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Platform: Playstation 2 Genre: Sports Publisher: Activision Developer: Rainbow Studios ESRB: E (Everyone) Released: Q3 2002
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Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2Score: 7.8/10
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Pros: - Great level design - Combining tricks is fun! - Good solid frame rate
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Cons: - High difficulty to proceed in the game will be daunting for some - Weak sound effects and music
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Related Links: Review: Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 (Gamecube) Review: Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 (XBox)
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"...an interesting title that the advanced gamer may want to rent instead of buy."
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Activision’s
other extreme sports franchise, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, has proven
that the whole “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, as the series
has taken the same basic formula and retooled it over and over with
better tracks and gameplay tweaks ensuring a fun gaming experience.
Hoffman pretty much follows this same line of thinking as it
takes the gist of the original game, throws in some new courses and
tweaked controls, still managing to turn out a worthwhile gaming
experience.
The gameplay was actually quite fun in the first Hoffman title, not just a cheap attempt to cash in on the success of the Tony Hawk series. Happily this continues in the sequel. The tracks are a little tighter this time out, as the possibilities to go from one trick into the next smoothly is far greater than the original game where there were times that it felt as though things were too spread out, hampering the experience. The layout of the courses does a better job of trying to combat that this time out. The option to tweak your moves at the peak of a jump is nice, as it make the game feel faster. It’s hard to resist going full throttle then tweaking time and time again, especially if you’re more into brute force than finesse. As usual, much of the level progression comes from collecting doo-dads scattered through the levels, and their placement is far more challenging to get to this time out. Even to get the bare minimum items to pass the course is no mean feat this time out as you really need to work for it. So if you don’t like too much difficulty in your games consider yourself warned.
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The only other major warning the game needs comes from the cameras. Sometimes, and this is only sometimes here, the cameras can be a bit difficult. There were a few times when I was trying to track down an item I needed to collect and the cameras just wouldn’t let me see it well. It almost felt like it had to be instinctual to make a run for the magical doohickey that would allow me to go on to the next level. Other than that the overall presentation is well done. The models are well detailed with more than enough touches to them so that they look like their real life counterparts. Most importantly, |
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though, the
animation stays smooth throughout
the game, so there’s no fear of distracting frame rate stuttering at
key moments during a complex combination of tricks.
A personal quibble with the game that I have is that the
animation for your rider getting back on his bike is a little to drawn
out. Tap as I may on the
buttons to speed up the process I was left waiting a little too long to
get back to the action, impacting Hoffman 2’s pace somewhat.
Sadly
the audio isn’t as good as the visuals on this title.
The music here is your expected mix of hip-hop and punk, but none
of the songs do a good job of drawing the player into the game more.
The original Hoffman did a much better job with its soundtrack.
The sound effects are serviceable, but nothing earth shattering.
They don’t go so far as to give you that feeling that your
rider hurt himself bad when bailing, as they fail to really grab you.
This is definitely a title where you’re better off popping some
of your favorite CDs in the stereo to get your audio fix while playing
the game. The in game aural
experience doesn’t bring anything noteworthy to the table. At
the end of the day Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 is an entertaining romp,
but the high level of difficulty really needs to be taken into
consideration before plunking down the cash on this one.
It starts off well enough, but things get bloody complicated not
too far into the game. Outside
of this, though, the game is definitely well done. - Mr. Nash (September 30, 2002) Search for Related Topics: ...More Playstation 2 Game Reviews... ...More Sports Game Reviews... |
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