MX Superfly Hands-on

If you ask most people about their motocross experiences on Nintendo consoles, they'll likely share stories of playing various incarnations of Excitebike. In truth, it's hard to beat the formula established by Nintendo's series in the early '80s, but THQ's MX Superfly for the GameCube borrows many of its elements to create a deep game that somehow isn't weighted down with heavy simulation elements.

When compared to other motocross games, MX Superfly kicks up plenty of dirt where gameplay modes are concerned. It features separate career modes for both freestyle and racing, which provides a wide range of challenge for the solo player. Races in career mode pit you against seven other riders as you attempt to come in first overall in a series of races. Races consist of three or four laps, and in this early build we played, the computer AI falls well behind in the initial circuits. Entering freestyle events works in a similar manner in that you compete against seven other riders as you take turns on the stunt course. You can learn the tracks in the exhibition mode, in addition to the career mode, or tackle almost a dozen different minigames. The minigames are composed of a wide variety of events such as soccer, golf, the high jump, horse, pizza delivery, and many more. The minigames are accessible in the multiplayer mode, as well as the exhibition mode for two players in both freestyle and racing, which adds quite a bit of depth to the proceedings.

Playing MX Superfly is easy to pick up, but there is some depth for dedicated players to master. The A button is the gas, and the B button stops your bike or drops it in reverse even though real bikes do not include such a gear. Catching air is simply a matter of launching off a jump with an adequate amount of speed. But to catch huge air and pull off gnarly tricks, you can hold in the R trigger to preload the shocks on your bike and release it as you launch off the lip of a ramp. Doing so gives you up to twice the hang time of a normal jump, and the longer you hold the R trigger, the farther the jump. Mastering this gameplay mechanic is essential to cutting seconds off your lap times, as landing on the downslope of a hill will help you keep your speed. If your jump falls short, you'll case your bike, and competitors will quickly speed around you. While in the air, it's also important to orient your bike to the angle of the ground when preparing for landing. This will also ensure that you keep any speed you had before taking flight. Tricks are also performed using the R trigger, and it makes mastering the jump-and-stunt gameplay rather easy. To perform a trick, you must hold the R button while pressing various combinations of the B, A, and X buttons. All the most popular tricks from the world of motocross have made the cut, as well as some of the more recent maneuvers that have recently been invented. You can also mix flips and helicopter spins with the more traditional tricks for even more points. Steering is very tight, if not a bit too forgiving, but it helps to keep the emphasis on the tricks instead of worrying about keeping your bike on the track.

Motocross has yet to gain the mainstream acceptance that skateboarding and snowboarding enjoy, but all the real riders, gear, and bikes included in MX Superfly will do a lot to acquaint the common person with the sport. There are a whopping 27 real riders in the game, including Ricky Carmichael, Mike Jones, Tommy Clowers, Dan Pastor, Jeremy Stenberg, Shane Trittler, and Tyler Evans. If you're a female player or just like to be creative, you can construct your own rider with a simplistic player-creation tool. Going the extra mile, THQ has also included plenty of authentic gear from companies such as Oakley, Shoei, No Fear, and Scott to give the riders an authentic look. A multitude of licensed bikes from manufacturers such as Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and KTM are included in both 125cc and 250cc forms.

The track design is fairly standard for motocross games, though there are times when you'll be racing headlong into traffic if you establish a nice lead. It's a nice mixture of tight indoor dirt tracks and sprawling outdoor courses. Official events include the Outdoor Nationals, the THQ US Open, the Free Ride Moto-X Championships, and Loretta Lynn's annual race in Tennessee. Including all variations and the game's many freestyle environments, there are well more than 20 different tracks to exploit, though leaving the beaten path will cause your rider to automatically wreck and be teleported back to the course. This cuts down on the exploration considerably, but the track design simply can't warrant such actions if the gameplay is to remain balanced. If the game's 20-plus tracks aren't enough, you can create your own stunt courses using a simple interface that lets you choose from scores of ramps and obstacles, rotate them to set their orientation, and then drop them on the course wherever you choose. You can even take a test run on the courses you build and then save the ones you like for use in head-to-head competition.

The graphics engine used in MX Superfly is a product of the middleware program called RenderWare. Like other games for the GameCube built on this program, Superfly is pushing around a lot of polygons with no draw-in or slowdown worthy of mention--even in two-player split-screen. But the game still has a soft, fuzzy look to it, and details can be seen drawing in out in front of your bike. Also, it's often a little difficult to tell one course from the next--since all dirt pretty much looks the same--but the variety of terrain types helps remedy the situation. There are whoops, washboards, small kickers, large kickers, and monster jumps that will launch your rider into the sky. And when your rider comes back to earth at awkward angles, you can expect to see some interesting crashes. Riders will fly over the handlebars and strike trees or ramps or flip a few times before coming to rest in a heap. While the special effects are a bit subdued in the version of Superfly we were allowed to play, they're there nevertheless. Real-time shadows follow each rider around the course, and tires kick up small puffs of dirt. The rider animation is adequate, as you can see them using their legs as shock absorbers while heading over a section of whoops. You can also see their heads tracking other riders as they're being passed. In all, MX Superfly is an adequate-looking game in its early state, though there is still more potential for motocross games on the platform based upon what we've seen thus far.

Thanks to exposure from the X-Games, motocross has finally made the jump from a backwoods activity to a commercially viable alternative sport. The soundtrack in MX Superfly reflects this ideal, as there are plenty of licensed tracks that you'd find in any other game of its ilk. In fact, there are several songs on the soundtrack that are found in other extreme sports games. Expect the full complement of grunge rock, hardcore, hip-hop, and rap rock. The sound effects are a bit subdued in the latest build of the game, and even after turning their volume all the way up in the sound menu, it's still difficult to hear the telltale whine of the bikes. Hopefully, this is just something that THQ has yet to tweak for the game's release.

With no signs of the next installment of the Excitebike franchise in sight, MX Superfly is looking like the motocross game to watch out for on the GameCube. Its wealth of modes is impressive, and its focus on both the riding and trickery that the sport has to offer will make sure that fans of both will be pleased. The gameplay is already addictive, the game is loaded with licensed bikes, riders, and courses, and the stunt course and rider-creation tools will keep players coming back for more. Currently scheduled for release in mid-June, we'll have more on MX Superfly for the GameCube as it becomes available.