Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
Another one that somehow didn't get posted?! Well, read up. At least you have something to keep you entertained over the weekend.
Published: October 14, 2001
Acclaim is starting to scare me. With the surprisingly good XG3, they managed to all but erase my opinion that their PS2 efforts would continue in the sub-par legacy they wrought on the PlayStation. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 only serves to heighten my opinion of what the company is doing for the 128-bit era. It's not a masterpiece, but Z-Axis' BMX combo-fest is a blast and a half.
It's weird, because the game has its definite flaws, but the gameplay is solid enough to elevate it beyond those problems. I had gripes all throughout playing the game, but for some inexplicable reason, I kept coming back. There were times where I actually threw the controller down in disgust, but I HAD to keep playing. Hence my dilemma. Major flaws usually equal a bad score, and a good time almost always equals a good score. So what to give Dave Mirra 2?
Let's start with the basics. DM2 has a freakish number of tricks. I don't mean a tens of tricks per character, or even hundreds. The appropriately named S.I.K. trick system basically makes every single basic move in the game tweakable. Airs, stalls, grinds, wallrides, even freakin' manuals can be modified with any of the eight directions. This effectively puts over 1500 tricks a mere couple button presses away. And the tricks themselves are easily pulled off Tony Hawk-style with a simple direction and button combo. Combine that with level designs that are not only massive, but well-designed and it's easy to see why there's such a strong pull.
Each of the eight levels (Woodward Camp, The Trainyards, Swampy Trails, The Commercial District, Galloon Water Park, HWY 47 Cloverleaf, Devil's Peak and Airport Parking Lot) serves up enough intro, amateur, pro and insane goals to keep you replaying for hours on every level. You'll have to spend the first couple runs just getting the lay of the land because the levels are so huge, but once you do, the goals are usually logical, challenging and usually won't be completed all in one run. It also pays to keep your eyes peeled for fellow freestylers, because not only will they reveal ways to complete existing challenges as they go about their respective runs throughout the course, but talking to specific riders at the right time will nab you another challenge.
Level design in a game like this is key. It's one of the major reasons why Tony Hawk is as brilliant as it is. While I wouldn't go so far as to place Dave Mirra 2 on the same level as Tony Hawk, it does warrant praise. The levels all have a very distinct feel to them, and all of the objectives fit fantastically with the designs, subtly showing off some of the smaller details of the levels while providing some legitimate challenges. By laying out objectives that require a little hunting, you're forced to learn the layout of the level as a whole, and you'll quickly discover the best places to pull tricks. As mentioned before, the levels are huge, and you almost certainly have to learn the layout before you start tackling challenges. They're also believable, both in surroundings and objects. The flow from one section of the level is smooth, so you can transition from trying for big air in a vert ramp to busting trick after trick as you soar over some steep dirt hills. In the span of a minute or two, you can pull off quite a varied run, concentrating on a couple of different techniques, much like the pros.
The game, however, is not without its faults. For one, it feels solid, but not quite done. I noticed numerous bugs, the most notorious of which was when I'd get sandwiched in between an object and a wall, and then would pop through the wall. Most of the time, this meant I'd go hurtling into the abyss that surrounded the world just outside the level, respawning a few moments later. On a few choice occasions, though, I popped through to discover myself on a kind of ledge where I could look around and see all the parts of the level that poked through into this netherworld. It's that respawning that's a huge thorn in my side, though. See, there's something seriously busted about Dave Mirra 2's respawn points, more specifically their tendency to place you somewhere where the only thing that could possibly happen is a bail. It doesn't happen a lot, but it's frustrating beyond words to have just bailed trying to complete a challenge only to reappear far away and then bite it because you weren't on solid ground. There's also some minor seaming problems with the polygons. It's not a huge problem, but seaming is something I rarely see in a next-generation effort; it's something that in most cases died on the original PlayStation. As I said, though, it is minor.
