Every few months a game comes along that is completely devoid of any redeeming qualities. VMX Racing is this quarter's dog. The graphics are shoddy, the sound is pathetic, and there are several Genesis games that control far better. To be honest, I would rather have teeth pulled than be forced to play this game.
VMX Racing is a dirt bike racing game. You race against seven other motorcycles on six tracks. If you do enough tricks on a track (tricks are done simply by holding down the R1 or R2 button), you'll qualify for a pointless and uninteresting bonus stage. The first bonus stage allows you to ride on the moon, and it features some of the worst pop-up available on a console system. You can't see more than ten feet in front of your bike. Other than being able to select a track or full circuit, the game's only other relevant option is the ability to choose one of four different bikes. But it doesn't really make much of a difference.
Playing the game is an arduous process that, in the end, isn't worth the effort. The other bikes run into you, but the bikes aren't really affected. Also, driving the slightest bit off the track results in a wipeout. Yes, you read that right: Apparently dirt bikes can't ride over short grass without flipping over.
Graphically, VMX Racing is about as exciting to look at as cottage cheese. The bikes and riders are poorly animated, and there is pop-up all over the place. Interestingly enough, the game's developers promised early in the game's production that there would be no pop-up whatsoever. The trackside scenery looks terrible, and it is all completely flat - viewing any of it from the side reveals the trees' paper-thin nature.
The speech in the game couldn't have been any more annoying. Every time you pull off a trick, the announcer goes wild and screams "Radical, dude!" or "Big air!" or something equally as stupid. The bikes themselves sound more like lawnmowers, and the grating nature of their engine noise actually manages to be more annoying than the real thing. Sure, you could turn all these down and just listen to the music, but wait - the music is utter trash, as well. It sounds like it was composed by some 80's throwback, the type of guy that still calls things "choice" or "boss." Just listen to the Danger Zone rip-off, strangely enough entitled "Anger Zone," and you'll get a good idea of why the first step to dealing with VMX Racing is turning the sound way, way down.
VMX Racing was poorly conceived from the get-go, and its long-delayed release reeks of a game that was given up on and released in the hopes of regaining a small bit of the cash sucked down by the game's black hole of development. It plays like a beta, and should be avoided like the plague, no matter how into motorcycle racing you might be.
