Crashing Was Never This Fun! (Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX (PS))

Member Name: DiFranco01

Product:	Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX (PS)
Date:	02/12/01 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to learn, with many features and challenges.

Disadvantages: The sequel is only out for PS2 (sigh).

If you, like most young adults in the world, own a Playstation or Playstation One gaming console, then you simply must NOT pass up Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX! I found a copy for twenty dollars (U.S.) at an Army Post Exchange store in August. Even with that discounted price, the prices of all PS and PS1 titles are falling due to the popularity of their successor, the PS2 (I want it! I want it!)

Anyway, back to this incredible game.

If you're familiar with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, then you'll be pleased to know that DMFB utilized the same game engine: In other words, they are similar in appearance, controls, graphic capabilities, et cetera. Dave Mirra's freestyle biking game includes many levels, challenges, skill levels, opportunities for advancement, and user options: All of this creates a formidable and quite interesting gaming environment for the child in all of us.

As for the basics of the game, here's the lowdown:
You are one of several popular BMX racers - including the obvious answer of Dave Mirra. You can also ride with Ryan Nyquist and other autograph-signing, bike-riding young members of American society - complete with graphically reproduced uniforms, signature bikes, and protective equipment.
Your mission, whatever one you choose, is quite simple: Jump the highest, rack up the most points, score the most wicked tricks and combos, and complete the various challenges. The better your performance, the higher your score - and the faster your rise to the top of the BMX world that Dave Mirra's computer geeks have programmed just for you.

There are such options as "Free Ride" in which you get to "try it out" - this does not count toward your series/season standings, nor does it enable you to advance to the next level (which is the next skate park or series of trails - each more wicked and dastardly than the last).
You can also go on a "ProQuest" - my pers
onal favorite. In this, you start off as a newbie rider, trying to complete the challenges laid out before you.
Your first track is in South Carolina - the Greenville Trails. You must jump over wooden beams, score five thousand points by pulling off various tricks (such as 360s, nose grinds, icepicks, stalls, et cetera), knocking over utility boxes, and the like. Once you have completed these missions, you advance to the next set of challenges. Eventually it gets absolutely wicked: Jump over a train? Grind for at least five thousand feet down an electrical wire? Wow!

Once you complete the pro challenges, you advance to the next trail, and start all over again. However, once you complete your first pro challenges, you "unlock" new uniforms and better, faster bikes - sort of like "real" riders landing a new endorsement.

Eventually you will, of course, beat the game - but the re-play value is very high on this particular title. I have had the game since August and my younger siblings still play it on an everyday basis. This is AFTER they had rented a copy for a week, borrowed a friend's copy for about a month, and played it at other peoples' houses. Somehow, I think it was well worth the money I invested in it!


The controls are quite simple. The four buttons to the right of the controller are used simultaneously with the directional arrows on the left to pull off various tricks and create combos - several different tricks rolled into one, which scores higher points. It is a logical setup: When you play the game, you instinctively KNOW what you should do, versus the hours spent learning a foreign concept as with some other titles for the PS/PS1 consoles. All in all, I dare say that the controls couldn't be more perfect!


Graphical quality and frame rates are astounding, even for Playstation. The characters and backgrounds are very realistic - in detailed, vivid imagery with pl
enty of color and movement to keep the player absorbed. The obstacles blend in with the bike and rider almost seamlessly: Parts of the various images don't pull that infamous "disappearing act" as they do on other platforms (N64 is very guilty of this flaw, or so I have seen when I've played it). Even the motion-laden tricks that the riders pull off look almost as real as video footage taken at skateparks and trails all over the world: You might even be fooled into thinking that Dave Mirra is REALLY pulling off a Truckdriver (one of the more complex tricks). Truth be told, I was amazed by the work that the programmers put into this game: It definitely paid off for them!


Normally I turn down the television volume and put in a compact disc while I'm playing video games, but in the case of this game I turn the volume UP. The soundtrack consists of punk, ska, and hard rock music - you will hear Pennywise, Sublime, the Black Sheep, the Deftones, and other hard-hitting bands in the background while you jump, grind, and stall your way to victory. You can, of course, change the song that you are hearing, though this does require you to pause your game and run through the Options menu. Personally, I like leaving it on Sublime's "What I Got," as it REALLY gets the adrenaline pumping!


You can save your progress on the Playstation Memory Card (sold separately) without taking up but a mere block of space. You can save your progress as often as you like, of course, which is definitely to your advantage. This game is not something that most will beat the snot out of on a rainy weekend: For me, it took a few weeks before I finally passed all of the levels. And, even at that, I still came back for more!


One of the greatest things about this game, of course, is the fact that it is perfectly suitable for children of all ages. There are no bloody images, obscenities, or other profane and vulgar thin
gs that are not good for the little tykes to hear or see. Dave Mirra and company will crash, yes, but they do not break noses, lose limbs, or other disgusting things. Even without that popular added dimension of reality, this game is very entertaining.



Obviously there are cheats - though I unfortunately cannot reveal them to you, as I have always convinced my brothers to look them up and enter them for me (oh YEAH, I'm slick as owl dung). Some of them include the ability to unlock all levels, play with the Slim Jim character (complete with big hair and yellow overalls), or play in "Exorcist Mode" - in which your rider's head spins faster and faster as his speed increases. There are numerous other cheats out there, easily looked up on the Internet through any major search engine.


Overall, I simply have to give this game five stars, because I cannot find anything about it that I do not like. It is well constructed, fast-paced, adrenaline inducing, and quite addictive. Perhaps I am being partial to it because my family and I once owned a BMX track - or perhaps I'm simply in love with this game because it is so easy to play! (I have real problems with more complex games such as the Final Fantasy series or the Legend of Zelda for N64, but simpler games such as sports titles and the like are a piece of cake. However, even the most advanced gamers will find their own challenges within this title. Go. Get it. Now.)

Summary: