Reviewed: December 18, 2001
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
THQ
Developer
Pacific Coast Power & Light
Released: December 4, 2001
Genre: Racing
Players: 2
ESRB: Everyone
9
9
7
7
8.9
Supported Features
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reviewing MX 2002 on the PlayStation 2, and I literally played that game until I had blisters. Despite my suspicions of any game that uses famous celebrities to market itself, MX 2002 proved to be one of the best motocross racers available on the PS2. THQ now brings the extreme sport of offroad racing to the Xbox in a no-frills port that maintains the high standards and challenging gameplay of the original, while sadly lacking any Xbox-specific improvements.
MX 2002 does add a few Xbox-exclusives to sweeten the deal, but they are hardly worth buying a second copy or trading up if you already own the PS2 version. There are 2 new venues (Tacoma and Washington D.C.) in the Xbox version for a total of 22 courses. Many are accurately modeled and reproduced from their real-life counterparts, including a mix of outdoor courses and indoor stadium Supercross tracks. You can enjoy these courses in solo exhibition races, freestyle stunt mode, or two-player versus mode with split-screen racing.
Of course the real meat of the game is the Career mode where you customize your rider and take him on a 20 week racing career riding both 125cc and 250cc bikes. Also new for the Xbox edition is the ability to customize your bike with upgrades and tuneable bike parts.
A motocross racing game is only as good as the control you have over the bike and the rider and MX 2002 offers some slick analog control. The pressure sensitive buttons allow for smooth acceleration and braking, and you are even required to learn advanced moves such as power slides and proper usage of the clutch. The Xbox controller is well suited for this game, and you will master the controls in just a few practice laps.
Pulling off amazing stunts is a snap once you learn how to preload your suspension to get the "big air". Then it's just a matter of using the analog stick to spin or rotate the bike and using various buttons to pull off one or more amazing combos for points. There are over 28 tricks to master, so it will take considerable time to learn them all. Some of these tricks look impossible, but the live video footage before and during the game prove that these are tricks real riders are able to pull off. Just don't ask me how.
You'll probably spend most of your time in the Career mode. You begin your career by picking from one of 30 available professional riders including Ricky Carmichael. You then pick a bike (Kawasaki, Suzuki, etc.) and then choose your helmet, gloves, boots, and even protective eyewear. You also get to pick a number, which is reflected on your bike and jersey. But don't be fooled by this high level of customization. Your choices have no bearing on the game aside from the look of your player and bike. All of these frills are just an excuse for lots of name brand product placement. Those Oakley goggles you pick for your rider aren't going to help you in the slightest when it comes to winning the championship.
You then begin a 4-week amateur circuit that you must complete and place at least 3rd in to advance to the 125cc professional circuit. This circuit lasts for 8 weeks and if you place in the top 3 you can advance to the 250cc and do it all again on a faster bike.
Over the course of your regular racing circuit the designers manage to throw in some really cool distractions. From time to time you will get the occasional tutorial that teaches you advanced lessons such as stunts, stepping, and even proper use of the clutch. The tutorials are well placed within the regular racing season gradually easing you into the more challenging races. Before you know it you will find yourself cruising along at top speeds.
In addition to the tutorial lessons are the even more frequent special events such as stunt exhibitions, jumping school buses, and even a step competition which is much like a track and field high jump event. These special events don't affect your normal racing season, but they do give you plenty of opportunities to get your name on the high score list and give you a good reason to go back and play and replay these portions of the game. There's nothing more addictive than trying to squeeze in one more school bus in your next long jump attempt.
Unlike many racing games where you simply mash the accelerator and steer around the course, MX 2002 requires that you learn every inch of every track. Almost every track consists of dozens of moguls, bumps, or even steep hills. It takes a lot of practice to know how fast you should be going and the proper amount of preload to put on your suspension to achieve the best jump. Your goal is to always land on the down slope of the next hill or bump or at least flat ground. If your speed or timing is off you can land in the valley between bumps and come to an abrupt halt or even dump your bike.
