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Mat Hoffmans Pro BMX 2 Review - Gamecube

Extreme Sports games became a major genre a few years ago, with the chief among them being a certain Hawkish bloke on a skateboard. Activision knew they were on to something, and in order to appeal to an even broader demo, they took their acclaimed Tony Hawk engine and put it to use with a BMX makeover. That's about as far as it goes. Imagine Tony Hawk on a bike, and slightly worse for wear, and you've got yourself Mat Hoffman. The game has a bevy of guys on bikes standing around a garage before they embark on a world tour. Not being an extreme sports fan, I have no idea who any of them are, which I'm sure helps them sleep at night. Anyway, each person has their own stats, which affects the play style you'll adopt when playing. Mr. Hoffman himself seems to get a lot of air time, which is handy because most of the game has you pulling off some insane jumps and pulling off tricks that would make any concerned parent turn as white as a ghost.

On top of pulling off the impressive library of tricks, there are the familiar objectives to complete throughout the various stages. Collecting items, running things over, flipping switches, if you've played a Tony Hawk game, you know what you're in for. Only this time, it's not as fun. No slight to the star of the show, but his game lacks the immediate joy that the Tony Hawk series offered up before it became deathly boring.

The first thing I did when I booted up the game was head to the Create a Character mode. That was a larger fun part of Tony Hawk, being able to make myself into the game. When I couldn't find it, I knew something was up. It was only when I started playing that I realised how good Tony Hawk actually is.

The game seems pretty average as far as presentation goes. If anything, it looks like a high res N64 game, with everything appearing nicely squared off and low poly. The visual effects are minimal, the presentation typically punk, and the audio very indie. Not exactly my scene, but I'm sure it appeals to those who go in for this sort of thing. The gameplay, however, speak for itself, and it doesn't say much. Everything seems half hearted, and none of Tony Hawk's brilliance comes through.

The stages themselves are pretty generic, mostly a collection of ramps and rails to jump and grind from, with objectives scattered around here and there. Interactivity is minimal, and usually little more than unlocking a door to get to the next part of the stage with some more objectives. I got bored with the game pretty quickly, and I can't imagine myself ever going back to it.

Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 is basically Tony Hawk on a bike, sans the fun. If that sounds ... (continued next page)