Years ago, during the advent of modern home video games, Nintendo made a game, which has gone down in infamy as
Excitebike. In its day,
Excitebike was the coolest thing since, well, since
Duck Hunt. Since then, motocross games have become faster, feature-filled, engaging and intense.
Disney Sports: Motocross, however, might actually deliver less than
Excitebike did in the mid-eighties. Hoping to gain from the visual representations of Disney's Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pete and a few other Disney stars,
DSM does little to provide much more gameplay than the originator of motocross video gaming.
Hitting the roads as one of six Disney characters, Disney Sports: Motocross lets you play in a variety of modes, including Multi-player, Single Racer Time Trials, Trick Runs, and a general Competition mode. There are also a few minigames that are aimed towards keeping the monotony down to a minimum.
Multiplayer, Time Trial and Trick Run do not offer much in relationship to originality between each other. Other than the obvious, you are still limited to racing through only six courses. The main mode of play, Challenge Cup, will also take you through the same six courses. However, in Time Trial and Trick Run, your only goal is to beat a specific time or outperform your previous attempts at getting the highest trick scores. In Challenge Cup, you will race against three other Disney racers. Races are divided into legs, and finishing each leg awards racers a series of points. Having the most points at the end of each race indicates victory. As your winnings add up, races also distribute various power-ups like shock-absorbers, turbo engines, or stylish clothing. With approximately 50 different objects to unlock, you need to have plenty of patience as you repeat the same levels over and over if you intend to win all of them.
Minigames are also included in Disney Sports: Motocross in an attempt to alleviate the pain of repetitive, uninspiring courses. Nevertheless, these minigames are equally uninspiring. Tire Panic forces players to deal with the difficult to control steering challenge as you avoid giant oncoming tires. Even though the tires do not switch lanes, it is all too difficult to judge which lanes the tires are actually moving on. Rock Crush brings giant boulders towards you instead of tires, and for some satirical reason, you must use a jackhammerish front tire to break the rocks. Brake or Splash, however, is a somewhat engaging game. Seeing how close to the end of a pier you can stop before skidding off, the minigame is perhaps the best part of DSM, that is if you get a strange, unnatural high from sending Donald Duck screaming at rocket speed over the docks.
