Freekstyle is motocross to the “n”th degree
Now in theory, this may sound kind of mundane. But when you actually play Freekstyle, and see it for yourself, you will be floored. For example, when you fill up your Freekout meter, the screen becomes blurry, a fire trail follows you, and you will hear your heart beat intensify (literally, there is a beeping heart monitor going at full blast when you max the Freekout meter out) and your palms will sweat with excitement.
The complete sensory overload provided by this one simple meter does quite a bit to add to the atmosphere. Now you might be thinking, ”It’s a motocross game, I’ve played them all, and they are never exciting”, but believe you me, once you pop this game into your GC, you will become a believer. The frenetic gameplay really helps to keep things interesting. Thanks to the rubber-band AI (the ancient AI technique that ensures that no racer actually stays in the lead) of your opponents, there is never a dull moment to be had. However, while the rubber-band AI adds a level of excitement to the races, it is very artificial, and it lends itself towards cheap gameplay.
I’ve had to restart many races because after leading the race for a lap, someone just races past me out of nowhere while I am mere feet away from the finish line, causing me to needlessly redo a race that I should have won. Now rubber-band AI can be effective when it is used in moderation, here it never stops being used. You could be in second place, hit the brake for about one billionth of a second, and have five opponents just race by you as if you were a Sunday driver. It saddens me to say that it really can ruin the flow of game. It makes Freekstyle nearly unbearable to play for long stretches of time, because no matter how many times you have raced on a single track, you simply can’t get ahead. You could know each and every shortcut, and still come in second place after leading for a lap. By the time you’ve raced on a single track for about the sixth consecutive hour, the rage built inside of you builds to the point of near-insanity, making short play sessions a must. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of Freekstyle is fantastic, but this single solitary negative aspect of it can really ruin Freekstyle at times.
Ah, getting out all of that screwy AI rage sure felt good. Now it’s time to mellow out and talk about how the controls work, both in theory and in execution. Thankfully, this aspect of the game does NOT induce fits of rage. The controls are as responsive as one could expect. The logical and helpful control layout helps matters greatly, especially when you are going for the more complex tricks.
The stellar controls make everything a breeze to execute, from the simplest one button trick, to the most complicated multiple-button tricks (which can often involve you moving the d-pad at the same time.) Given the complexity of the controls, EA Big should be commended for making the most out of what they have, and giving the player the most intuitive control system possible.