Then there's the control, which works for the most part, but can make tasks like switching from rail to rail insanely difficult. At first I thought it was me, but after playing a few rounds of Tony Hawk 3, I realized that it was the controls. Your rider "sticks" to the rails far too well, so if you need to transition from one rail to the next and there's a little angular change that needs to be done, you're going to have a hell of a time. (Those of you that go out and pick this up and get to that challenge in the Woodward Camp level will know what I'm talking about.)
DM2's graphics are another tough call. On the one hand, it does offer some nice, high-res, varied textures that are slapped all over everything. They aren't gorgeous, and there's no way you'll confuse this with GT3 or something like The Bouncer, but they don't lack either. Considering the size of the levels and the amount of texturing done, the load times for each level (at most around 5 seconds) are that much more impressive. DM2 does feel like a graphical leap over the first game, and over most PlayStation games in general. The textures are hardly ever grainy or blurry and lighting, while used minimally, looks good in most cases (the HWY 47 Cloverleaf is an exception). Even the draw distance is nice, carrying out quite far off. It's a solid, definite distance, though, so when object like buildings hit it, they're sheared off with razor sharpness. It would have been nice to see some sort of fades in and out for polygons off in the distance.
All this big level, ubertextured, long draw distance calculating must tax the system pretty hard. Usually, the framerate keeps plugging along at a respective pace. Every once in a while, however, it takes a dip, and not for obvious reasons. Take, for instance, the Galloon Water Park. There's a challenge you must complete that involves grinding a couple of iron archways. Ignoring the fact that trying to fly off a lip at the right angle is useless (all you have to do is get airborne near the archway, your rider will "snap" to it, popping from one trajectory to the other), but for some retarded reason, the framerate nosedives. It's a rather enclosed area, and you're looking at a wall of all things when it happens, but there's a chug, and the game pops into a wondrous low-res mode that kills the eyes. Annoying.
Framerate issues aside, DM2 does sport some pretty nifty modeling. The riders are recognizable, and the tricks they pull are animated splendidly. Seriously, there's some very smooth, clean animations for the tricks, and the bails are dead-on. Because the game uses inverse kinematics (ask someone who's working on animation, that's a while other story), bails are angle- and impact-specific, meaning when you ride headlong into that railing, your rider will flip over the handlebars, usually over the rail and land like a sack of potatoes on the other side. The bails are numerous, and each one is cringe-inducing, but hilarious. I haven't had this much fun watching my rider bite it in a long time. Of course, after the bails comes that wonderful respawn problem which usually kills the good mood I was just in.
Again, DM2 splits on another key issue: sound. Though not as much as the others, the sound swings from perfect to out of place, mainly in the area of music. Sum 41? Perfect for a game like this. It'll hit all the kids looking to satisfy their craving for an MTV flavor-of-the-week. It also helps that the song is entertaining as hell. Rage Against The Machine? What could be better than busting tricks to Zack de la Rocha's frustration-filled, down-with-the-system, disestablishmentarianistic screams (especially now that we won't be hearing any new ones from him as part of the band)? Then... Gang Starr... Uhhh... Okay, a supremely laid-back rapper and a slow, plodding song. Or A Tribe Called Quest. I love those guys, but not here. Stuff like Ozzy and Sublime oddly fit, but The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" just don't mesh well with the game.
What's funny is that if you turn off the music altogether (something that may happen once you tire of hearing the same 10 songs over and over, and you will), there's a great set of sound effects lying in wait. The sound of your bike frame reacting to jumps or the gentle murmur of the tires on a variety of pavement, the click-click-click of the gears. It's all done incredibly well. Plus, even without music there's still ambient effects like the white noise of traffic or the chirping of birds. You'd never hear it with the whiney goodness of Ozzy blaring in your hears, but that's almost a good thing since you have yet another aural layer to experience when you tire of the wall of sound that accompanies each artist.