Preloading is a technique used by riders to shift their weight to the rear shocks just before launch then at the last moment rising up to let the shock spring them to greater heights. The preload concept was first seen in ATV Off Road Fury and in that game it was simply a matter of using the analog stick to shift your body weight to the rear of the bike before a jump. This is similar to the weight shifting you could do on Microsoft's Motocross Madness series.
MX 2002 handles preloading a bit differently. You press the preload button as you head up a ramp or hill. The longer you hold the button the more preload you achieve as indicated by the meter above the speedometer. If you start the preload too early the meter will start to go back down, so knowing when to start is just as important as knowing when to let off. To get the ultimate air you need to max the meter just as you reach the peak of the ramp.
Once you are in the air you can pull off amazing tricks by combining button presses with movements of the analog stick to do flips, spins and various combos. The more impressive the stunt the more points you earn and the more stunts you can chain together the higher your score. You are also rated on your landing, so it's a good idea to have the handlebars facing forward and the wheels toward the ground or you could earn a negative score if you dump.
The physics seem to be perfectly modeled. Since I've never raced a real dirt bike on a real dirt track I cannot vouch for the amount of slipping and sliding you would really do. Speeds seldom exceed 50-60mph unless you are going down a steep hill but the "sense of speed" is accurately reproduced with the stunning 30fps graphics. Knowing when to pop the clutch for that burst of speed or quick-start off the line or putting your foot down for a power slide are all skills you will learn and eventually master if you want to remain competitive in the final stages of the career mode.
The computer AI is excellent but not perfect. The opponents get considerably harder in the later races and it almost seems that their skill is based on your standings in the overall season. I was bouncing back between first and second place for much of my career and whenever I was in first place the other riders seems to be very aggressive, often landing on me after jumps or knocking me over in turns. The computer is not perfect and you will often see them missing a jump or wiping out in a turn. There is also no artificial "catch-up" code in the game. The computer won't slow down and wait for you to catch-up if you wipe out. If you wreck more than 3 or 4 times you may just want to restart the race. Of course the computer could be having a bad day too so you may want to stick it out.
The game also mixes up the season by mixing in Supercross tracks with outdoor events. The Supercross tracks are difficult to master, as they are full of moguls and ramps that require precision jumps. One wrong move and you could find yourself spinning your tires trying to get out of a deep ditch. The indoor tracks while shorter in distance are also 5 laps long giving you plenty of chances to mess up or catch up.
The crash system seems to be a bit weird at times. It appeared to me that whenever I dumped my bike no matter whose fault it was I would start where the bike ended up after the slide. On more than one occasion I would wreck and several riders would pass me (even run over me) then all of the sudden I would magically be back on my ride and ahead of them all because my bike had slid a few hundred yards ahead of me.
Another complaint is the arbitrary boundaries of the courses. For the most part the edge of the regulation riding area is clearly marked with physical items and if you stray off course a yellow or red arrow will indicate where you need to go to get back on track. Sometimes the degree of your error is not consistent though and on some courses you can stray from the track several feet while others give you a bike's width of error. Of course the result of going too far off course either on ground or in the air is the dreaded clothesline effect where your rider is ripped from his bike by the neck and both tumble to the ground. It's only a minor complaint though and real riders are going to stay on the track anyway.
While MX 2002 looked great on the PlayStation 2, it only received a minor facelift in the port to the Xbox. The textures are slightly better quality than the original, but for the most part this game is visually identical to the PS2 with no increase in frame rate (30fps), polygons, or texture resolution as you might expect from the more powerful Xbox. The bikes and riders are well modeled and feature great textures and animation.
The courses are enormous and you can explore them in detail. One outdoor course takes place in a canyon with a stone archway and several dirt ramps and a dry riverbed. I explored the riverbed and found it led to an underground cave that led to a completely new hidden canyon with even more ramps. The terrain textures are definitely not as detailed as the riders and other objects in the game but they still look great and the draw distance is almost to infinity with no fogging or other cheap tricks to hide pop-up, which is simply not existent. You can see to the horizon and the sky graphics are amazing with bright sunny days and orange-red sunsets.
