Year Released: 2001 (PC, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Dreamcast, Playstation)

Number of Players: 1-2

Summary
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX is basically a mixture of Tony Hawk's Pro Skaters 1 and 2, only it plays a bit worse.

Graphics
Graphics are worthwile. You'll get by with these graphics, but it's not exactly state of the art. Maybe it's just my video card, though. It may look better or worse depending on the quality of your video card. My guess is that it looks worse on the Playstation, better on the Dreamcast, and for the Gameboys... Well, you know.

Sound
Surprisingly, the sound effects are better sounding than those of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 in some ways, most notably the grinds. Soundtrack follows the standard extreme sports game soundtrack theme (mixture of rock, punk, and rap) but with more rap than any other type. I thought it had a great soundtrack, but hey, I like any soundtrack that has a song by Jurassic 5.

Control
If you play Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, you've probably played at least on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game. If you have, then you know what to expect with the controls. Unless the only extreme sports games you've played are on the PC and you're used to using a keyboard, then you'll want to get a control pad if you don't already have one. Otherwise, it's a pain switching from control pad to keyboard. Take my word for it.

Challenge
Goals in this game are similar to the goals in the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater: two score challenges, collect T-R-I-C-K (S-K-A-T-E in THPS), find the secret tape, and do five of something. Those are the five goals in every level, as well as a few competition levels thrown in to the mix. These goals are generally easy to do. I once beat the game with two different bikers in one afternoon, so it shouldn't even be too difficult for newcomers.

Gameplay
Gameplay is slightly scetchy. Sometimes, a little more than slightly. Stuff like not being able to grind properly can really mess up combos. Other times, you can jump on to a rail and just hover along it. Getting repelled from walls is commonplace in this game as well, also impairing proper grinding. Also, sometimes landing on quarterpipes isn't very forgiving, so spinning is hard. You spin very quickly and it's sometimes hard to spin properly.

Bottom Line
If you don't already have this game, I'd suggest investing in something a bit newer, such as Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2. Even an early THPS game might be a good replacement for this, but now there are many better extreme sports games on the market. If this were 2001, I'd tell you to buy it, but in early 2004, I'm telling you to go with something else.

Submissions and rebuttals should be e-mailed to nintendofanssite@yahoo.com. Proper credit will be given, and please tell me if you don't want your e-mail revealed on the site.