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 has problems, and for some they may be too big to offset the pluses of the game. For others, like myself, I was able to look over the bad and find an oddly addictive, well-crafted freestyle BMX game. This is a game that begs to be rented by everyone, and then purchased by those that still enjoy it after it's time to return it to the video store. If you're looking for something different, give it a shot. After all, we need something to hold us over until Tony Hawk 3.
It's weird, because the game has its definite flaws, but the gameplay is solid enough to elevate it beyond those problems. I had gripes all throughout playing the game, but for some inexplicable reason, I kept coming back. There were times where I actually threw the controller down in disgust, but I HAD to keep playing. Hence my dilemma. Major flaws usually equal a bad score, and a good time almost always equals a good score. So what to give Dave Mirra 2?
Let's start with the basics. DM2 has a freakish number of tricks. I don't mean a tens of tricks per character, or even hundreds. The appropriately named S.I.K. trick system basically makes every single basic move in the game tweakable. Airs, stalls, grinds, wallrides, even freakin' manuals can be modified with any of the eight directions. This effectively puts over 1500 tricks a mere couple button presses away. And the tricks themselves are easily pulled off Tony Hawk-style with a simple direction and button combo. Combine that with level designs that are not only massive, but well-designed and it's easy to see why there's such a strong pull.
Each of the eight levels (Woodward Camp, The Trainyards, Swampy Trails, The Commercial District, Galloon Water Park, HWY 47 Cloverleaf, Devil's Peak and Airport Parking Lot) serves up enough intro, amateur, pro and insane goals to keep you replaying for hours on every level. You'll have to spend the first couple runs just getting the lay of the land because the levels are so huge, but once you do, the goals are usually logical, challenging and usually won't be completed all in one run. It also pays to keep your eyes peeled for fellow freestylers, because not only will they reveal ways to complete existing challenges as they go about their respective runs throughout the course, but talking to specific riders at the right time will nab you another challenge.
Level design in a game like this is key. It's one of the major reasons why Tony Hawk is as brilliant as it is. While I wouldn't go so far as to place Dave Mirra 2 on the same level as Tony Hawk, it does warrant praise. The levels all have a very distinct feel to them, and all of the objectives fit fantastically with the designs, subtly showing off some of the smaller details of the levels while providing some legitimate challenges. By laying out objectives that require a little hunting, you're forced to learn the layout of the level as a whole, and you'll quickly discover the best places to pull tricks. As mentioned before, the levels are huge, and you almost certainly have to learn the layout before you start tackling challenges. They're also believable, both in surroundings and objects. The flow from one section of the level is smooth, so you can transition from trying for big air in a vert ramp to busting trick after trick as you soar over some steep dirt hills. In the span of a minute or two, you can pull off quite a varied run, concentrating on a couple of different techniques, much like the pros.
The game, however, is not without its faults. For one, it feels solid, but not quite done. I noticed numerous bugs, the most notorious of which was when I'd get sandwiched in between an object and a wall, and then would pop through the wall. Most of the time, this meant I'd go hurtling into the abyss that surrounded the world just outside the level, respawning a few moments later. On a few choice occasions, though, I popped through to discover myself on a kind of ledge where I could look around and see all the parts of the level that poked through into this netherworld. It's that respawning that's a huge thorn in my side, though. See, there's something seriously busted about Dave Mirra 2's respawn points, more specifically their tendency to place you somewhere where the only thing that could possibly happen is a bail. It doesn't happen a lot, but it's frustrating beyond words to have just bailed trying to complete a challenge only to reappear far away and then bite it because you weren't on solid ground. There's also some minor seaming problems with the polygons. It's not a huge problem, but seaming is something I rarely see in a next-generation effort; it's something that in most cases died on the original PlayStation. As I said, though, it is minor.
Then there's the control, which works for the most part, but can make tasks like switching from rail to rail insanely difficult. At first I thought it was me, but after playing a few rounds of Tony Hawk 3, I realized that it was the controls. Your rider "sticks" to the rails far too well, so if you need to transition from one rail to the next and there's a little angular change that needs to be done, you're going to have a hell of a time. (Those of you that go out and pick this up and get to that challenge in the Woodward Camp level will know what I'm talking about.)
