Lacking the fun of so many other games in the extreme sports genre"

Even though there have been a large number of extreme sport titles on the PlayStation 2, only a small selection of these have anything at all to do with extreme BMX. On the original PlayStation there were games such as Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX and TJ Lavin's Ultimate BMX. On the PlayStation 2 however, the only game worth mentioning outside of MHPBMX2 is Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX 2, an excellent game made in 2001. It featured realistic graphics, huge levels, hundreds of tricks and a well designed park editor mode. The career mode was extensive, featuring various goals per level spread over four difficulties, and even after completing the game, there were still gaps and various other secrets to find. MHPBMX2 was released on the PlayStation 2 just under a year after DMBMX2, and so many people were prepared for it to be leaps ahead of DMBMX2 in every way.

One of the most essential parts to an extreme sport game is realistic control. All focus on a game of this type relies upon the character and the environment, more specifically the moves that the player can do within that level. One of the things that made the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of games on the PS1 and PS2 so popular was that had such a tight and responsive control system that the game was easy to pick up and play. This game is the exact opposite, with unresponsive controls, especially on the turning. After pressing left or right on the D-Pad there seems to be a short delay before the character in the game actually turns. This may not seem so bad, but it's crucial to have immediate turning on a game like this as there are so many obstacles scattered about the levels that must be avoided. Other controls for jumps and grinds are fine, but the lack of proper turning sometimes makes even these simple moves difficult.

Putting the controls issues aside though, the tricks are by far one of the best and most developed features of the game. There are forty basic tricks including a variety of airs, grinds and stalls. Like the special tricks in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, MHPBMX2 has Adrenaline Tricks. At the top-left corner of the playing area is a bar which fills up the more tricks the player does. When this bar is full, tricks can be performed which are far more spectacular than the forty basic tricks. Each of the the fifteen players in the game has three adrenaline tricks which range from Decade Airs and Barhops to BackFlip Tailwhips and 900's. In addition to this, MHPBMX2 has forty flatland tricks, and a lot of work seems to have gone into making the flatland section of the game as realistic as possible.

For an extreme sport game, the graphics are some of the worst on the PS2. On the positive side, the riders are detailed and the tricks certainly do look accurate and realistic. The people walking around some levels of the game do look and move with a certain amount of realism, and facial features are recognisable and well drawn. However, the levels look like they're being played on a PlayStation rather than a PlayStation 2. Textures are repeated frequently throughout the level, and necessary details are lacking practically everywhere. Nearly all levels (with the exception of Portland which has some surprisingly good graphics) feature bland textures on many surfaces, and what should have been fun levels are dull to play.

The music is a mixture of rap and rock. There aren't any really bad songs in the list, and for the most part they suit the style of the game. There is a play list so that you can choose which songs you want played in the levels, although there may not be a wide enough variety of styles to keep people interested in the music for long. More attention could have been given to the realism of the sound effects, which is most noticeable on the grinds where there is very little difference in sound while riding the different surfaces. The same thing applies to landings, where you can fall from a great height and land with only a little tap. This does reduce the realism of the game, where more varied and additional sound effects could have increased the realism considerably.

In the Road Trip mode, videos are shown for characters after each level. These long videos are sometimes fun to watch, but most of the focus is on the travels on the characters rather than BMX riding. There are eight huge levels in the game, which range in style from a large warehouse in OK City to a huge forest level in Portland. Most levels feature at least one secret area, but the areas are normally small and so the levels quickly become boring to play. As in the THPS series, there are gaps in the game where you are awarded points for jumping from one object to another, but the lack of an interesting level design unfortunately detracts from the fun of the gaps. There is an excellent first-person shooter known as Tiki Battle Mode for when the player finishes the game, which involves running around the huge Tiki Park mode battling a huge statue. This mode does the make the game last longer, although seems completely out of place in this type of game.

Whereas most new extreme sport games such as Aggressive Inline and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 were experimenting with new ways of making the genre seem fresh by actually talking to people in the game for new goals, MHPBMX2 has stuck with the old style in that you are presented goals at the start of the level. These are the same 'Get 5 objects' and 'Score an amount of points' objects that have been seen many times before, and I was surprised that given the improvements in level design over the original MHPBMX that there weren't more original goals. As it is, the sheer size of the levels make the challenges seem more fun than they actually are. On the plus side, there are twelve challenges per level, and there are some interesting and original challenges provided. An example of this is when you have to save the pier from a giant squid in Boston, although like most challenges in the game the solution is far too simple. Overall, I'd rate this as an average game. Worth a try, but there a plenty of other games of this genre that are far better.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/03, Updated 01/13/04