outlet

Ever wish you could catch air on a dirt bike like those crazy motocross racers like Bubba Stewart or Chad Reed? Well now you can with MX Unleashed. This game straps you to the seat of a wild growing sport of Motocross. With excellent graphics (supports HD 480P), intense game play, and mind boggling stunts, great soundtrack, this game is as close as you can get to real racing. The controls are simple and straight forward. The best dirt bike game to date since Motocross Madness 2 on PC. I kept my playstation 2 around just for the release of MX Unleashed and I'm glad I did.

The first look at this game is pretty impressive. The graphics are great and the rider mechanics are unbelievable. There are a massive array of Supercross, Nationals and Freestyle tracks to choose from as well as a career mode that unlocks the various tracks as you win races. Those familiar with MX Superfly will see some similiarities. This game has more in comparison with Motocross Madness though.

Once actually getting into the game one can see the flaws immediately. On the starting gate you can't rev your engine while holding in the clutch. The tracks are OK but no huge improvement over MX Superfly. Some of the jumps on the SX tracks are unbelievably massive and just seem out of place. Furthermore the airtime is very unreal and floaty in nature. The brakeslide function is nothing compared to MX Superfly when you could slide the bike very easily through the turns. The racing is also lacking as the AI racers always race in a straight line. The National tracks are highly unrealistic and do not even bear the names of their real life counterparts. One of the cool things about MX Superfly is that you got to race Washougal, Glen Helen, Budds Creek, etc. MX Unleashed tracks are in fantasyland. In addition, it is almost impossible to crash in this game. You can be pinned into a corner, go over a berm, fly about 100 ft skywards come down almost sideways and not crash.

It seems as though the focus of this game was more so on look, feel and the ability to perform silly stunts. Most of us want to race and a realistic good race at that. So far, MX Unleashed has not fulfilled that for me. I know that as I continue to play the game it will get better as I become more familiar with it. Don't get me wrong, the game is still fun but I am still a bit disapointed.

I rented this game from Top Hat because I wanted to see if I liked it before buying it. I put it in, and the intro was awesome, even though it was just shots from racing in the game.(Whatever happened to the little videos of REAL people doing stunts in video game intros?) I went into career mode, and you got to totally customize your player from his bike(including a few 4-strokes), to his outfit and colors. You ride in the amatuer 125 class, and make your way up to the big 250s. You can even ride on 50ccs and 500s. This game is awesome and 2-player is fun because you can do 2-player freestyle.