Many of the courses have been accurately reproduced from topographic maps, and satellite photos to recreate each course in exacting detail. You can be sure every mogul and bump on the track is scaled and located in the exact place it is in real life. The amount of care and attention to detail in the course design is unlike anything I've seen since the golf course designers for LINKS started reproducing famous golf courses.
There are plenty of amazing movies, both at the beginning and at the end of each season. These feature real riders doing amazing stunts accompanied by a great contemporary grunge soundtrack that we've all come to expect from extreme sports games.
You can race from any of three views although none of them are first person. Having raced from a first person view in other games I know how hard (if not impossible) it is to race from the handlebar view so I didn't really miss it. The replay system features a floating camera that you have full 360-control over with full zoom capabilities. You can re-watch the entire race from just about any view you want, freeze the action and pan around, fast-forward, or save the replay to your memory card to amaze your friend with later.
Sound effects are excellent and the bikes all sound very authentic. The engine whines when you launch and the wheel spins madly and you can practically hear the chunks of dirt flying when you land and pop the clutch to regain your speed. Riders make the occasional grunt or moan when they wreck but nothing too loud or remotely exciting. I would have liked to year a "YAHOO" when pulling off a 360-handstand with a twist. I guess I'm responsible for my own emotional outbursts in this game.
The music is good but gets repetitive all too quickly. There are only seven tracks so you will have heard all the songs halfway through your first professional season. I opted to mute the music during the races and found the sounds of my bike and those of my competition enhanced the realism of the entire racing experience.
Perhaps my biggest complaint with MX 2002 is that THQ doesn't allow you to create and use your own custom soundtracks. This is quickly becoming a highly desired and almost "expected" feature in Xbox titles that rely heavily on music. I can only assume that too much coding would have been required to incorporate this feature into the Xbox version of MX 2002.
You can blaze through an entire career in a day. Races take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to complete and there are 20 races in a full career not including the special events and tutorials. MX 2002 offers plenty of reasons to play and replay this game over and over again. You can always shave a few seconds off those record laps times, or extend that long jump record or add a few inches to your step jump. The massive levels always have some hidden secret area that you will have to hunt down and then enjoy.
While there are no "real secrets" to unlock in this game there are plenty of tracks that can only be accessed outside of the career mode once they have been "unlocked" in the career mode. The Xbox hard drive is the perfect storage medium for tons of custom tracks, but alas, there is no track editor in MX2002.
The freestyle mode will provide countless hours of stunt competition where you can master your stunts and combos and try to earn the ultimate in high scores. And when you have mastered every aspect of MX 2002 you can always challenge a friend in the two-player versus mode. There's even a new mini-game called "Horse" that helps extend the fun.
MX 2002 offers the standard two-player split screen versus mode for both racing and freestyle competitions. As always, it is disappointing when the two-player mode doesn't allow for a full field of computer-controlled racers to fill in the pack. Another nice touch is the ability to switch the screen split from horizontal to vertical. A vertical split is most desirable for freestyle mode where the taller window aids you in pulling off better stunts.
While the Xbox version of MX 2002 adds some new tracks, a new mini-game, and marginally better graphics, there is nothing here to make you buy this game again if you already own the PS2 version. THQ took the quick and easy path to get this game onto the Xbox without fully exploring the potential of the new hardware, and in doing so missed out on several opportunities to enhance the game with features that Xbox owners expect and will certainly miss.
MX 2002 is still the best (if not only) motocross game available for the Xbox (and the PS2 for that matter). It offers a perfect mix of arcade fun while providing a unique challenge of mastering the incredibly detailed tracks and learning how to do amazing stunts. The repetition of racing track after track in career mode is cleverly broken up with special events that offer mini-challenges to test additional riding skills. Even if you aren't a motocross enthusiast you are sure to enjoy MX 2002. The excellent graphics, precise and accurate control, authentic sounds, challenging AI, and quality gameplay all combine to make this one of the best racers for the Xbox.