Pros: too much cheese
Cons: not enough cheese
The bottom line: 5 + 5 = 10. OK class, lesson over, go home now....... and DIE!!!

BMX games are a recently heightened fad, spawned from the success of skateboarding and snowboarding titles and the draw of anything 'extreme' lately. So far, there have only been two bmx games before DM2, and those are Mat Hoffman's and the first Dave Mirra, both of which are quality titles in their own right. Though they weren't anything earth-shattering; no THPS-like messiah to lead them to sales Valhalla, they still sold nicely, which ultimately provoked the creation of this sequel I'm writing about now, Dave Mirra 2. On it's own right, this sequel to the first Acclaim BMXer is an outstanding achievement of solid play mechanics, huge levels and depth galore, but when compared to all other BMX games out there now, it quickly rises to the top of the sub-genre, being the killer app amongst it's peers. And after the disappointing sequel that was THPS2, it's refreshing to see an Acclaim published game like this that came out of nowhere (there was hardly any pre-release hype) quickly become one of the greatest extreme sports games around.

The setup is simple--you can select from over 10 different riders like Ryan Niquist, Tim Mirra, Dave Mirra himself and even the Slim Jim guy. After choosing a rider, you can pick a bike from them, which go from the weakest to the best and have to be unlocked. Also, there's around ten huge areas to play in, but all except the first must be unlocked through gaining Respect points, which advance you throughout the game. These stages range from a country training grounds, a train station, a city street and a swimming park, all of which have several objectives you need to accomplish to complete the level, gain sufficient Respect points, and proceed to the next course. To round out the package, there's four main modes of play-- Freeride, Multiplayer, Proquest and Session, as well as a Park Creator that's absolutely useless in my eyes.

I have a few minor problems in this part of the game. For one thing, all the different professional riders handle the same and look the same when you're riding them--it's another case of the developer (Z-Axis, who also worked on Thrasher: Skate And Destroy for Rockstar) using palette swapped polygon models for every rider, and not altering the animations for intricate authenticity, like Neversoft did for the two Tony Hawks games. This in turn, creates a somewhat lackluster experience and even if it's not a very serious problem, it's still a turn off. When considering that it's almost the norm these days for extreme sports endeavours to possess complete lifelike qualities, the least of which being said unique rider animations, does this become a recognizable flaw in the game. Another nitpick I hold against DM2 is that every mode is essentially the same, and offers nothing different except the obvious unique mission goal. It would be cool to have alternate mission styles too, for example, adding in a spray-painting mode where you get to do just that with the bikers, or a racing mode, would both dice up the play to a good extent.

If there's one exceptional trait of Dave Mirra 2 BMX, it's the vast, expansive levels and their seemingly endless trick opportunities. Some environments seem to go on forever, and with ramps that lead to other ramps, and ingeniously placed rails and some brilliant objectives, the levels will keep you entertained even after you've finished all their primary goals. Some kudos to Z-Axis for making more than just short, uninventive skate parks placed in random settings, like most developers do, and instead creating some of the best levels in any extreme game.

Dave Mirra 2 has excellent longetivity, with a ton of replay value in the form of numerous challenging tasks, a huge list of tricks and signature moves for the various real life bikers in the game and a plethora of bikes to garner through passing all the objectives in each level. There's probably a combined 20 or 30 hours of gameplay here for completists that desire getting everything there is to get, and for everyone else there's still at least ten hours worth of gaming here. There's no coherent plot or purpose to playing the game, at least it's not evident from the beginning through to almost the end, but the presence of larger, more complex and fun levels keep the game entertaining for at least the duration of a weekend rent.

The trick system, which is perhaps the most important facet of any game in this sub-category of gaming, is deep and even easier (!) to get into than the THPS system. There are several tricks for every biker, including the aforementioned signature maneuvers and the endless link combos you can construct using the environment's girders, rails, ramps and bowls (sometimes cleverly improvised). Despite the rather cumbersome Manual system and that pulling off a grind is sometimes overly difficult, Dave Mirra 2's trick engine is one of the best I've seen.

An area that could use severe improvement is Dave Mirra 2's control, which is competently mapped and user-friendly for the most part, but has some annoying glitches that bog down play at times. The biggest of which is the overtly-problematic chore that can be turning your bike around. Usually, you have to ride backwords for a bit, then flip around, which is the easiest way of quickly facing the opposite direction. However, this task can become much more challenging when the camera weaves and pans around your biker while you're attempting the feat, usually when near a wall or locale that's crowded with objects. It also leads to many needless bails you have to make occasionally to speed up the 'turning around' procedure. Other than that, the controls are well done. Pulling off tricks is easy using the face buttons and either the D- Pad or Analog (which I prefer) and there are no notable interface mishaps I encountered with the game.

Dilligent Xeno3998 readers will note that most of my PS2 game reviews have squandered the 'new age' console for having graphics that are equivalent--and sometimes even inferior, to first or second generation Dreamcast stuff. I don't know why, but I just really have a problem with playing a supposedly 'evolved' gaming experience that offers relatively nothing breathtakingly superb in the realm of visuals. I mean, most PS2 game development houses focus an immense amount of their efforts on creating games that have magnificent graphical prowess above all others, and yet it just doesn't show with 95% of the current PS2 software. And this is where Dave Mirra 2 comes in, it's graphics are fairly good, but when showcased on the all-powerful missile-guiding Playstation 2, they leave more than a little to be desired.

One problem with the graphics is the horrid jagged edges that can be seen bordering every diagonal line like an ugly, destroyed, age-old and decrepit picture frame. The lack of anti-aliasing really hurts the presentation of this game, though it isn't as bad as some PS2 titles. Another problem is the occasional slowdown that can occur at random moments. You can be riding around in a screen with plenty of background detail at perfect 30 FPS, then suddenly it bogs down to maybe 5 FPS for a second or two. This also happens during certain bails, though I can see the reasoning behind this; the emphasis placed on certain bails to rub it into the player's face. Textures are well implemented into the game's various terrain, the maps are all clean and polygon breakup sporaidically rears it's ugly head. Mo-capped animations are fluid and the game can look like poetry in motion during some trick sequences. Also of note is the excellent use of facial-texture maps on the player faces, which make them appear eerily realistic. Though the collision detection needs some work, it's at least better than the last game, Dave Mirra BMX on PSOne.

Another praise I can make about this awesome BMX title is the soundtrack, which boasts music from The Cult, Ozzy Ozbourne, A Tribe Called Quest, Sublime, Methods of Mayhem and others. The music is absolutely wonderful in it's ability to capture the essencial mood of any trick animation and the various themes, for the most part, exceed anything previously seen in an extreme game like this. However, there's a good side to everything, and there's a bad side. In this case, the good side of the audio is the soundtrack, and the bad side are the sound effects, which are practically non-existant. There is no gentle whirring of tires as they glide along the terrain, and only when you crash through glass or bail, does the game make an effort to pump out some random quip. It's rather disappointing, because the added bonus of quality sound effects would have complimented the excellent gameplay even further. Still, it's only a minor dilema, and most of the SFX that are present are of good quality.

Without a doubt, Dave Mirra 2 is one of the better Extreme Sports games I've ever played, holding it's place right up there with the venerable Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 and Jet Grind Radio (does that one even count?). It has all the ingredients of a classic, and disregarding it's few major flaws, the game is a great purchase for fans and anyone that's ever enjoyed an extreme game. DM2 suprised me as I wouldn't have imaged it'd be any good, but it turned out fantastic, and thus I Highly Recommend it.

Overall: 8.5 / 10