It was only a little over two years ago that "extreme sports" was synonymous with "budget-priced garbage" in computer gaming. The reason was simple: None of the major publishers considered it a viable market. Hits like California Games, Skate or Die, and Ski or Die were distant memories, and the few new extreme sports games that were being released had subpar graphics, lame music, and forgettable gameplay. Of course, that all changed with Activision's release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in 1999, a game that simultaneously fed off the increasing popularity of extreme sports while introducing many video game fans to the frenetic world of skateboarding.
In a somewhat surprising move, Activision took Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to every platform but the PC. It wasn't until the sequel that Tony Hawk made it to the PC, and then with little fanfare. Activision hasn't made the same mistake with Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, the newest addition to the company's extreme sports lineup, as it's been a mere five months since the game debuted on the PlayStation and Dreamcast. That's good news for PC gamers who like arcade-style action--while Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX is definitely worth waiting for, it's better that we don't have to.
It's been said that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and Activision and developer Gray Matter took the adage to heart when creating Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX. The gameplay modes here are pretty much identical to what's found in the Tony Hawk games. Three single-player games are available--career, single session, and free ride--but everything pretty much hinges on the career mode, because success there determines which courses you can choose from in the other two modes.
Regardless of which of the eight pro BMX riders you choose to play as, you're limited to a single bike and a single course at the start of your career. You can juice the default bike up a bit by tweaking the forks, sprocket, tires, and so forth, but don't expect any big improvements in performance until you unlock new bikes. To unlock new bikes, as well as the game's nine courses (including a cool hidden one from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater), you must collect magazine covers. Five are available on each level, and you earn them by hitting objects, grabbing floating letters, posting high scores, and locating a "secret" cover. You can also unlock a couple of hidden riders, one by doing well (Tony Hawk) and another by repeated failure ("Granny," who carries a purse and whose bike features a basket on the handlebars!).
Though the graphics for the riders and terrain are a bit blocky when compared with the smooth textures of Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX, the level of detail is impressive, and there's practically no pop-up on even the larger courses. Only nine courses are featured, but the variety of the venues is excellent, ranging from the insane drops of the construction yard to the tight confines of the Hoffman Bike Factory and a London subway station. There's a strange "shimmer" effect noticeable on courses where the action takes place at night or where there are plenty of chain-link fences, which can lead to a slight drop in the frame rate, but it would only have a serious effect on the low-end systems.
The controls are completely customizable, and after only a few trial runs, you'll be pulling off impressive moves like backflips, tail whips, and the superman (and variations thereof). But you won't get far unless you keep in mind that repeating the same moves results in diminishing scores--you'll have to think hard about your line and remember to combo in and out of grinds to maximize your points. Earning enough covers to advance to new courses and unlock new bikes is a bit difficult, especially since some of the secret covers are devilishly hard to find, so it's crucial that you focus on racking up big numbers on each run. Advance far enough and you'll access the BlueTorch Competition and, later on, the CFB (Crazy Freakin' Bikers) Competition, where you can earn a medal by placing in the top three after several heats--not an easy task unless you live for this kind of game.
Even if you unlock all bikes and courses, there's still more waiting for you. A park editor allows you to create new courses, and to help you get started, there are five premade parks to tinker with. The control system for placing ramps and obstacles is a bit touchy, but with a little practice, you should be able to pump out some interesting sites for you and your friends to try out--provided they visit you, that is, since unfortunately there's no way to save your creations as individual files to be exported. The game's multiplayer modes add more replay value. "HORSE" works a bit like the hoops game--you have to pull off a trick that outscores your opponent's previous attempt--while "graffiti" works in similar fashion except you must "tag" an obstacle while tricking. Trick attack is the least interesting of the multiplayer modes--you must simply try to outscore each other. It's disappointing that HORSE can only be played in hot-seat mode and graffiti and trick attack require a LAN, but three limited multiplayer modes are better than only one or none.
Anyone who's even casually glanced at extreme sports like skateboarding and BMX biking on TV knows that music is an integral component of the experience, and the collection of songs featured here complements the action almost perfectly. The soundtrack runs the gamut of styles favored by X gamers--you'll hear everything from cool funk and hip-hop (Jurassic 5, Outkast, Newcleus) to old-school punk (Agent Orange, Bad Brains) and present-day thrashfests (Pailhead, Racer X). There's even a song by 20 Minute Crash called "The CFB Song" with lyrics written by none other than Mat Hoffman. The credits reveal that the very cool "52 Girls" by the B-52s and the annoying "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" are also buried somewhere in the game. Still, the selection is so outstanding that you could probably consider about $15 of the retail price as paying for an audio CD.
There's probably no single feature of Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX that could be considered exceptional, but that isn't a prerequisite for a game to be fun or addicting--and the PC version of Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX is both.
