 I
have never driven a motorcycle on my own, and I am not a motor cross
fan. Regardless, the graphics and action of this game appealed
to me. I found myself enthralled with this game for hours on
end. The game play is very addictive.
The game graphics are incredible. The
environment is very realistic and ranges from indoor stadiums,
to deserts, and snow. There is no shortage of tracks that come
with the game, and now there is a track editor available to make
your own tracks to race on. Riding successfully is difficult at
first, but crashing is half the fun. Expect to crash a lot, even
after you get good at the game. However, watching your rider fly
through the air in what seems an infinite different ways is lots
of fun. The game physics do a great job of making every fall,
and pile up look real.
One of the greatest features of the
game is the career mode. You start your career off wearing jeans
and a t-shirt and work you way up the rankings to get sponsors
and win events. At one point during the first career I played, I
did so poorly that my sponsor made me wear a pink bunny suit
when I raced. It was hilarious watching my rider wearing a bunny
suit on his dirt bike. On the flip side, if you do well you will
get shiny new bikes and outfits. The career mode is not perfect,
but it's a good start.
 As
you can see in the screenshot to the right you can perform
numerous stunts while riding. Nothing is more fun then jumping
off a cliff, performing a stunt, while flying over a UFO.
As I stated above, my knowledge of
motorcycles is limited. This was one negative point of the game
since the documentation was limited on motorcycle information.
The bike engine, and front and rear suspension are fully
customizable. This is a great option, but if you do not know how
to do it, it's worthless. Many of the tracks require adjustments
in suspension, so without the documentation on how to tweak the
engine it can be difficult.
The only annoying part of the game is
the invisible out of bounds markers on the National and
Supercross courses. Since you can't see them, sometimes you will
bypass them. You have 5 seconds to get back to the marker and go
around it. Now if you pass the marker at 70mph, you won't make
it back around quick enough and can quickly go from 1st place to
last. The only option is to crash, because then your instantly
transported back to the track. Seems that choosing to crash
should not be a better option over turning around. Most games
this would mean very little, but when your racing in career mode
every second counts.
One of the best qualities of this game
that sets it aside from other racing games is the use of
strategy. This is not the type of game where you can hit the
throttle and drive the course. Timing is everything! How you
land, how fast you take a turn, and when exactly to hit the
brakes all play greatly into how well you place. Although other
racing games have some of this, Motocross Madness 2 has the
vertical plane to deal with. It takes some time to bring all
these qualities together to become a good rider. That feeling
though makes the game more fun as you get better in your career
path.
Of course the game has Multiplayer
available. You can play against others free on the Microsoft
Gaming Zone, and there is usually no shortage of players there.
Overall, this is a great game. The replay value is good with the
levels of difficulty providing vast levels of difficulty. You
can also set races to be only with 125cc engine bikes, or 250cc.
Providing two differing types of racing events. The minor
problems I pointed out pale in comparison to the tons of fun
this game offers. This is one of the best sports/racing games I
have played in awhile.
by Jasos
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