Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3
Score: 95% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Acclaim Developer: Full Fat Media: Cart/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: For those of you out there who play lots and lots of games (you don't have to be a reviewer), you can understand the phenomenon of being 'jaded'. Jaded means never having to say, 'That surprised me!' And it sucks... In the inevitable mindset one gets watching a million ordinary games roll by, it's always a pleasant experience to be violently unjaded. I sit before you unjaded because I really didn't think I'd be having anywhere near the amount of fun or be as impressed as I was by Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3. The best thing for gamers is that they have another awesome BMX title for the GBA that gives Mat Hoffman a run for his money. As much as I liked the last incarnation of Mat Hoffman Pro BMX and really thought the bar had gone up visually as much as it possibly could, Dave Mirra 3 happily proves me wrong. The graphics are on par with Mat's game, but the animation quality is superior. It's hard to say which truly has a higher resolution, but the action and stunts you'll see Dave and Co. pulling are too cool for the small screen. Although I think the rider choice is still stronger in Mat Hoffman, everything is a little more fun to watch in Dave Mirra 3. Plus, the 'Create-A-Rider' feature lets you build a custom rider with the clothes, accessories and even skin and hair color you want. Dave Mirra 3 is way more fun to listen to. Saliva, Green Day and several other high profile bands rock out across the small speaker so hard you'll swear it can't be the GBA making those funky sounds.
Gameplay: The measure of a game in this category is really based on two things. Control is a mechanics thing, and size is what gameplay boils down to. 'How many' and 'How much' are likely to be the kind of questions you get asked, and the claim-to-fame that Acclaim touts for Dave Mirra 3 is that there are over 1,000 tricks to be performed in the game. Crazy as it seems, the single tricks and combinations really are almost too many to count. What is most amazing is the amount of control you have over tricks and the flexibility during the game for controlling action. Four modes are available, with one entire area set aside for Multiplayer. Using a link cable and the game carts and systems you need on each side, you and another rider can compete 3 ways, going for big scores, big tricks or huge combinations. Everything about Multiplayer is customizable, including level count and the duration of each level. As a single player, you'll probably jump into Freeride for a no-pressure look at a few levels. Right off, you'll find that with the tight controls, it's hard to make the character of your choice NOT do tricks. It's fun to get a feel for the way Dave Mirra 3 plays by experimenting on an untimed run, but you'll probably go quickly to the meaty Proquest Mode, where you unlock all 11 courses and compete at increasingly more difficult levels. This mode is such an excellent approximation of competition that you can even watch yourself in a replay after you complete a single course. Session Mode is the equivalent to an Arcade Mode in most games, where you go out to conquer all the nooks and crannies you uncovered in Proquest. Earning points in either competitive mode will give you a chance to purchase new wheels and give your custom rider some new trickage. Really, what you do is upgrade existing stats on your tricks to create more potential for sick stuff to happen, and happen it will. Saving multiple custom riders is possible, for households that share a GBA or if you just want to experiment with different upgrades on several customized riders.
Difficulty: The only problem with so many damn tricks is having to memorize them all in order to really succeed by scoring big in Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3. Of course, learning a few key moves will open a lot of the courses, but to really see your way through the entire game and earn extra bikes and skill points, you'll have to pull together some big combinations. And, like a good fighting game, you'll probably see a buddy doing something cool and try to copy his moves for yourself. The amount of materials here to be combined means that very few gamers will approach a track the same way, and almost anybody can put together a complicated combo using the list of available standard moves.
Game Mechanics: Because Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 tries to be what the larger console games are to their gamers, every button and combination of button, D-Pad and shoulder button serves a purpose. If you like simple, you won't like Dave Mirra 3. But, if you're looking for a game that challenges you to learn a set of basic moves and then use them intuitively to extend your skill and become a truly awesome game rider, you're in the right place. Four different button configurations are built into the game, so some experimentation will likely tell you which layout you feel best playing. Some variation of a 4-button config is available in any mode, and the choices are broken down to Big Air, Quick Trick, Flip or Grind. Using the D-Pad, along with any of the four button choices, you get your tricks dialed in. Grinds are depicted with a neat meter that instantly lets you know how close you are to ditching, and the payoff for multiple tricks done in sequence is a notch on the 'RUSH!' meter and a chance to pull some signature tricks and earn extra moola. The money is what you use to buy up and get a better bike capable of doing bigger tricks, and you can also purchase extra skill points to enhance parts of your custom rider you want exaggerated. There is a need to balance how you upgrade riders, but going with the new-and-improved bike is a no-brainer. This whole friggin' Dave Mirra experience is a no-brainer, dudes. I'd like to find something that would let me recommend this over Mat Hoffman Pro BMX but I suspect this year's edition of that game will be mindblowing as well. If you're a fan of BMX action you'll have both games and be glad you did, because the action is all here. More pros appear on the roster in Mat's game, but the Create-A-Rider option in Dave Mirra 3 might even trump the chance to play a pro. Visually, Dave Mirra 3 has the edge, but only because it got in a later installment. Gameplay is well matched, with depth and control nuances you don't expect on the small console. It's a two-horse race, and I'm excited as hell to see how it comes out, but in the meantime we're all winners.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
Colin McRae Rally 2.0 Defender