MX Unleashed

"This game is so good I don't know where to begin"

MX Unleashed is the first Motocross game that I purchased but that decision to buy it didn't come without playing it first though. When a friend let me play this game I was hooked from the moment that I started playing the game; everything in this game was great while I must say that if you haven't played this game I suggest that you give it a try right now, since you probably won't find a better MX game out there. There's a few things that you can do in this game such as doing Supercross races with different classes of bikes like the 50cc, to the 500cc bikes along with doing National races; and most likely the most fun part of this game Freestyle where you can perform tricks to your heart's desire. Of course there are things you can do in Freestyle such as doing a Machine Race where you have to go against a plane, dune buggy; depending on which Freestyle area that you go to.

GRAPHICS: 8.8/10
The graphics of MX Unleashed are good but not great for this game. While the tracks look detailed but don't try to expect photo realistic graphics either; and besides who would probably want to see a MX game with photo realistic graphics. As for the bikes go, they look nicely modeled after their respective counterparts and most people will notice how the bikes look and how the tracks look just almost close to the real thing in realism, but graphics don't make up the game; you still have to think about the other aspects of the game before making a thorough decision of purchasing a game.

SOUND: 9.2/10
Rainbow Studios did a fantastic job on the sound department of MX Unleashed. The bikes sound just like their counter parts and when you do a Supercross race you can hear the crowd as you race through each of the designated Supercross tracks that you can choose from in the game. Each of the bikes that are included in the game sound awesome and Rainbow Studios sure knew how to make the bikes sound realistic when you're racing them along with the other vehicles that you can find throughout the Freestyle mode.

DIFFICULTY: 9.7/10
The difficulty of MX Unleashed is quite unique due to this not being your average racing games such as Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, or NASCAR (with the exception of the dirt series of it). There are some tracks that have quite a few jumps (and I do mean quite a few of them) like Cincinnati which has a whole mess of them. Those tracks require a lot of skill to manage to be able to do well at them while you get tracks that aren't so bad such as Rochester which isn't that much of a bad track, since there aren't that many consistent jumps to worry about. To me the difficulty can vary from track to track as well as the experience that you have at that particular track that you are doing especially when it all boils down to the Career Mode of this game.

If you want to be able to do good you must be able to construct a consistent finishes if you want to be able to go for that championship for that certain series whether if it's for Supercross, and Nationals. With each that you finish you'll increase you're rank while Freestyle you have to complete each of the tasks such as the hits, runs, stunt, and the Machine race, so this game will be keeping you busy unless you're lazy; and decide to use the codes for the easy way out of having to go through the Career Mode. I do have a tip for people that are looking for another racing game is watch out for the other racers since you don't know if they may try to do something to wreck you.

CONTROLS: 9.0/10
The controls for MX Unleashed are basically simple like most racing titles that you come across. Each of the bikes handle like the would in real life as well as making the jumps that you have to make at each of the tracks that you will come across in this game and each of the bikes (each class) turns like they would. I do say that each of the other vehicles that you can use especially in Freestyle handle really good with the way that the physics of each of the bikes along with the extra vehicles in the Freestyle mode. They may not be the best but they sure made the physics engine is sure damn close to being the realistic MX game to date.

GAMEPLAY: 8.9/10
The gameplay of this game was actually played out well since there are neither slowdowns nor any glitches throughout the game or if there are I haven't encountered any that affects the way the game is in any way possible. With each of the modes that there are in this game the gameplay remains the same throughout each of them and the frame rate of this game isn't too fast or too slow; right in the middle of the two, I would say that the frame rate is moderate to great.

SOUNDTRACK: 10/10
The music of MX Unleashed is probably the best soundtrack that I've heard in a racing game. From the song Downfall by Trust Company in the opening FMV to the other songs that are featured in this game are great and fit this game to the max. If these songs aren't your cream of the crop then you may not like the music that were chosen to be in this game but to me this will remain as one of the best soundtrack in a racing game along with giving you the motivation to kick some serious butt in each of the race that you do.

REPLAY VALUE: 9.5/10
You may want to know how the replay value of this game is. I would have to say that it is almost great since there is a Career Mode in which will keep you going to get things unlocked such as other classes of bikes, tracks, to other vehicles in the Freestyle mode. In the final word of the replay value of this game is good enough to be able to get everything unlocked in this game and don't let the Career Mode frustrate you in getting everything unlocked throughout each of the areas of the game.

OVERALL: 9.6/10
Overall MX Unleashed is probably a game that you should see about trying out. I had quite a ball playing this game and if you're trying to find a MX game that is great to play I would strongly recommend this game; since this game is quite enjoyable to play. Like I said this game can keep you busy unless you're lazy and want to take the easy way out by using the codes that you can find throughout the Internet, and to me if you use codes in this game it'll take most of the fun out of it. To me if you want to fully enjoy this game you would go about going through the Career to unlock the bikes, tracks and/or anything else that you can get unlocked in this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/04