Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 – PS2 – Review

At a time when quality extreme
sports games are more plentiful than ever, it takes a pretty amazing game to
stand out from the pack.  While Activision has been leading the way in the
skateboarding segment with their Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series; their BMX
efforts have noticeably lagged behind.  Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 is actually
their first biking game that’s made it to the PS2 console.  So how does
this latecomer stack up against the competition?  Read on
to find out…

To begin with, Mat Hoffman’s
Pro BMX 2 puts you in the shoes of some of the top riders in the sport today,
who all have different attributes and tricks, including Mat Hoffman, Mike
Escamilla, Cory Nastazio, Kevin Robinson, Simon Tabron, Seth Kimbrough, Nate
Wessel, Ruben Alcantara, Joe Kowalski, and Rick Thorne.  While it’s great
to have so many choices of riders, the lack of a create-a-rider function is very
disappointing.  Equally disappointing is that the riders’ stats don’t build
as the game progresses, which makes the latter portion of the game less fun.

In the primary road trip mode,
Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 allows you to hop on a tour bus and explore eight of the
best places to get your ride on in the country, from New York to L.A.  The cool
thing is that all the guys in the game actually went on this tour in real life
so videos have been included that actually highlight each spot and they vary
depending on which rider you choose.

Aside from this concept though,
the game works very similar to others in the genre.  Meaning, you start with
only one level available (in this case it’s Oklahoma City at the Hoffman
Warehouse) and by completing various challenges, more levels are unlocked. 
However, you do have some freedom in terms of choosing which level to drive to
next, which is a bit unique.  Also nice is the fact that there are three
different tiers of challenges per level (12 total challenges per level), so
there is a decent amount of gameplay; especially since the game can be completed
with each of the eleven riders individually.  The problem is that some of
these challenges (even those that are early on in the game) are extremely
tedious and time consuming.  The result is being stuck in a single level
for a little longer than desired.  It’s great to make the tasks
challenging, but they at least need to be clearly defined.

The other available play modes
include session, free ride, and a variety of multiplayer games.  Session allows
you to try to break high scores in the individual levels that have been opened
up without having to worry about the challenges.  Free ride lets you explore
without any time constraints so it’s a great time to get a feel for the game and
perfect your moves.

The multiplayer game modes
include: graffiti war, trick attack, tag, horse, push, free ride, treasure hunt,
and halfpipe hell.  While some of these are quite typical of the genre, a few of
them are actually fairly innovative.  For example, in the split-screen push
mode, the better you do, the smaller your opponents screen becomes until they
are eventually pushed off the screen.    The treasure hunt mode is simply a race
to collect the most treasures, which are strategically placed around the levels,
and this is also fun to play.

To score the big points in this
game it’s necessary to take advantage of all the different types of maneuvers,
including quick tricks (Xup, look down, barspin, etc.), big air tricks (tailwhip,
superman, nothing, etc.), grinds (feeble, sprocket, rodeo, etc.), various
stalls, and manual/ground tricks.  The amount of flexibility in terms of trick
combos is pretty incredible compared to other games, since you can tie
everything together with grinds and complex ground tricks.

Manuals are the most fun and
innovative feature in the game since a plethora of flatland tricks has been
included.  In addition to regular manuals and nose manuals, it’s also possible
to do front peg, rear peg, and bridge manuals.  For each of the manual types
there are roughly 10 different flatland tricks that can be performed.  Some
examples are the Xup manual, eggbeater, whiplash, perverted decade, and the
surfer bridge manual, which is straight out of the school dance scene in the
classic BMX film “Rad.”  Having the ability to perform these types of tricks
makes the manuals far more interesting than those in any other game and they
look really cool too!

When riding, there’s an
adrenaline meter that fills up after landing tricks (like the special meter in
the Tony Hawk games) – and once this it’s possible to pull off tricks that are even more
insane (each rider has their own).  Not all the button combinations are given to
you but they’re not too hard to figure out … a back flip tailwhip, anyone?

