Imagine if you will,
living in a cramped apartment where the walls are cracked and the last tenant
that had lived there was brutally murdered. Imagine that you are an extreme
sports motorcross hopeful with an agent that hardly does a good job of
representing you and a girlfriend that looks like she wrestles angry bulls for a
living. Now imagine yourself racing your way to the top of the championship
ladder and gaining respect, fame and lots of money. Yes, SX Superstar allows
you to live out that fantasy. Yet does this game play like a dream or a
nightmare? Loyal readers, please read on.
Motorcross and supercross
fans have been lucky enough to get their fix of extreme dirt bike action on the
Xbox with games like MX Superfly. SX Superstar plays like an arcade racer with
an emphasis on the race itself rather than how many stunts you can pull off
during the course of a race. There are three main modes of playing this game:
Arcade, Championship and Multiplayer. Arcade works like Exhibition and focuses
on a single race. Multiplayer–which speaks for itself–offers two-player
action in split-screen fashion.
Championship is the game’s
main mode of playing since this is where you unlock new locations and tracks.
Here you can chose to be a male or female rider who is trying to make it in the
motocross world. Through a fax machine, Lee (your agent) contacts you as well
as your parents who often call up to tell you how proud they are of you. It is
also here were you have access to your bike in the garage and your racing
calendar. After accepting a few races and winning, sponsors fax you their
proposals (to wear their logos on the back of your shirt) as well as say goodbye
to old girlfriends and hello to new ones.
The bad news is that while
this is a great idea, it doesn’t give gamers any sense of control over their
rider’s life. Just about the only choices you make throughout this part of the
game to accept or decline sponsorship endorsement deals. Faxed messages become
repetitive, especially those your parents and agent leave behind. It would have
been interesting to see a game that gives you full control over certain aspects
of your rider’s life such as which girlfriend you’d like hanging from your arm
or hiring on a mechanic that makes more sense than the one you currently have.
In short, there is very little interaction here and that is a waste of
potential. So much could have been done hear to make a unique mode that hasn’t
been seen in this genre before.
As for the game’s
controls, this is where the game really falls apart. For an arcade racing
title, the controls certainly make it difficult to pull off big air tricks such
as handstands, scissors or a superman. In fact, many of these tricks usually
end up with your rider slamming headfirst into the dusty ground. The majority
of the races are quite lengthy, even more so since the environments are quite
massive, thus making for plenty of times to memorize the terrain. The only
problem is that our bike doesn’t often handle sharp turns despite the powerslide
button. You’ll often find yourself falling off your dirt bike for no apparent
reason as well.
Visually, the game isn’t
bad looking at all, although there was certainly room for improvement. The
racers are nicely detailed down to their dusty outfits and headgear that catches
the glare of sunlight. Fans of dirt bikes will find that the bike models are
true to the real-life bikes and they look great tearing through the dirt. As
for the effects, they are done right. Your bike kicks up clouds of dirt while
rainfall sprinkles across the screen realistically. The only problem is that
several racetracks look rather plain, enough that sometimes it’s hard to
distinguish tire tracks from a small little bump on the road.
As for the sound, the game
comes complete with the usual heavy hitting soundtrack filled with tunes by
artists such as Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, The Deftones, Box Car Racers and N.E.R.D.
just to name a few. While the tunes are the usual fare you would find in most
extreme sports titles lately, they fit the game snugly like a wetsuit. A custom
soundtrack feature would have been nice, but the tunes–despite their repetitive
cycle–are surprisingly good. It does make up for the poor sound effects that
are not as impressive as they should be.
SX Superstar has all the
makings of a pretty great supercross title and it does manage to show it, but in
the end it’s the game’s various faults that remove all the fun that comes with
being a dirt bike superstar. The poor controls and unusual racetrack design
will not fail to frustrate even the most die-hard motocross fans. I can’t say
that I can recommend this game to loyal fans of this genre as a purchase, but
the game is somewhat worthy of a rental.
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#Reviewer’s |
Gameplay: 6.0
One might think that an
arcade-styled racer would be easy to manage control-wise, but SX Superstar fails
in this regard. Unlike MX Superfly, making airborne stunts is extremely
difficult to pull off without eating dirt almost every time. While there is a
power slide and nitro button, they hardly make a difference or give you an
advantage. Rather, you are struggling to keep your bike on the dirt path.
Graphics: 7.5
While not entirely bad, the game
visuals could have used a bit more attention since the environments are massive
and slightly gorgeous. The rider models are done rather nicely and are detailed
to the point that you can tell a female rider apart from a male rider. The
bikes themselves look wonderfully realistic as well and watching the tailpipe
kick up smoke and the wheels bounce upon impact adds to the illusion that you
are on an authentic dirt bike. You even cast perfect shadows on the walls and
dirt roads.
However, the environments
could have looked a lot better. Certain areas do look rather plain and there
are times when gamers won’t be able to identify certain bumps on the road and
take a mean fall. Thankfully the camera is positioned well enough to allow you
to take extra precautions.
Sound: 7.0
As far as the sound effects are
concerned; most of what you’ll hear has been done before–and much better.
While the buzzing engine of a dirt bike is captured well enough, the game lacks
other small detailed effects such the sounds of your wheels crunching on dirt or
the sound of trickling water from small waterfalls. You will find some decent
voice acting that comes from your answering machine.
The soundtrack is actually
not bad at all, though, and it does feature some great tunes by artists such as
The Deftones and Orange 9MM. The tunes fit right at home with the theme of the
game and gamers won’t mind the fact that the soundtrack does become a bit
repetitive. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t support the customized soundtrack
feature to add your own tunes if hard rocking tunes aren’t to your liking.
Difficulty: Hard
The first few races during
Championship mode’s first season offers some fairly simple races consisting of
only three laps. Yet the second season becomes a lengthy four-lap deal with
riders that are a bit more skillful (e.g. they still crash and make oddball
mistakes, but tend to race a bit faster). Yet what makes this game extremely
difficult is the fact that the controls play against you rather than with you.
There are many times where you fall out of your bike for practically no reason
or get thrown off because you landed on a small bump on the track. And forget
trying to catch some big air tricks if you haven’t picked up the appropriate
speed.
Concept: 8.0
The game wins big points for
enthusiastically adding plenty of race tracks and some diverse events that keep
the game from simply being a racer. There are plenty of bikes to chose from and
upgrade and choosing the right one for a particular race or terrain is left up
to you. Yet what separates this supercross game from the others is it’s
Championship mode that does a good job of giving gamers a peek at how a
supercross superstar is born (via endorsement deals and girlfriend upgrades).
While this is a great addition to the genre, gamers are not given many choices
to consider. It would have been refreshing to play a game that allows you to
choose everything from better agents, garage mechanics or a girlfriend that
actually does something aside from just hanging about in your pad.
Multiplayer: 7.0
Unfortunately the multiplayer mode
leaves much to be desired. For one thing, it would have been great if the game
allowed up to four players rather than just two since there are plenty of bikes
and racers in the lineup. Secondly, the massive racing environments and varied
racing events are enough to merit Xbox Live online play. Sill, the two-player
split-screen racing action is enough for a game of this caliber.
Overall: 6.0
SX Superstar works hard to keep
gamers interested well beyond the first racing season but fails to maintain the
fun and excitement of motocross racing due to its glaring faults. This is too
bad, really, since the game does manage to bring a refreshing look at what it’s
like to be an upcoming racer trying to make it to the top.