DM2's graphics are another tough call. On the one hand, it does offer some nice, high-res, varied textures that are slapped all over everything. They aren't gorgeous, and there's no way you'll confuse this with GT3 or something like The Bouncer, but they don't lack either. Considering the size of the levels and the amount of texturing done, the load times for each level (at most around 5 seconds) are that much more impressive. DM2 does feel like a graphical leap over the first game, and over most PlayStation games in general. The textures are hardly ever grainy or blurry and lighting, while used minimally, looks good in most cases (the HWY 47 Cloverleaf is an exception). Even the draw distance is nice, carrying out quite far off. It's a solid, definite distance, though, so when object like buildings hit it, they're sheared off with razor sharpness. It would have been nice to see some sort of fades in and out for polygons off in the distance.
All this big level, ubertextured, long draw distance calculating must tax the system pretty hard. Usually, the framerate keeps plugging along at a respective pace. Every once in a while, however, it takes a dip, and not for obvious reasons. Take, for instance, the Galloon Water Park. There's a challenge you must complete that involves grinding a couple of iron archways. Ignoring the fact that trying to fly off a lip at the right angle is useless (all you have to do is get airborne near the archway, your rider will "snap" to it, popping from one trajectory to the other), but for some retarded reason, the framerate nosedives. It's a rather enclosed area, and you're looking at a wall of all things when it happens, but there's a chug, and the game pops into a wondrous low-res mode that kills the eyes. Annoying.
Framerate issues aside, DM2 does sport some pretty nifty modeling. The riders are recognizable, and the tricks they pull are animated splendidly. Seriously, there's some very smooth, clean animations for the tricks, and the bails are dead-on. Because the game uses inverse kinematics (ask someone who's working on animation, that's a while other story), bails are angle- and impact-specific, meaning when you ride headlong into that railing, your rider will flip over the handlebars, usually over the rail and land like a sack of potatoes on the other side. The bails are numerous, and each one is cringe-inducing, but hilarious. I haven't had this much fun watching my rider bite it in a long time. Of course, after the bails comes that wonderful respawn problem which usually kills the good mood I was just in.
Again, DM2 splits on another key issue: sound. Though not as much as the others, the sound swings from perfect to out of place, mainly in the area of music. Sum 41? Perfect for a game like this. It'll hit all the kids looking to satisfy their craving for an MTV flavor-of-the-week. It also helps that the song is entertaining as hell. Rage Against The Machine? What could be better than busting tricks to Zack de la Rocha's frustration-filled, down-with-the-system, disestablishmentarianistic screams (especially now that we won't be hearing any new ones from him as part of the band)? Then... Gang Starr... Uhhh... Okay, a supremely laid-back rapper and a slow, plodding song. Or A Tribe Called Quest. I love those guys, but not here. Stuff like Ozzy and Sublime oddly fit, but The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" just don't mesh well with the game.
What's funny is that if you turn off the music altogether (something that may happen once you tire of hearing the same 10 songs over and over, and you will), there's a great set of sound effects lying in wait. The sound of your bike frame reacting to jumps or the gentle murmur of the tires on a variety of pavement, the click-click-click of the gears. It's all done incredibly well. Plus, even without music there's still ambient effects like the white noise of traffic or the chirping of birds. You'd never hear it with the whiney goodness of Ozzy blaring in your hears, but that's almost a good thing since you have yet another aural layer to experience when you tire of the wall of sound that accompanies each artist.
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 has problems, and for some they may be too big to offset the pluses of the game. For others, like myself, I was able to look over the bad and find an oddly addictive, well-crafted freestyle BMX game. This is a game that begs to be rented by everyone, and then purchased by those that still enjoy it after it's time to return it to the video store. If you're looking for something different, give it a shot. After all, we need something to hold us over until Tony Hawk 3.
