By Bryn Williams |
Dec 11, 2002
Titular premise. Weak execution. Welcome to BMX XXX.
Acclaim's hype-machine attempts to bring a mature edge to video games, and in this case, the Nintendo GameCube. Pimped on such media outlets as the Howard Stern radio show and various late night TV commercials, now gamers have the chance to ride their metal steeds, pick up hookers, and taste hot salty nut sacks -- joy.
BMX XXX represents base humor, frustrating gameplay, and the tingly promise of naked ladies cavorting in full-motion video sequences. Sadly, there's not nearly enough skin to make the overall gameplay experience worth all the time and effort it takes to view the aforementioned bouncing boobies.
But let's forget about those hot strippers from "Score's" -- a famous NYC gent's club -- for a moment and let's take a look at the game you'll need to beat in order to reach those titular moments. Developed in part by Z-Axis -- the guys responsible for the awesome
Aggressive Inline -- and published by Acclaim,
BMX XXX started out life with none other than BMX champ, Dave Mirra, headlining the bill.
It turns out that Mr. Mirra didn't necessarily want to be associated with the more risqu¿ aspects of the game, and soon after the game was announced, the Mirra name was dropped. It's also interesting that Z-Axis was acquired by Activision at some point during the development of the game, but speculation as to whether that made a difference to the finished product in terms of quality remains just that.
For the most part,
BMX XXX is a clone of
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, but sadly, the engine is still not as polished as
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 or
4. Sure the game is cranked out at a solid 60 frames-per-second, but given the low polycount of the characters and environments, this is more of a given than an expectation. Bland color palettes, blurry textures, and ugly NPCs really do little to ingratiate the game from a visual standpoint.
The trick system is solid enough however, albeit more simplified than the
THPS4 setup. It's not hard to bust out mad tricks, combos, and the like, and there are plenty of ramps, half-pipes, and bits of scenery to go crazy on. A little note regarding the GameCube controller -- it's not as easy to use as the PlayStation 2's Dual Shock 2 for these extreme-style games as the mini D-Pad is stiff and awkward, and the analog stick is little help either.
Single-player mode lets the player choose from a set of gnarly riders or allows up to four custom guys or gals to be created. Each of the eight levels provides 20 challenges ranging from simple high point combos to insanely obscure goals. That's one of the main issues I had with
BMX XXX.
There are too many times where you'll be asked to complete a goal by an NPC and you'll literally have no clue what to do or how to proceed in order to complete it. It seems like such a simple oversight, but sadly this critical flaw leads ultimately to some really frustrating gnashing of teeth. Veterans of other similar games in this genre will most likely pick up the pace faster than newbies, but the addition of a decent set of tutorials or a training mode would have been nice.
