Yet More Madness And Mayhem (MotoCross Madness 2 (PC))

Member Name: aljones

Product:	MotoCross Madness 2 (PC)
Date:	29/07/01 (255 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent Detail, Huge number of tracks, Great Graphics

Disadvantages: Very, VERY hard, Needs a high spec machine to run at its best

Motocross Madness 2 is the sequel to the brilliant, you've guessed it, Motocross Madness. Published by Microsoft, this game provides some great action with great graphics, sounds and detail levels. For those of you who think you've seen that title somewhere before, well you'd be right in thinking that as it is similar to the title I used for my Midtown Madness review a week ago. Like I said back then, I got the two games as a double pack, and as I already had the original Motocross Madness, I played Midtown Madness before I got round to this fine game.

And indeed, what a fine game it is. You get a choice of events, and locations (tracks) for that event. You can also enter into the Pro-Circuit, where you earn cash by entering races against other riders. So, lets do a little look at the game. To make it easier to read, I'm going to split the rest of the review down into sections. I don't normally do this, but last time I did the opinion earned a crown, so I thought I might try it again.

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INSTALATION
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The installation of the game is very simple, and basically gives you two install options. You don't get the chance to choose what components are installed, but rather get two choices. You can either go for the full installation, at over 400 megabytes, or the minimum installation, at around 150 megabytes. I went for the latter, and haven't really noticed any problems. The warning that comes with choosing this installation is that tracks will take longer to load, and while I have nothing to compare against, they actually don't take too long.

The installation took no more than 5 minute (probably not even that long), and was very simple and straightforward. Microsoft appear to have gone to great lengths with this product to actually make the installation program look attractive, rather than the usual purely functional design. It does look at
tractive, and modern, yet loses none of it functionality.

You get very few options. Apart from the one I just mentioned, you get to choose what directory to install it in (though I always stick with the default path), and whether or not you want an icon placed on the desktop. I always have a shortcut icon, as for the first few days I use the game all the time, though after a few weeks, I always delete it as I never use the game so much after that.

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OVERALL GAME & MENU SYSTEM
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Once the game has started up, and presented the usual producers logo (in this case Microsoft and Rainbow Studios), you get a very nice Full Motion Video sequence of some Motocross action, with a small amount of game footage mixed in towards the end. But who ever watched that more than once?

So what next. Well, next you get the game menu popping up. In my view, this is actually poorly designed. On each side of the screen is a bike chain, which has nine different icons located around the links. These represent the options you can choose, and are just about interpretable, though I would have preferred words. You do get little tips pop up as you hover over the icons, but after a while you just click based on the location rather than the image.

The menu system is quite fast, and has very little delay between screens. Generally, you click on the single player option, which then brings up a pop up box asking you which game type you want to play: Baja, Stunts, Enduro, Nationals, Supercross, or Pro-Circuit. More on each one later, but this is really just a sub-menu that save time on the next menu, where you get to choose your game options.

The game option menu includes the type of game (which is why the previous sub-menu is almost pointless), the circuit or area for that game, the bike you'll be riding on, your clothing colour, and bike number. Also more specific to the r
ace you get to choose the number of opponents, and the number of laps if you have chosen a race. You can also choose a practice session, but you can still have opponents racing around, or you can do it on your own.

Next I'll describe each game type, and then I'll look at the graphics and other related aspects that aren't directly associated with races themselves.

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BAJA
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Baja races involve you riding between Waypoints, or gates, over open countryside. The levels vary in surroundings, from desert, to snow covered tundra to forest and farm land. But the aim of the game remains constant. Ride from one gate to the next, and complete the required number of laps before any of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) riders.

The game can be quite fun. Its not like racing flat out between points. In between are obstacles (mainly trees and the like), hills and canyons that all have to be negotiated. This can be quite tricky, and quite often the fastest route may not be the shortest. You get a very handy green arrow pointing you in the direction of the next waypoint, but it points directly at it, rather than the route you should take. This is where practice runs come in, to give you the chance to figure out the best route between gates.

Also, the gates aren't necessarily in the same place for each race. There are a few set patterns, but you can also generate a random set of gates, thought the game will remember the locations so that you can practice and race the same course.

The game can be quite hard to win, due to the high speed and accurate riding involved, and so far I am yet to win a race.

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STUNTS
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The stunts game is just you against the clock and your competitors, if you wish of course. You get to drive around one of several varying environments and just jump off ridges and pull tricks and stu
nts, earning points as you go.

In the original game, you did the stunts in one of several quarries, which made it quite easy to find place where you could pull off big enough jumps to get long enough in the air to pull of stunts. With this game, though, the worlds you race in are more sparse and varied, and so finding jump sites can be harder, and it does take a long time in free practice to find the right spots.

Stunts can be quite hard to pull, and without a four-button joystick with throttle, they are almost impossible. You get a choice of 16 stunts, though there are apparently over 2000 possible stunt combinations.

Once you've found the right places to jump off, the stunt events aren't to difficult, though mastering landing the bike after the jump is and takes hours of practice to allow you to make the majority of jumps, as you need to land safely in order to get the points for the stunt you pulled mid air.

