Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX Hands-On

Dave Mirra has become something of a cult legend among BMX freestyle bikers, with his gravity defying moves and long list of accolades, including being named the Male Athlete of the Year at the 1998 ESPN X-Games. In Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX from Acclaim, he brings those moves, and a few of his pro riding friends -- Ryan Nyquist, Ramsdell, McMurray, Harkin, Kaigy, Butler, Garcia, Laird, and Tim Mirra -- to the Sony Playstation. At the E3 show I had the opportunity to play one of the twelve levels featured in the game. Through this spacious wooden course of bowls, half-pipes, and rails, I had Mr. Mirra catching mammoth air, pulling off sick moves, and landing flat on my face at times.

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX is a free-roaming, stunt riding game that lets players choose their own lines, through open courses, to rack up stunt-based points. Players can go where they want, use whatever vert, or rail they like, and execute simple button combinations to pull of moves. It's this freedom of movement and gameplay that could make Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX an exciting new entry into the Playstation library.

Tricks are pulled of effortlessly using combinations of the face and shoulder buttons. Once in the air the shoulder buttons are used for left or right spins, and the face buttons are for tricks like suicides, bar-spins, and tail-whips. Although each of the four face buttons executes a specific move, combinations can be used to access over 100 unique tricks. This easy, intuitive control scheme and the free, open courses make this game loads of fun.

Graphically the game looks rather impressive. The unfinished Playstation build at E3 had smooth, fluid animation, despite the fact that the game moves at a brisk pace. Essentially, the frame-rate never infringes on the gameplay, which is critical for quick moving games like Dave Mirra BMX. The only real problem I had with the game was the default camera angle. It followed the rider too closely, from a third person, behind the back view. In Dave Mirra BMX it is necessary to have a wide view of the course, to see which vert to exploit next. The close camera view detrimentally infringes on that, as the rider takes up too much of the screen.

Despite the camera issues, Dave Mirra BMX seems to combine impressive graphics and gameplay, with cool peripheral features like a career mode, authentic courses and riders, and several mini-games. Although it is easy to pick up and play, it's decidedly tough to master -- and that should attract gamers of all skill levels.