In addition to having such a
wide array of tricks to choose from, all of these tricks can be tweaked using
the R2 button + any direction, allowing for even greater flexibility.  This
allows most regular tricks to be done as a no hander, a one footer, etc.

The controls are very
straightforward if you have any experience with Tony Hawk Pro Skater and the
like.  Pressing
the X button results in a bunny hop (or you can hit up twice first to do a
higher bronco hop), the square button controls quick tricks, circle controls big
air tricks, and triangle is for grinds/stalls.  The R1 & L1 shoulder buttons can
be used to spin faster, which is helpful because it doesn’t interfere with the
actual trick controls.  L2 allows you to switch between manual types once a
manual has already been started, eliminating the need to do a bunny hop in
between.  Lastly, the camera view can be changed using the right analog stick
and then locked by pressing R3.

Either the analog sticks or the
d-pad can be used to control the chosen rider, but the digital controls are too
touchy, making it a little difficult to accurately steer the bike.

The levels are, for the most
part, both visually and functionally well designed.  The complete list is
as follows: Oklahoma
City, Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, and
Hawaii.  Although not all these levels
necessarily accurately portray their respective cities (some of them do much
better than others), they all contain elements that at least hint at the
location.  An example is the “bead girls” in New Orleans, who don’t hesitate to
show you some jugs, melons, or cans (the actual objects, of course).

While they definitely aren’t
nearly as big as those found in Dave Mirra 2, they’re not too small either.  The
biggest problem with some of them (e.g. New Orleans and Las Vegas) is that
they’re way too dark to see what you’re doing.  Sure, it’s cool to ride at
night, but when it’s hard to see what’s in front of you – that’s not good;
especially when trying to complete the challenges.  Also, a variety of clipping
problems and even some “black hole” (falling through the level) problems were observed, but they didn’t
occur often enough to significantly inhibit gameplay.

There are also some additional
features found in the game that are worth mentioning. Included is a park editor,
which allows custom levels to be made when the others are exhausted. 
Additionally, the scrapbook is a component that automatically saves photos from
certain gaps, which have a camera object floating between them, that is if you
choose to turn it on.

Overall, Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX
2 is a very fun game to play if you’re looking for some serious two-wheeled
action.  Surprisingly, it’s not just Tony Hawk 3 on bikes either, as it has
many characteristics that make it unique.  There’s no question that it
brings a lot more to the table (in every department) than the previous (PSX)
version, but it still isn’t perfect.  It lacks the ability to create a
rider from scratch, which some people prefer to using one of the pros. 
Additionally, some of the challenges are too time consuming for being such
simple tasks.  It will be interesting to see how Acclaim’s upcoming BMX XXX
faces up against this one.

Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 is
rated T (Teen) and takes up a minimum of 323KB on a PS2 memory card (not
including the scrapbook, which requires significantly more space).

Graphics: 8
Mat
Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 is visually impressive in many respects.  The riders
themselves look almost identical to the respective real-life pros as do the
bikes that they ride.  Additionally, their movements are physically
accurate and the animations for the flatland tricks look especially good. 
The levels have a fair amount of detail and a wide variety of appropriate
textures.

Sound: 8
The diverse soundtrack in this
game is nothing to complain about as it includes artists such as Ice-T, Fugazi,
Iggy Pop, N.E.R.D., and more, all of which help get the adrenaline pumping.  Not all of the songs are available to listen
to initially though, since CDs must be collected around the levels to open up
additional tracks.  There was one song, "Freestyler" by the Bomfunk MC’s
that I wish I didn’t open up…but oh well.  The sound effects are also
well done, but nothing especially different was done in this department. 
Pedestrians will say short phrases if you get near them, the bike sounds are
right on, and when a rider takes a spill they let out a pretty funny yelp.

Concept: 7.5
Aside from having the ability to choose which level is
unlocked next, Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 is too much of what we’ve come expect
from these types of games.

Overall: 8