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ENDURO
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Enduro races are very similar the Baja races. Again you race between waypoints through different environments, though this time in more densely populated areas. Rather than racing in relatively open countryside, you now have to fight for space with cars, buses, planes, bridges, storm sewers, caravans, road signs, fences, and buildings amongst others.

The details on these levels are superb, and significantly add to the quality of the game, yet not sacrificing game speed. However, with all these obstacles, the game can become quite hard. Again, practice is essential, as with the static objects you can quite often come over a jump, and land by crashing into them, including after going through waypoints.

Enduros are probably the best race event in this game, purely for the variety that you get, and can be, in my experience, one of the most rewarding.

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NATIONALS
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Nat
ionals races take place on a specific track. There are about 15 tracks, or more, each with its own unique characteristics. You don't have to worry about hitting any obstacles, but there are still plenty of difficulties to be found.

Firstly, what makes a Nationals tracks are its jumps. To master these jumps takes a lot of practice, as to get any sort of decent lap times you have to jump each one just right, so that you land on the down slope of the next jump to build up your speed again and make you landing a lot easier. Also there are plenty of twists, turns, drops and rises on these tracks making them difficult to master, and even more difficult to be good at.

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SUPERCROSS
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Supercross races take place on temporary tracks in big stadiums. Like the Nationals they take place on set tracks, and while they don't have the variety of terrain that is found on the Nationals, they are just as diverse.

The tracks twist and wind through the stadiums, mostly using 90 or 180 degree turns. The straights, and sometimes corners, are strewn with jumps and lumps that again you have to master, but as the ground underneath is flat, unlike the Nationals, they are a lot easier to master.

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PRO-CIRCUIT
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The Pro-Circuit involves all of the above. Here, you enter races, and win money if you finish on the podium. You can also earn money by pulling off stunts, even on the races. You have to pay to enter the races, and have to fork out for medical bills and repairs to the bike, as well as upgrades, so winning is essential.

I haven't played with the Pro-Circuit much yet as I'm simply not good enough yet, but when I do I'll expand this section a bit.

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GRAPHICS & GAMEPLAY
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The graphics in this game are only as good as the computer that is
producing them. Just so you know, I've got a 450MHz P2, 128Mb RAM and 8MB 3D graphics card. However, even with this spec that is well above the recommended spec, I can't run the game with the graphics option turned up to their full without resulting in a very stuttery game.

Instead, I've got the graphics option turned down, all to about 75% of the maximum, and get a very smooth game as a result. The only time there is ever any stutter in the game now is at the start of a race, but then it is only for the first few yards that you travel and after that it is smooth once again.

The detail in this game is amazing, and its not just you and your bike that are animated. They have included moving cars, trucks and buses in the Enduro events, and even some planes that fly overhead. On the National races and Supercross races, you get a helicopter whirring overhead as you race around the tracks.

Apart from the dynamic scenery, in this game when compared to its predecessor there is a lot more to look at. In Enduro races you find the most variation in scenery, with topical buildings and landmarks depending on which setting you are in. You get Ski lifts, chalets, and ski jumps, caravans and road signs, cactus, bridges, sewers, hay bails, everything you can imagine. This make for a much more interesting race than just riding round scenery with a few trees dotted around.

As far as the gameplay goes, it is spoilt somewhat by how hard the game is. You can choose the difficulty level, yet even on the 'Easy' setting, it is almost impossible to win a race. Normally I can just pick up a racing game and be winning within half an hour, especially on the easier settings, but with this one several days on I'm still having little luck.

The gameplay isn't really that varied. Yes you've got a variety of different tracks and race types, but they all do just about the same, and somewhere along the line have the same feat
ures in relation to track design. Fortunately, due to the pure variety in track layouts, settings and scenery, the game doesn't get boring too quickly, but at the end of the day you are just going over jump after jump, and as it so frustratingly difficult, the game does loose its edge somewhat.

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OTHER ISSUES
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So what's left to consider. The sound in the game is quite good, though not very varied. You don't get any background music, and the only sounds you here are your engine noise, competitors engines, engines of moving vehicles, and the sound of you falling off and screaming. That’s it. So nothing special there.

The game is easy to navigate, and is well set out. Its quite logical, though on a few occasions you are left wondering where you are supposed to click next.

Control of the bike is quite hard unless you've got a good joystick. With the keyboard you stand no chance at all, as being a digital device it is just far too imprecise. An analogue joystick is the answer, though a single stick with two buttons isn't enough. Ideally you need four buttons, and throttle control. I wouldn't like to try a steering wheel with the game, as its just not a very natural control for a bike, whereas the leaning of the joystick does in someway tie in with the leaning on your bike.

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CONCLUSION
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So, overall the game isn't bad. It really could do with being made a bit easier, as this would make it a lot more playable. Other than that, the game will last a long time if you persevere, as it is just so hard to complete the Pro-Circuit, you'll be playing forever trying to win. The graphics are good, but a very powerful graphics card and processor are needed to push it along at full rate.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone, based on the difficulty factor. I'm sure
bike enthusiast would love it, though I expect real life Motocross rider would say that it was a bit unrealistic.

Summary: